Abstract
Observations on the removal of internal porosity in copper have shown the importance of grain boundaries in the sintering process. Grain boundaries act as strong vacancy sinks in contrast to twin boundaries and dislocations, which apparently do not absorb a large number of vacancies. It is concluded that, in copper, the mechanism of sintering is that of the diffusion of vacancies to the grain boundaries, where they are destroyed by the progressive removal of planes of atoms adjacent to the boundaries.
Notes
* Manuscript received 17 December 1958.