  The General Thermodynamic Theory of Sintering, formulated by the author in
1998 is given. This theory is applied to the problem of swelling of materials
under conditions of radiation. Driving forces, caused by the presence of the
evolution of heat in the volume of a sample (electric contact, hf, inductive
heating or penetrating radiation, e.g., neutrons could be the sources of the
heat in the bulk of a sample) are considered. The influence of these driving
forces on sintering, structure and properties is discussed. The role of mobile
and immobile dislocations, grain boundaries, and pores is regarded. Cycling and
pulsing regimes of sintering are investigated. A mesoscopic approach, described
in present paper, which had been used for years to solve sintering problems,
also could help solving problems of nucleation, decomposition, and other
problems in the theory of alloys. Described relaxation time technique could
help simplifying calculations and give more clear physical picture. Bulks
heating driving forces, important for small size objects of microelectronics
or/and heat evolving elements in nuclear reactors, are important also for the
problems of nucleation and decomposition in these objects.
