Multi-scale virtual reality of sintering

The directions of further developments in the modeling of sintering are pointed out, including multi-scale modeling of sintering, on-line sintering damage criteria, particle agglomeration, sintering with phase transformations. A true multi-scale approach is applied for the development of a new meso-macro methodology for modeling of sintering. The developed macroscopic level computational framework envelopes the mesoscopic simulators. No closed forms of constitutive relationships are assumed for the parameters of the material. When a time-step of the calculations is finished for one macroscopic element, the mesostructures of the next element are restored from the initial state according to the history of loading. The model framework is able to predict the final dimensions of the sintered specimen on a global scale and identify the granular structure in any localized area for prediction of the material properties.