  Sintering is an important processing step in both ceramics and metals
processing. The microstructure resulting from this process determines many
materials properties of interest. Hence the accurate prediction of the
microstructure, depending on processing and materials parameters, is of great
importance. The phase-field method offers a way of predicting this
microstructural evolution on a mesoscopic scale. The present paper employs this
method to investigate concurrent densification and grain growth and the
influence of stress on densification. Furthermore, the method is applied to
simulate the entire freeze-casting process chain for the first time ever by
simulating the freezing and sintering processes separately and passing the
frozen microstructure to the present sintering model.
