Defect Healing and Cracking in Ceramic Films During Constrained Sintering

Abstract

Cracking is a major problem during constrained sintering of ceramic films. A local variation of density in a green film, referred to as a defect in this work, is the leading cause for cracking. This article presents analytical and numerical studies of the behavior of such defects during constrained sintering. An interesting behavior of de‐sintering and healing of the defects is revealed. It is demonstrated that the healing process can be made to start earlier during sintering by using (a) larger particles, (b) lower sintering temperature, and (c) lower initial density. However, a uniform distribution of initial density in the film is shown to be the most effective means to avoid cracking. It is realized that most of the factors beneficial to defect healing are detrimental to sintering a film to high density because the driving force for sintering also drives cracking. The analytical and numerical studies also offer some simple explanations to why thin films are less susceptible to cracking than thick ones. Finally, the constitutive model has been combined with a simple empirical failure criterion, to simulate the initiation and propagation of multiple cracks in a sintering film. The cracking patterns predicted by the simulations resemble those observed during sintering experiments.