This work will present possibilities for the char-acterization of copper powder green bodies and sintered copper microstructures during pressureless sintering. The introduction of new parameters to microstructural charac-terization based on qualitative and quanti-tative microstructural analysis will facilitate the systematic optimization of the sintering process. As a result of the specific evaluation of the microstructure evolution, conventional isothermal sintering could be successfully replaced by multi-step temperature profiles,