Results on the simulation of solid-state sintering of copper wires using Monte Carlo techniques, based upon elements of lattice theory and cellular automata, were presented. The initial structure was superposed on a triangular two-dimensional lattice, where each lattice site corresponded to either an atom or vacancy. The number of vacancies varied with the simulation temperature, while a cluster of vacancies was a pore. To simulate sintering, lattice sites were picked at random and reoriented in terms of an atomistic model governing mass transport. The probability that an atom had sufficient energy to jump to a vacant lattice site was related to the jump frequency, and hence the diffusion coefficient, while the probability that an atomic jump will be accepted was related to the change in energy of the system as a result of the jump, as determined by the change in the number of nearest neighbors. The jump frequency was also used to relate model time, measured in Monte Carlo steps, to the actual sintering time. The model incorporated bulk, grain boundary and surface diffusion terms and included vacancy annihilation on the grain boundaries. The predictions of the model were found to be consistent with experimental data, both in terms of the microstructural evolution and in terms of the sintering time.

An Atomistic Simulation of Solid State Sintering using Monte Carlo Methods. R.A.Sutton, G.B.Schaffer: Materials Science and Engineering A, 2002, 335[1-2], 253-9