Experimental Calibration of Nanoparticle Sintering Simulation

Microscale Selective Laser Sintering models have been built as a basis to predict the properties of sintered nanoparticles under isothermal heating. These models use Phase Field Modelling (PFM) to track the diffusion of nanoparticles, resulting in properties such as the change in relative density and shrinkage of the sintered bed with time. To ensure the accuracy of these PFM models, experimental validation has to be done. This paper presents the experimental procedure and results for isothermally heating nanoparticles up to 450 – 600°C, at sintering times varying from 1 to 45 minutes. Measurement uncertainties are calculated from deviations in calculating the density. Experimental results from this process are then used to calibrate the simulation to determine the number of simulation timesteps which correspond to a minute of physical time. The calibration constant derived is then used to map simulation constants to physical constants. These constants are later compared to bulk properties.