Viscous Flow Mechanism Research Articles

Promotion of silicon–oxygen control and green sustainable recovery from diamond wire saw silicon powder waste based on the viscous flow mechanism

Diamond wire saw silicon powder (DWSSP) waste is a highly promising secondary resource for recycling high-purity silicon, which is crucial for the sustainable development of the photovoltaic (PV) industry. However, because DWSSP is prone to oxidation, the purity and yield of the recovered silicon are generally low. In this study, the oxidation mechanism of DWSSP in water was systematically investigated, and kinetics analysis and microstructure analysis were conducted to determine the relationship between water diffusion and the growth of the oxide layer. The results indicated that oxidation was determined by the kinetic parameter b in the Reisman model. At T < 328 K and particle size > 1.56 μm, b was less than 1, indicating that the oxidation process was governed by the diffusion of H2O molecules. Through temperature regulation to achieve b < 1, the oxidation was inhibited, which could enhance recovery efficiency. Overall, this study demonstrated the feasibility of inhibiting oxidation by regulating the viscous flow of SiO2 molecules to promote the recycling of silicon resources and support sustainable development.

An investigation into the mechanisms that influence laser sintered polyamide-12 top surfaces

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the extent to which the mechanisms of polymer melt viscous flow and finish layer powder particle adhesion influence the top surface topographies of laser sintered polyamide (PA12) components. Design/methodology/approach Laser sintered specimens were manufactured at varying laser parameters in accordance with a full factorial design of experiments. Focus variation microscopy was used to ascertain insight into their top surface heights and peak/valley distributions. Subsequently, regression expressions were generated to model the former with respect to applied laser parameters. Auxiliary experimental analysis was also performed to validate the proposed mechanisms and statistical models. Findings Within the parameter range tested, this work found the root mean square (Sq) and skewness (Ssk) roughness responses of laser sintered PA12 top surfaces to be inversely related to one another, and both also principally influenced by beam spacing. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that using optimised laser parameters (to promote polymer melt dispersion) and building without finish layers (to avert subsequent powder particle adhesion) reduced the mean Sq roughness of resultant topographies by 30.8% and 47.9% relative to standard laser sintered PA12 top surfaces, respectively. Practical implications The scope to which laser sintered PA12 top surfaces can be modified was highlighted. Originality/value This research demonstrated the impact the mechanisms of polymer melt viscous flow and finish layer powder particle adhesion have on laser sintered PA12 top surfaces.

Isotopic Tracer Study of Initiation of Porosity in Anodic Alumina Formed in Chromic Acid.

In this paper, we focused on the initiation of porosity in the anodic alumina under galvanostatic conditions in chromic acid, using an 18O isotope tracer. The general concept of the initiation and growth of porous anodic oxide films on metals has undergone constant development over many years. A mechanism of viscous flow of the oxide from the barrier layer to the pore walls has recently been proposed. In this work, two types of pre-formed oxide films were analysed: pure Al2O3 formed in chromic acid, and a film containing As ions formed in a sodium arsenate solution. Both were anodized in chromic acid for several different time durations. Both pre-formed films contained the oxygen isotope 18O. The locations and quantities of 18O and As were analysed by means of ion accelerator-based methods supported by transmission electron microscopy. The significant difference observed between the two oxide films is in the 18O distribution following the second step of anodization, when compared with galvanostatic anodization in phosphoric or sulfuric acid reported in previous works. From the current experiment, it is evident that a small amount of As in the pre-formed barrier layer appears to alter the ionic conductivity of the film; thus, somehow, it inhibits the movement of oxygen ions ahead of advancing pores during anodization in chromic acid. However, anodising pure alumina film under these conditions does not enhance oxygen movement within the oxide layer. In addition, the tracer stays in the outer part of the growing porous oxide film. A lower-than-expected value for pure alumina enrichment in 18O in the pre-formed films suggests, indirectly, that the pre-formed film may contain hydrogen species, as well as trapped electrons, since no Cr is detected. This may lead to the presence of space charge distribution, which has a dual effect: it both retards the ejection of Al3+ ions and prevents O2- ions from migrating inward. Thus, the negative- and positive-charge distributions might play a role in the initiation of pores via a flow mechanism.

Glass Microspheres Thermo-Deformation Sintering Processes in the Technologies of Obtaining Materials for Underwater Technical Equipment

Abstract In this work, the important scientific and technical problem of creating multifunctional composite materials for shipbuilding and ocean engineering was solved. The work aimed to study the thermal deformation processes of sintering glass microspheres to obtain lightweight glass composites with a cellular structure that provides positive buoyancy and sound insulation properties. For this purpose, glass microspheres of Na2O‒SiO2 and Na2O‒B2O3‒SiO2 composition with a dispersion of 10 to 60 μm were used as raw materials. They were sintered to form a closed, porous structure. The theoretical substantiation of technological parameters is based on the concepts of solid state and glassy state chemistry and physicochemical concepts of glass softening processes. The process of hot-pressing glass microspheres without plasticisers and additives was investigated. The author’s own laboratory equipment was used for the experiments. The sintering intensity was determined from the results of shrinkage processes; the kinetic shrinkage curves were constructed in semilogarithmic coordinates. The glass composite samples were examined by optical and electron microscopy. As a criterion, the storage of spherical microspheres under the influence of simultaneous heating to 700 °C with the application of pressure in the range of 0,5 to 1,5 MPa was chosen. It was established that the formation of a predominantly closed-porous structure of glass composites with a density of 350...600 kg/m3 occurs by the mechanisms of viscous glass phase flow through liquefaction processes in the walls of microspheres. At the same time, shrinkage processes in the linear direction reach up to 50%. The acoustic properties were investigated by measuring the differences in sound pressure levels in octave frequency bands using a Kundt pipe. The water absorption of the glass composite samples was determined at hydrostatic pressures up to 20 MPa. The research results were compared with the characteristics of analogue composites, such as syntactic foams and foam glass. The developed materials can be used in the design and manufacture of technical equipment for research and maintenance of underwater infrastructure. The prospects for further research are related to the feasibility study and marketing research on implementing the developed glass composites.

Atomic insight into the agglomeration evolution mechanism of aluminum nanoparticles with core-shell structure

Aluminum nanoparticles present excellent combustion characteristics, but such advantage is weakened due to particle agglomeration. This work focuses on this crucial behavior of aluminum nanoparticles in propellant and explore its underlying evolution mechanism from an atomic view. Molecular dynamic simulation method is used to simulate the agglomeration behavior under typical temperature of aluminum-based propellant. A two-staged accumulation-aggregation behavior is observed under low temperature due to atom movement driven by surface diffusion and grain boundary diffusion. A third stage of agglomeration dominated by viscous flow mechanism is achieved when the particle temperature is above 1500 K. The transition from aggregation to agglomeration is initiated by the solid-liquid phase transformation of the oxide shell, which happens under temperature lower than the melting point of alumina due to the formation of aluminum suboxide with low melting point. Decreasing the oxide layer thickness and integrity as well as particle size could accelerate the agglomeration and thus weakening the size advantage of aluminum nanoparticles.

The Performance of Microfiltration Using Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Membranes for Phenol Extraction from a Water Solution

Two types of membranes, for hydrophilic and hydrophobic microfiltration, were prepared as flat sheets to treat a phenol-contaminated water solution. The membranes were fabricated using four synthetic polymers: polysulfone, polyethylene oxide, dimethylacetamide, and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone. Scanning electron microscope measurements of the top-surface and cross-section images of the produced membranes were used to characterize them physically. Distilled water and water contaminated with phenol were used to evaluate the membrane’s performance based on the flux results depending on pressure, the concentration of phenol, and temperature variables. Meanwhile, the rejection performance was evaluated using the phenol-contaminated water solution. The results show that the flux increased with increases in pressure and temperature and decreased with increases in phenol concentration. Distilled water gave far higher results than water contaminated with phenol. The flux of distilled water ranged from 52.18 to 73.15 L/m2/h for the hydrophilic type and from 72.27 to 97.46 L/m2/h for the hydrophobic type, whereas the flux of water contaminated with phenol solution ranged from 26.58 to 61.55 L/m2/h for the hydrophilic type and from 29.98 to 80.55 L/m2/h for the hydrophobic type. Meanwhile, the phenol solution’s rejection was 60% when using a hydrophilic membrane, whereas it was only 45% when a hydrophobic membrane was used. The hydrophobic membrane showed high fluxes and low rejection. Thus, transport through this membrane is closer to having viscous behavior than that through the hydrophilic membrane; in contrast, the permeability through the hydrophilic membrane is less because the pore size decreases the viscous flow mechanism.

Numerical investigation of the flow characteristics of Bingham fluid on a slope with corrected smooth particle hydrodynamics

The Bingham model can effectively describe the flow behavior of viscoplastic fluid. It is important to study the flow characteristics of Bingham fluid to understand the dynamic mechanism of viscous debris flow. In this study, the Bingham fluid flow on a slope is numerically researched using a corrected smooth particle hydrodynamics (CSPH) method based on periodic density re-initialization and artificial stress. First, the accuracy and stability of the improved SPH method are verified by the benchmark problem impacting droplets. Then, the flow characteristics of the Bingham fluid on the slope and the influence of the slope inclination angle on the Bingham fluid movement process are studied with the improved SPH method. The numerical results show that the improved SPH numerical scheme has higher accuracy and better stability and can deal with the complex flow behavior of the unsteady Bingham fluid.

MHD and Thermal Slip Effects on Viscous Fluid over Symmetrically Vertical Heated Plate in Porous Medium: Keller Box Analysis

The heat transfer characteristics along the non-magnetized shapes have been performed in various previous studies numerically. Due to excessive heating, these mechanisms are less interesting in engineering and industrial processes. In the current analysis, the surface is magnetized, and the fluid is electrically conducting, which is responsible for reducing excessive heating along the surface. The main objective of the present work is to analyze convective heat transfer analysis of viscous fluid flow with thermal slip and thermal radiation effects along the vertical symmetric heated plate immersed in a porous medium numerically. The results are deduced for viscous flow along a magnetized heated surface. The theoretical mechanism of heat and magnetic intensity along a vertical surface is investigated for numerical analysis. The nonlinear-coupled partial differential equations (PDEs) for the above viscous fluid flow mechanism with the symmetry of the conditions normal to the surface are transformed and then converted into non-similar formulations by applying appropriate and well-known similarity transformations for integration and solutions. The final non-similar equations are numerically integrated by employing the Keller box method. The discretized algebraic equations are plotted graphically and numerically on the MATLAB R2013a software package. The main finding of the current analysis is to compute physical quantities such as velocity graph, magnetic field graph, and temperature plot along with their slopes, that is, skin friction, magnetic intensity, and heat transfer for different parameters included in the flow model. First, the velocity graph, magnetic field graph, and temperature graph are obtained, and then their slopes are analyzed numerically along the vertical magnetic surface. It is noticed that fluid velocity is increased at lower magnetic force, but minimum velocity is noticed at maximum magnetic force. It is worth mentioning that with the increase in magnetic force, the magnetic energy increases, which extracts the kinetic energy of the fluid and causes the above-said behavior. Furthermore, the current issues have significant implications for the polymer industries, glass fiber production, petroleum production, fiber spinning, plastic film production, polymer sheet extraction, heat exchangers, catalytic reactors, and the production of electronic devices.

Ceramic–molten salt composites (CPCMs) for high-temperature thermal energy storage: Improving sinterability and thermal stability by using solid wastes as skeletons

Molten salts are ideal high-temperature thermal energy storage materials for solar energy generation; however, disadvantages such as leakage, corrosive behavior, and low thermal conductivity limit their widespread application. The use of ceramic skeletons to encapsulate molten salts by the mixing-sintering method is a promising approach to overcome the above shortcomings. However, the CPCMs fabricated by the mixing-sintering method usually have high porosity and are easily deformed at temperatures above the melting point of the loaded salt. In this study, two solid wastes, ferrotitanium slag and waste glass, were first used as skeleton materials to encapsulate molten Na2SO4–NaCl salt; herein, waste glass was also introduced as a modifier to promote the sinterability and thermal stability of the CPCMs. The results demonstrated that the waste glass addition not only improved the sinterability via the viscous flow mechanism but also enhanced the compressive strength, thermal conductivity, thermal cycling stability, and high-temperature structural stability of the CPCMs. Additionally, ferrotitanium slag had good compatibility with the Na2SO4–NaCl salt. The waste glass reacted with the molten salt to form a new compound, (Na0.8Ca0.1)2SO4. Although the synthesis of (Na0.8Ca0.1)2SO4 increased the melting temperature of the CPCMs by 3–4 °C, it improved the melting enthalpy of the CPCMs that was beneficial for compensating the salt loss during thermal cycling. In summary, an eco-friendly and low-cost thermal energy storage material was developed in this study, and more importantly, a promising approach to improve the sinterability and thermal stability of CPCMs was proposed.

Superhydrophobic Carbon Nanotube Network Membranes for Membrane Distillation: High-Throughput Performance and Transport Mechanism.

Despite increasing sustainable water purification, current desalination membranes still suffer from insufficient permeability and treatment efficiency, greatly hindering extensive practical applications. In this work, we provide a new membrane design protocol and molecule-level mechanistic understanding of vapor transport for the treatment of hypersaline waters via a membrane distillation process by rationally fabricating more robust metal-based carbon nanotube (CNT) network membranes, featuring a superhydrophobic superporous surface (80.0 ± 2.3% surface porosity). With highly permeable ductile metal hollow fibers as substrates, the construction of a superhydrophobic (water contact angle ∼170°) CNT network layer endows the membranes with not only almost perfect salt rejection (over 99.9%) but a promising water flux (43.6 L·m-2·h-1), which outperforms most existing inorganic distillation membranes. Both experimental and molecular dynamics simulation results indicate that such an enhanced water flux can be ascribed to an ultra-low liquid-solid contact interface (∼3.23%), allowing water vapor to rapidly transport across the membrane structure via a combined mechanism of Knudsen diffusion (more dominant) and viscous flow while efficiently repelling high-salinity feed via forming a Cassie-Baxter state. A more hydrophobic surface is more in favor of not only water desorption from the CNT outer surface but superfast and frictionless water vapor transport. By constructing a new superhydrophobic triple-phase interface, the conceptional design strategy proposed in this work can be expected to be extended to other membrane material systems as well as more water treatment applications.

A molecular dynamics survey study of impact-induced amorphization in yttria nanoparticles

The impact of a single yttria (Y2O3) nanoparticle onto a yttria substrate was studied as a function of particle velocity (300–1200 m/s) and diameter (5–12 nm) for three particle orientations and two substrate orientations using molecular dynamics simulations. Impacts resulted in minimal dislocation motion but extensive disordering of the crystal lattice without approaching the melting temperature. The resulting amorphous microstructure was both precisely coincident with plastic strain and retained until the end of the simulation, suggesting a deformation mechanism of amorphization-facilitated viscous flow. Further analysis revealed that the degree of amorphization depended primarily on the impact velocity and secondarily on the orientations of the particle and substrate, with significant second-order effects from variable interactions.

Optimizing the Process Parameters for Additive Manufacturing of Glass Components by Selective Laser Melting: Soda-Lime Glass Versus Quartz Glass

Abstract Additive manufacturing by selective laser melting (SLM) is generally applicable to glasses while insufficient resistance of the material to thermal shocks due to local laser heating may result in cracking and a high viscosity of glass melt is responsible for incomplete powder consolidation related to residual porosity. The present work shows that preheating up to 350 °C is sufficient to avoid cracking of soda-lime glass. Preheating of quartz glass up to 730 °C considerably decreases the residual porosity, which is explained by acceleration of powder consolidation by the viscous-flow mechanism of glass particles’ coalescence. Variation of the preheating temperature is an effective tool to control consolidation of glass powder and to avoid cracking.

Rarefied gas transport in heterogeneous shale matrix using a practical apparent permeability model and fuzzy statistical method

A new shale gas transport model is derived to characterize the matrix structural heterogeneity impact on the gas apparent permeability (AP). The developed analytical model is built upon two steps: first, the homogeneous AP model is formulated by assigning the Knudsen-number-parameterized weight coefficients to flow mechanisms based on the analyses of representative rarefied gas transport models; then, the homogeneous model is improved to the heterogeneous model with the help of fuzzy statistical method to assess the structural heterogeneity influences. More specifically, the homogeneous AP model incorporates the multilayer adsorption, surface diffusion, real gas effect, and pore confinement effect. The physical terms in the apparent permeability including the rarefaction coefficient and multilayer adsorption model are simplified to facilitate the large-scale simulation. Meanwhile, the heterogeneous AP model is quantified by the distribution of porosity, tortuosity, and pore size. It is demonstrated that the developed AP model can reproduce the experimental and numerical experiments for five types of gases. It is concluded that the rarefaction in nanopores could be reasonably characterized by the weighted Knudsen diffusion and viscous flow mechanisms. Moreover, it is noticed that the surface diffusion and Knudsen diffusion cannot be ignored in nanopores with radius smaller than 3 nm at low reservoir pressures. In contrast, the viscous flow plays a significant role in shale gas transport in nanopores with radius larger than 75 nm. In addition, the fuzzy statistical method in the proposed heterogenous model provides the indicators to evaluate the impact of structural heterogeneity on the AP. It is observed that the heterogeneous model can accurately predict the realistic apparent permeability as the heterogeneity increases to σ = 0.15. However, the accuracy decreases when the matrix heterogeneity increases.

Seismic response analysis of subway station in deep loose sand using the ALE method

A decoupled ALE method is developed based on operator splitting technique and soil water two-phase mixture theory and applied to the seismic response analysis of subway station in saturated sand in this research. It is found that the Rayleigh damping coefficients have a remarkable influence on the deformation shape, the final floating, and the acceleration response of the underground structure, which needed to fully consider the influence factors to avoid over-damping or under-damping of the system. The comparison of the seismic response of the subway station from the UL method and the proposed ALE method verifies the applicability of the method for such problems. Additionally, the ALE method is utilized to the seismic response of the subway station in deep loosed sand in the case of mesh distortion in the UL method. The results show that the ALE method ensures the mesh quality and the solution accuracy of the model. Owing to the subway station uplift, the ground near the subway station uplifts, while settles far away from the station, and the higher the earthquake intensity, the wider the range of the ground affected to uplift. The development of excess pore pressure ratio in the soil is synchronous with the corresponding Arias intensity. The uplift of the subway station could be divided into initial floating stage and fast floating stage, and the excess pore pressure ratio triggering the structure into initial floating stage and fast floating stage falls in a range rather than a threshold, except for the complete liquefaction site. The liquefied sand flows to the beneath of the subway station is the primary factor causing the structure to uplift. Moreover, the Ratcheting mechanism, Pore pressure migration mechanism, and the Viscous flow mechanism all contribute to the subway station floating. It is found that the increase of the buried depth will approximately linearly decrease the floating of the subway station, the vertical excitation has little effect on the floating of underground structure, while the densification of soil on both sides and beneath the subway station can significantly decrease the floating rate and floating of the subway station.

Fibers Effects on Contract Turbulence Using a Coupling Euler Model

Fiber additive will induce the rheological behavior of suspension, resulting in variation in velocity profile and fiber orientation especially for the non-dilute case. Based on the fluid-solid coupling dynamics simulation, it shows that the fiber orientation aligns along the streamline more and more quickly in the central turbulent region as the fiber concentration increases, especially contract ratio Cx &gt; 4. However, fibers tend to maintain the original uniform orientation and are rarely affected by the contract ratio in the boundary layer. The fibers orientation in the near semi-dilute phase is lower than that in the dilute phase near the outlet, which may be the result of the hydrodynamic contact lubrication between fibers. The orientation distribution and concentration of the fibers change the viscous flow mechanism of the suspension microscopically, which makes a velocity profile vary with the phase concentration. The velocity profile of the approaching semi-dilute phase sublayer is higher than that of the dilute and semi-dilute phases on the central streamline and in the viscous bottom layer, showing weak drag reduction while the situation is opposite on the logarithmic layer of the boundary layer. The relevant research can provide a process strategy for fiber orientation optimization and rheological control in the industrial applications of suspension.

Investigation of structural and morphological properties of high energy ion irradiated KNN films

The transfer of high localized energy density to target matrix via swift heavy ion provides a domain to engineer the properties of materials in a systematic and controlled mode. The present study describes the influence of ion irradiation on structural properties and surface morphology of (K,Na)NbO3 (KNN) films of thickness 650–750 nm irradiated with 100 MeV Ni ions at different fluences varying from 1 × 1012 to 1 × 1013 ions cm−2. Multiple ion impact induced reduction in crystalline behavior of KNN perovskite is observed as an effect of ion fluence. The films show partially amorphized nature with ion fluence, and are remained in crystalline perovskite phase after irradiation with decreased peak intensities. Quantitative surface roughness and surface scaling study via power spectral density (PSD) analysis were carried out using atomic force microscopy (AFM) micrographs. The root mean square roughness decreased at 1 × 1012 ions cm−2 and thereafter, increased monotonously with increasing ion fluence. The adatoms mobility and coalescence effect might have caused the variation in roughness. From the PSD results, modification of surface morphology of films irradiated at 1 × 1012 ions cm−2 is attributed to the competing mechanisms of viscous flow and evaporation-recondensation processes. At higher fluence, the evolution mechanism of morphology is turned out to be the combined effect of evaporation-recondensation and diffusion processes. The microstructures obtained using scanning electron microscopy are correlated with the AFM results. The dominating processes of irradiation induced modification in the morphology of KNN films are studied in detail, and this study will be useful from both fundamental and applied perspectives.

Phase composition, microstructure, and properties of ceramic tile prepared using ceramic polishing waste as raw material

AbstractPolished ceramic products are currently the most popular in architectural decoration, but a significant amount of ceramic polishing waste (CPW) is produced during the preparation process. Determining how to handle the CPW is a pressing task for enterprises. This work investigated the feasibility of recycling CPW in porcelain tile, and its influence on the phase composition, microstructure, and properties of the ceramic body. The CPW was found to have a similar composition to the traditional ceramics and worked as a flux. The SiC within CPW began to decompose into SiO2 with CO2 generation at about 1100°C, resulting in a porous structure. Microstructure observation indicated that a high CPW sample produced sufficient liquid phase when fired at temperatures ≤1100°C, which was not only beneficial for mullite growth but also for matrix densification by the viscous flow mechanism. But a high‐content CPW caused the body to foam or even expand at temperatures &gt;1100°C, thus significantly reducing mechanical properties. Finally, a series of porcelain tiles were successfully prepared with a CPW content of ≤30 wt% at a firing temperature of 1125‐1200°C. The results of this study are considered to be valuable for the utilization of CPW.

Study of Viscous Behavior for Amino Acid L- Glutamine Aqueous N,N Dimethyl Formamide Solution at Different Temperatures

The densities () and kinematic viscosities (ν) which was converted to the absolute viscosity () from the product of the kinematic viscosity and the density of L-Glutamine have been measured at different temperatures 298.15, 303.15 and 313.15K in aqueous 20% (w/w) dimethyl formamide (DMF) under atmospheric pressure. The value of apparent molar volume (v), limiting apparent molar volume (v ) and viscosity data have been analyzed by using Jones-Dole equation, the Jones-Dole coefficients (A and B) were calculated and excess Gibbs free energy of activation of viscous flow (〖〗^) has been obtained to throw light on the mechanism of viscous flow. The results were interpreted strong ion-solvent interactions in these systems and also structure-maker in 20% DMF + 80% water mixed solvents.

Circular braided glass fiber/epoxy composites with helical architecture (coil spring) fabricated by plaster‐sacrificial compression molding for structural automotive applications

AbstractVarious approaches to reduce the weight of electronics and automobile devices have been explored. For instance, an alternative polymer was utilized to replace metals. In the present study, a new circular braided glass fiber/epoxy composite (braid angle: 45°, fiber: 48 vol%) with a helical structure was fabricated as a model coil spring for weight reduction. A plaster‐sacrificial compression mold was especially designed to fabricate helical composites without voids. The spring design was validated by the experimental results of torsional tests. Plastic deformations of the epoxy resin were measured using creep tests to eliminate high‐temperature plastic deformation (HTPD) of the composites. Pre‐strain applied thermal aging was utilized to remove HTPD. Mechanical properties of the composites were also investigated. The mechanism of mechanical failure was found to be the interfacial failure. For preparation of uncured prepreg, resin permeability was measured to a range of 10−10 m2. Resin transfer in the glass fiber‐braided textiles occurred due to the combination of viscous and diffusional flow mechanisms. Based on the results in this study, the facilely designed coil spring composite can be used for various applications, especially automotive parts.

Rapid densification of additive manufactured magnesium alloys via microwave sintering

Abstract Binder jetting provides a highly versatile two-step technology for additive manufacturing of difficult-to-process materials, including magnesium (Mg) alloys. Sintering in conventional (CT) furnaces has been extensively performed as the post-printing process to densify 3D printed parts, and exploring alternative sintering approaches is considerably lacking. The current study aimed to present a detailed comparative analysis of the consolidation of as-printed parts in CT and microwave (MW) furnaces. Accordingly, binderless 3D printed parts made of Mg-5.06Zn-0.15Zr powder were subjected to CT and MW sintering for various isothermal holding times and their physical, mechanical, and chemical properties, as well as sintering kinetics models, were thoroughly evaluated and compared. It was revealed that MW results in a three-fold reduction in sintering time compared to CT sintering counterparts. Supported by the analysis of sintering mechanisms, the MW sintering process is not merely governed by the thermal effect in a similar way to CT sintering, but the non-thermal phenomenon originating from the conversion of electromagnetic energy contributes substantially to the densification of 3D printed Mg parts by triggering the viscous flow mechanism. Furthermore, results indicated that the Mg sample sintered in MW for 15 h has an interconnected porous structure with comparable density, pores features, elastic modulus, and compressive strength to those found in human cortical bone types. Overall, this work enlightens the great potential of MW sintering as an attractive alternative to reduce the energy consumption and shorten the lead time of the binder jetting technology.