Sintering - Modeling of Pressure-, Temperature-, or Time-Dependent Contacts

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Stefan Luding
• Subject Area: Mechanical Process Engineering
• Term: from 2010 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 170236322

In most realistic situations, where particles come in contact, it cannot be assumed that the contact properties are independent of pressure, temperature or time. Therefore, this project involves pressure-, temperature-, and time-dependent contact properties and their influence on the macroscopic powder flow behaviour. Sintering is chosen as one possible example and starting point, where all these phenomena are relevant.The aim of this project is to model the particles in contact, before the particles lose their identity. For this, temperature- and pressure-dependent contact models have to be developed in parallel to the contact-measurements of T. Staedler, Siegen and M. Kappl, Mainz. Many-particle simulations will then be adapted to the materials used and experimentally validated together with J. Tomas, Magdeburg. Close cooperation with the projects of G. Auernhammer, Mainz, L. Brendel and D. Wolf, Duisburg, A. Kwade, Brunswick, and D. Kadau and H. Herrmann, ETH Zurich, has been established in the last project period.The main result of the project will be a validated numerical model for making quantitative predictions about the sintering process, as well as the micro-macro methodology, both embedded and recently implemented in the open-source community, e.g. Yade, LIGGGHTS, and MercuryDPM. The micro-macro transition will then be used to obtain better theoretical constitutive relations for a macroscopic description based on the contact-mechanics and -physics.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1486: Particles in Contact - Micromechanics, Microprocess Dynamics and Particle Collectives
• International Connection: Netherlands