The behaviour of steel powder compacts during sintering has been investigated by dilatometry and X-ray computed microtomography. Dilatometry measurements showed that the anisotropic deformation results from various phenomena arising at different moments of the cycle including the delubrication stage. Microtomography provided 3D images of the microstructure induced by prior die pressing and its changes throughout sintering. Finally a schematic description of the main phenomena responsible for the deformation of metal powder compacts during sintering is proposed.

Anisotropic constitutive equations for sintering of metal powder compacts have been formulated from a linear viscous transversely-isotropic model in which an anisotropic sintering stress has been introduced to describe free sintering densification kinetics. The identification of material parameters defined in the model, has been achieved from thermomechanical experiments performed on 316L stainless steel warm-compacted powder in a dilatometer allowing controlled compressive loading.