<p>Laser sintering of bulk ceramics has been reported as an alternative method to sintering ceramic materials using a CO₂ laser as heating source. However, no theoretical description has been proposed so far. Thus, this work reports the laser sintering of bulk ceramic materials from a theoretical viewpoint. Qualitative descriptions of the final sintering stage were described via numerical simulation of the heat conduction equation in a linear approximation and considering a Gaussian profile heat source. Discussions on numerical solutions for specific cases of the heat conduction equation are provided, and a semi-quantitative comparison with the experimental results obtained by the laser sintering of the Ba_0.77Ca_0.23TiO₃ (BCT) ceramics is realized.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>