Characterizing and Predicting Sintering Shrinkage of a Glass/Ceramic System

摘要

Controlled sintering is particularly important in multi-materials systems, micro-systems,rnand complex geometry systems that require precise, as-fired dimensional tolerances. A criticalrnissue in manufacturing low temperature co-fire ceramic (LTCC) microelectronics is the need tornprecisely and reproducibly control shrinkage on sintering. The anisotropic sintering shrinkage ofrnDuPont 951 Green Tape?, a commercial glass/ceramic system, was characterized using arndynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA). Sintering shrinkage as a function of direction wasrncompiled to determine volumetric densification as a function of time and temperature. This datarnwas used to determine an activation energy for densification during sintering, and to construct arnmaster sintering curve (MSC) for the glass/ceramic system. The master sintering curve obtainedrncan be used to predict and control densification/shrinkage as a function of arbitrary temperaturetimernexcursions. Additionally, because the MSC for a given material and process is unique, itrnprovides the ability to complete rudimentary measurements to assess and ensure the quality andrnreproducibility of the materials and processes being used in manufacturing.