Advantages of Powder Metallurgy Over Die Casting

March 23, 2020

To date, there are two popular options in creating metallic parts and materials. One of the options is powder metallurgy. It is a metal-forming technology that uses powders as raw materials. These materials are formed into a determined space and dimensions and then sintered at high temperature. The process powder metallurgy can significantly decrease the need to use a metal removal process, which reduces the production cost and yield losses in manufacture.

Another option in creating metal parts is die casting. Die casting is a metal forming process that produces complex metal parts using reusable moulds or dies. It involves the use of a furnace, metal, die casting machine, and the die. The metal used for this process is melted in the furnace under high pressure and at a high filling speed. Afterward, the melted metal is injected into the dies in the die casting machine.

Both powder metallurgy and die casting possess properties that can outperform one another. But in the meantime, here are some factors on which powder metallurgy outperforms die casting.

Quality

One great advantage of parts out of powder metallurgy over die casting is their consistency. The amount and weight of powder used in powder metallurgy is uniform throughout the process, preventing increased porosity and existence of flow lines. The powder used in this process is even compacted to the same density and is maintained with good housekeeping practices, avoiding the risk of contamination and internal defects.

Control

Another advantage of powder metallurgy is its control over microstructure. Powder metallurgy can provide you greater control and consistency in forming finer microstructures. Microstructure refers to the grain structure of a metallic product that is usually revealed by an optical microscope. This advantage is great when producing hard and durable components like high-speed steel tools.

Material

Die casting is commonly applied with nonferrous materials such as aluminium, magnesium, zinc, and others. These materials have low melting points that enable them to be melted right away. Powder metallurgy, on the other hand, is compatible with more materials than die casting. This process can effectively blend powders, which allows high magnetic performance for electric motor components and high melting point metal powders. Materials that can be subject to powder metallurgy include stainless steel, iron, nickel, titanium, copper, silicon, phosphorus, and many more.

Mechanical Properties

Both die casting and powder metallurgy offer great shape-making capabilities of metal parts. However, one additional benefit of powder metallurgy is that it enhances the material with better mechanical properties. Die casting materials don’t have magnetic applicability unless they are fused inside another metallic component. They are also weaker compared to powder metal. Alternatively, powder metal has a wide range of available magnetic materials and can withstand more abuse and damaging elements.

Cost

What makes powder metallurgy better than die casting is its overall operating cost. The scrap rates of powder metallurgy are significantly lower than die casting, which can be beneficial when you use high-value materials like copper and stainless steel. Moreover, powder metal parts don’t require secondary processing like trimming, machining operations, and heat treatment. Lastly, the total energy consumption of powder metallurgy is lower compared to die casting.

Powder metallurgy has a lot of advantages that make it suitable for a lot of metal forming applications. If you want to learn more about powder metallurgy, contact us now at PM Distributors so that we can readily provide you with more information about this process.

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