Sinter & Crystallization
With Sinter & Crystallization, virtually sintered and crystallized structures can be generated from GeoDict analytic structures (GAD format). The structure is virtually compressed until a desired parameter is reached (Sinter Mode). The voxel size in the structure decreases, while the number of voxels in the structure remains constant. Grains are deformed at their touching points and an Interface Material can be added.
Clicking the Options’ Edit… button opens the Sinter Options dialog to enter the desired parameters. Clicking OK closes the dialog and returns to the GrainGeo section. Clicking Generate starts the sintering process.
A structure containing GAD information must be in memory.
General Parameters
Result File Name
At the top of the Sinter & Crystallization dialog, the name for the files containing the generation results can be entered in the Result File Name (*.gdr) box. The default name can be kept, or a new name can be chosen fitting the current project.
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Parallelization
Control how many threads are used for the structure generation. Click the Edit button to access the available parallelization options.
Structure generation algorithms can be parallelized if your license and hardware allow it. The Parallelization Options dialog opens when clicking the Edit button, to choose between Sequential, Parallel (Shared Memory) or Automatic Number of Threads.
When Sequential is selected, no parallelization is applied.
When Parallel (Shared Memory) is selected, the Number of Threads can be entered. Below, the maximum number of available threads and the maximum number of licensed parallel processes is shown in the dialog.
If Automatic Number of Threads is selected, the number of parallel processes is automatically selected for optimal speed, based on the number of CPU cores and licensed parallel processes.
For up to eight Available Threads, all of them will be used. If more than eight threads are available, two cases might occur.
- The number of Available Threads is larger (or equal) than the Number of CPU Cores:
- Then the maximum of eight and Number of CPU Cores divided by 2 is used.
- The number of Available Threads is smaller than the Number of CPU Cores:
- Then the maximum of eight and number of Available Threads divided by 2 is used.
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Note! Using Automatic Number of Threads prevents Hyper-Threading to ensure optimal loading of the processor.
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Sinter Mode
In the Sinter Mode panel, several parameters can be entered to control the sintering process.
Two different stopping criteria for the sintering process can be selected from the Sinter Mode pull-down menu:
- Shrinkage defines the percentage by which the structure is contracted in each direction.
- Solid Volume Percentage: The sintering process continues until the desired Solid Volume Percentage is exceeded (Exceed SVP).
Example for Exceed SVP
Observe the effect of increasing Exceed SVP from 20%, to 40% and then to 60%, when a structure made of convex polyhedrons is sintered.
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Keep Original Voxel Length
By default, the structure’s original voxel length is kept (Keep Original Voxel Length), which enlarges the solids. Unchecking this option decreases the voxel length, while the number of voxels remains constant.
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Specify Sintering
Specify which materials or object types should be sintered and if grain interfaces should be found or not.
Random Seed
Random Seed is a simulation parameter controlling the sequence in which objects are sintered. Thus, different random seeds lead to slightly different sintered structures. The random seed increases automatically with every sintering process.
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Find Grain Interfaces
If Find Grain Interfaces is checked, the Interface Material of the sintered objects can be chosen from the GeoDict material database by clicking the button.
By doing so, a different material ID is assigned to the grain interfaces. For example, later mechanical properties can be applied just to the grain interfaces for deformation or other elastic properties simulations with the ElastoDict module.
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Save Voxel Geometry with Object Indices
To save the available information about the sintered grains in *.gof format, check Save Grain Orientation. This file can be used, together with the structure, to compute elastic properties with transversal isotropic or orthotropic constituent materials laws with the ElastoDict module.
If selected, the 3D result file can be loaded from the Result Viewer (Load (*.g32)).
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Save Grain Orientation
To save the available information about the sintered grains in *.gof format, check Save Grain Orientation. This file can be used, together with the structure, to compute elastic properties with transversal isotropic or orthotropic constituent materials laws with the ElastoDict module.
If selected, the 3D result file can be loaded from the Result Viewer (Load (*.gof)).
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Exclude Material and Exclude Object Type
One object material ID and/or one object type per structure can be excluded from the sintering process when checking Exclude Material or Exclude Object Type and choosing the material ID or the object type name from the pull-down menus.
Exclude Material and Exclude Type can be simultaneously selected to exclude objects, that have a certain type or a certain material. For example, exclude all objects with material ID 01 and additionally all spheres.
As a simplified example, observe the effect of sequentially excluding the material Polyamide (PA 66), here ID 02 in gray, or the Object Type sphere the during a sintering process of three object types made of three different materials.
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