Abstract
A theoretical model describing the behavior of isolated pores during liquid phase sintering was developed and the experimental results obtained by the $80MgO-CaMgSiO_4$ specimens were given. Most of isolated pores once formed in the interior of specimen were not eliminated because the pressure of trapped non-diffusable gas in the pore like $N_2$ increases very rapidly with pore volume contraction. As sint-ering time increase it was observed that the number of pores decreases whereas the average size of pore increases. This phenomenon was interpreted in terms of the MgO growth during sintering which results in the coalescence of isolated pores. The increase of pore size resulting from pore coalescence was attributed to the main cause of the overfiring phenomena ; the higher sintering temperature or a long time sintering leads to a decrease in density.
