Liquid sintering

...When powder or compacts (powder compressed into a specific shape) are heated at a temperature below the melting point of the powder components, the contact surfaces of the powder particles bond together, and the compact shrinks and densifies as the heating time increases. This phenomenon is called sintering. However, when a powder contains two or more components, if the melting point of the component with the smaller amount is lower than that of the component with the larger amount, the component with the smaller amount will melt and become liquid if the heating temperature is set to an intermediate value between the two. The densification phenomenon that occurs in this case is specifically called "sintering in the presence of a liquid phase" or "liquid sintering". Sintering in which all components are in a solid phase is called "solid sintering", and the two are distinguished from each other.

*Some of the terminology that mentions "liquid sintering" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…粉末または圧粉体(粉末を圧縮して所定の形状としたもの)を，粉末成分の融点以下の温度で加熱した場合，粉末粒子の相互の接触面が接着し，加熱時間の増加とともに圧粉体が収縮･緻密化する現象を焼結という。ただし粉末の成分が2種またはそれ以上の場合，量が少ないほうの成分の融点が，量の多いほうの成分のそれよりも低いときには加熱温度を両者の中間の値とすると，少ないほうの成分は融解して液相となるが，この場合に生じる緻密化現象はとくに〈液相存在下の焼結〉または〈液相焼結liquid sintering〉と呼ぶ。そして，全成分がすべて固相状態で起こる焼結を〈固相焼結solid sintering〉と呼び，両者を区別している。…

※「liquid sintering」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報