X-ray computed microtomography (XCMT) has been applied to ceramic samples of different materials to visualise, for the first time at this scale, real 3D microstructural evolutions during sintering. Using this technique, it has been possible to follow the whole sintering process of the same grains set. Two materials have been studied; a glass powder heat treated at 700 C and a crystallised lithium borate (Li6Gd(BO3)3) powder heat treated at 720 C. XCMT measurements have been done after different sintering times. For each material, a sub-volume was individualised and localised on the successive recordings and its 3D images numerically reconstructed. Description of the three-dimensional microstructures evolution is proposed. From the 3D experimental data, quantitative evolutions of parameters such as porosity and neck size are presented for the glass sample. Possibilities offered by this technique to study complex sintering processes, as for lithium borate, are illustrated.
Granular flow with strong hydrodynamic interactions has been studied experimentally. Experiments have been carried out to study the movement of a single bubble in an inclined tube filled with glass beads and air. A maximum bubble velocity was found at an inclined angle straight theta(m). The density variations in the sand were measured by capacitance measurements, and a decompactification zone was observed just above the bubble when the inclination angle straight theta was larger than straight theta(m). The length of the decompactification front increased with increasing inclination angle and disappeared for angles smaller than straight theta(m). Both pressure and visualization experiments were carried out and compared with the density measurements.
A new instability in the combined flow of fine grains and gas is investigated by means of experiments, simulations, and analytic techniques. When a bubble of air rises through a granular packing in a tube, a sequence of smaller bubbles spontaneously forms in front of it. The existence of this instability is shown from the experiments, simulations, and theoretical considerations. Moreover, the simulations and experiments agree on the quantitative level. In particular, when the tube is tilted away from the vertical the experiments and the simulations show the same increase in the speed of the rising bubble.
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