It is shown that temperature-dependent resistivity measurements of compacted and sintered powders allow for extracting independent information on sample density on the one hand and sintering-induced changes of grain-to-grain contacts on the other hand. The temperature gradient of the resistivity as a function of sample density follows (semi-) universal laws derived from percolation theory.

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These values apply for large systems, i.e., for samples much larger than the diameter of the spheres.

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