Nanosintering

The aim of this paper is to review the sintering of nanometer size powders (nanosintering). A parallel between nanosintering and densification of regular powders is performed in order to understand the similarities and detect the specifics. Key to nanosintering is to achieve densification with minimal loss (conversion) of initial metastable structure, i.e., by limiting coarsening and undesirable microstructural transformations. Lately, major improvements in the nanopowder synthesis methods and understanding of the densification process (e.g, pore effects and agglomeration) have resulted in fully dense parts by the largest multitude of sintering techniques, including conventional sintering. (C) 1999 Acta Metallurgica Inc.