The aim of the work is the study of the pyroplasticity in ceramic materials in order to
simulate the deformations of complex ceramic component during sintering. A ceramic material
undergoing densification can be treated as a linear viscous material. Generally, the viscosity
decreases as the temperature increases, however the densification and the consequent grain growth,
result in a viscosity increase.
A bending creep test is proposed for measuring the change in viscosity of the ceramic material
during densification. Equations, based on beam deflection theory, are derived to determine the
viscosity during the whole firing cycle by measuring the deflection in the centre of specimens. In
addition, dilatometric analyses are performed to measure the sintering shrinkage and the specimen
density, which continuously changes during the sintering process. On the basis of an accurate
experimental characterization the parameters of Maxwell viscoelastic constitutive law are derived.
A numerical-experimental procedure has been adopted in order to calibrate the numerical model
that, finally, has been used to predict the pyroplastic deformations of complex ceramic components.