Elisa Torresani¹, Randall M. German¹, Eugene A. Olevsky¹; ¹San Diego State University

Sintering of a powder component ideally produces homogenous shrinkage while preserving the original shape of the sintered component. However, it is well known that during real-world materials processing many factors (e.g. temperature non-uniformity, external friction forces, and gravity) influencing sintering impose inhomogeneous densification and shape distortions in the final component. These issues are also present in powder components obtained using additive manufacturing technologies (AM) such as binder jetting and ceramic stereolithography. Understanding the sintering process assisting AM and understanding the factors that influence this type of sintering is of fundamental importance for the development of modeling tools able to predict the resulting shapes and properties of the final sintered components. In the present work a finite element model is developed in order to predict the sintering behavior of 3D-printed specimens under the influence of gravitational forces. Subsequently the model results are validated trough the comparison with the experimental test outcomes.