A new Monte Carlo 3-dimensional multi-particle model was developed in order to simulate the 3-dimensional microstructural characteristics of the sintering of a Fe-Cu-C alloy. The probability model incorporated the energy-misorientation relationship attributed to randomly generated neighboring grains. The effect upon microstructural characteristics of adding doped materials was also quantified and was related to the energy-misorientation relationship. The present Monte Carlo model accounted for the relationship between the grain boundary energy and the dihedral angle distribution and determined the effect of the width of the grain boundary energy cusp at the special misorientation upon the contiguity and coordination number in the sintering of an Fe-Cu-C alloy. All of the specimens exhibited a strong correlation between the contiguity, C, and coordination number, N, regardless of the width of the grain boundary energy cusp at

the special misorientation. The correlation could be expressed by N/No = CN/Co, where No was the mean coordination number, Co was the mean contiguity, and CN was the mean contiguity having the coordination number, N.

Relation Between Widths of the Grain Boundary Energy Cusps at Special Misorientations and the Microstructural Characteristics in the Sintering of a Fe-Cu-C Alloy. P.L.Liu, S.T.Lin: Materials Transactions, 2002, 43[3], 544-50