Elastic Moduli of Porous Sintered Materials as Modeled by a Variable‐Aspect‐Ratio Self‐Consistent Oblate‐Spheroidal‐Inclusion Theory

If the porosity of sintered materials is modeled by oblate spheroids, self‐consistent elastic moduli theory can be used to determine an effective aspect ratio for the spheroids from experimental data on elastic moduli vs porosity. The resultant effective aspect ratio serves as an additional parameter to describe observed elastic behavior. With the exception of one case in the seven investigated, this single parameter satisfactorily describes both Young's modulus and shear modulus vs porosity data. The fit to these data sets is tested by comparing theoretical and experimental values for bulk moduli and Poisson ratios. An effective aspect ratio is also shown to accurately describe a continuous distribution of aspect ratios varying between spheres and disks, implying that a continuous distribution of oblate spheroids may be a useful model for the elastic behavior of sintered materials.