IN THE more than 45 years since Fre

IN THE more than 45 years since Frenkel’ first proposed a model for the sintering of viscous materials, many approachesto understanding sintering mechanisms have beenexplored. Sintering is traditionally viewed in terms of threedistinct stages; most modeling efforts focus on a specific, idealizedgeometry for only one of the stages.’.‘ Two problemsarise with this approach. First, an idealized geometry must beassumed in order to calculate diffusional flows analytically;this limits the applicability of such models in real situations.Second, this approach does not allow consideration of theentire sintering process from beginning to end. It is thereforedesirable to derive a model that describes the entire sinteringprocess