Multiphysic coupling and full cycle simulation of microwave sintering applied to a ceramic compact obtained by ceramic injection moulding

ABSTRACT

Microwave sintering represents the coupling of multiple physical phenomena. It involves the distribution of electromagnetic fields, heat generation by electromagnetic effects, heat conduction in the material, and evolution of the densification in the sintered components. This paper describes the mathematical models and the numerical methods used to simulate the complex sintering process. Simulation results are provided for the prediction of shrinkage and evolution of the relative density of the sintered materials. A full cycle simulation of the microwave sintering process have been realized on the COMSOL Multiphysics finite element software platform. This work provides an important approach to studying the process of microwave sintering. The simulation results for sintering submicron zirconia powders are compared with experimental results in terms of the relative densities of the sintered material.

KEYWORDS:

• Microwave sintering
• powder compacts
• microwave numerical simulation
• multiphysics
• powder injection moulding

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

J. Shi is a Chinese university lecturer in School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, China. He is a co-tutorial PhD of Mechanical and Mechanics in France and in China. His research interests include Prototyping manufacturing mechanics, simulation of multiphysics fields, modeling of microwave sintering and injection moulding processes. He is a fellow of the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation in 2015.

Z. Cheng is the professor of the Department of Applied Mechanics, Southwest Jiaotong University in China. His main research activity is devoted to the material forming, the structure safety evaluation and numerical simulation. Since 2011, having more than 50 papers in national and international journal.

T. Barriere is a professor of the University Franche-Comté and at Femto-ST Institute at the Applied Mechanic Department, Besancon, France. His main research activity is devoted to the material forming process, the powder forming and the high loaded polymer. Since 2010, having more than 150 papers in national and international conferences.

B. Liu is the professor of the Department of Applied Mechanics, Southwest Jiaotong University in China. His main research activity is devoted to the material forming process, the numerical simulation and powder forming process. Since 1990, having more than 120 papers in national and international journal.

J. C. Gelin is a professor of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et de Microtechniques, Besançon, France. His main research activity is devoted to the material forming and micro manufacturing process, the powder forming and the high loaded polymer. Since 1988, having more than 250 papers in national and international conferences.

Additional information

Funding

This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11502219) and Doctoral Research Foundation of Southwest University of Science and Technology (Grant No. 14zx7139). The authors also wish to thank Femto-ST Institute for experiment and simulation support.