sintering

This term is primarily used in materials science, metallurgy, and ceramics. It describes a specific thermal process where particles are bonded together via diffusion, which occurs at temperatures below the melting point of the primary constituent. This distinction is critical; if the material melts completely, the process is casting or welding, not sintering.

As a noun, the word refers to the industrial process or the resulting material. Because it describes a continuous chemical and physical process, it is typically treated as an uncountable noun in technical documentation, referring to the phenomenon of sintering rather than individual instances of it.