1. Experimental observations of sintering

Definition

The term sintering is used to describe the evolution of a powder in various industrial activities: it's the surface drop of a catalyst after a certain number of cycles of use, the coarsening of grains during the thermal synthesis of a powder, the increase in density of a part after heat treatment... The term itself needs to be clarified, as it doesn't always cover the same reality. We will therefore begin by describing the main experimental methods used to observe the sintering of a powder or compact.