Quantitative description of the microstructure of sintered materials

Sintered materials contain particles, grains and pores, interphase and grain boundaries. Depending on the details of the technological route they differ in the amount and the distribution of these elements. Such differences can be now analyzed in a quantitative way using the methods of image analysis and stereology. In particular, these methods provide estimates of the number of microstructural elements of a given size (e.g. number of particles per unit volume), their shape (if applicable), and their spatial distribution. The paper describes methodology of these measurements, and how the results can be applied to optimize microstructure of sintered specimens. (author)