Working hypothesis for origin of anisotropic sintering shrinkage caused by prior uniaxial cold compaction

This work proposes a hypothesis for the interpretation of shrinkage anisotropy during sintering of an Fe–Cu–C alloy based on the effect of the structural modifications of the powder, due to the prior compaction, on the mass transport phenomena. Dislocations are introduced by cold compaction in the contact regions between particles, with different densities along the compaction direction and the transversal one. Therefore, the mass transport by volume diffusion is strongly activated in both directions, and a prevailing effect in the compaction direction is shown. The volume diffusion coefficients derived from the kinetic model correspond to the dislocation pipe diffusion mechanism.