Archive: 2019

Here’s a fact that’ll get the attention of manufacturers. Simply by adopting a Powder Metallurgy operation, great economic savings become feasible. Remember, there’s less machining to be done after a PM produced component has been manufactured, so the finance department can zero out machine shop costs. It’s the same with finishing, with this phase of […]

No matter how well a line of sintering equipment is configured, how high-performing the equipment has proven to be in the past, particle coalescing challenges can occur. Perhaps randomly, without any obvious source of concern, the Green Compact doesn’t fully fuse into one single workpiece. To fix this process-impeding state of affairs, a veteran trouble-shooter […]

Let’s flip the page on the P/M process. On that would-be cover page, powder metallurgy produces parts that are porous and self-lubricating. Turning the page in this make-believe informational brochure, the technology shows off a whole other benefit. It’s right there, in quasi-real black and white, that this powder pressing and heating method demonstrates a […]

Above and around the powdered metal, the sintering atmosphere is also being regulated. Now, if someone were to ask, “What gas is used to control the different sintering vectors,” the answer wouldn’t be short. You see, the equipment used to sinter metals is composed of several discrete stages. So, for every equipment zone, there’s a […]

Scientific precision shapes Powder metallurgy processing. While a post about compaction basics could get away with describing the process in a few simple lines of text, these rudimentary descriptions would fail to capture the complexities that arise as a powder pressing operation proceeds. Right now, with a precision-based approach foremost, we’re going to delve deep […]

Back at the compaction chamber, two alternative pressing systems are available. In the hot pressing method, elevated temperatures are used. It’s a dual-process operation, with the powdered metal compacting, then it sinters. Almost solid, just slightly porous, the combined processing approach yields tool quality results. Alternatively, cold pressing is done without heat. That latter phase […]

This phase of the powder metallurgy process hasn’t received adequate attention. Here’s an opportunity to remedy that oversight. Actually, that’s not quite true, past articles have described the electric arc phase, but that’s hardly the only option. Grabbing this chance with both hands, let’s delve deeper into the powder dispersing options. What Is Powder Atomization? […]

Exotic energies are at work when powdered metal particles are compressed. Further back, even stranger reactions take place in a mixing chamber, where fluid dynamic forces regulate the early stages of the powder metallurgy process. No worries, though, to a process engineer and his technician team, every physical and fluid-based law is intimately known and […]

Exotic recipes blend to create hardened products in the powder metallurgy sector. They’re packed with enigmatic chemical compounds. They flow in and around the metal particles so that the granules disseminate evenly and easily find their way into a die assembly. There’s no clumping, no material friction or substance stickiness to impede the process, not […]

During the sintering process, as applied to powdered metals, a densely packed, cavity-shaped cluster of machine-pulverized particles plasticizes and diffuses. They do not melt. That’s a common misconception. Now, assuming an optimal sintering temperature is employed, the compacted grains experience the material diffusion cycle. They solidify. However, process temperatures can go awry. On knowing this […]