Demystifying the role of sintering additives with “complexion”

he role of additives has long been a theme in sintering science. Recently, it has been discovered that ceramics may contain multiple different rain boundary phases (complexions) that are chemically induced by certain additives. These complexions are useful in explaining a number of nomalous phenomena associated with sintering, such as abnormal grain growth. The current work investigates how transitions between these omplexions occur and at which grain boundaries they are most likely to occur. The number of complexion transitions that occur increases linearly ith grain size (grain boundary excess concentration), and exponentially with temperature. The results suggest that grain boundary energy and nisotropy are important in predicting which and how many grain boundaries will undergo such a transition. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.