The Importance of Green Strength in Powder Metallurgy Process
As compacted metal powders coalesce, and this is before the sintering process, the compressed material is imbued with what’s known as “Green strength.” Remember, the metal particles haven’t bonded yet, haven’t fused with each other. However, the unsintered product is mechanically tough enough to handle machining operations. Those supplementary stages won’t damage the compacted workpiece, […]
What are the Major Stages of the Sintering Process?
The sintering process occurs after a mass of atomized powder has been compacted. Further back, the powder metal has been mixed and blended with a liquid phase. Oils and bonding additives have spread uniformly throughout the mix. A closed die now imparts the amorphous mass its dimensional profile. Now, leaving those profile-forming stages behind, we […]
Calculation of Sintering Temperature? How is it done?
Sintering technology is ruled by complex engineering equations. There are holding temperatures and material characteristics to regulate, plus a slew of phase transforming processes to regulate. Simply put, there are recipes to follow, and those recipes contain a whole lot of mathematically controlled elements. Nothing is left to chance. Of those many processing variables, sintering […]
What Happens to Powdered Metal Parts During the Sintering Phase?
Sintering is all about post-compaction heating, about finding a way to control the coalescence of metal powders. Knowing the definition helps, of course, but it doesn’t really tell us what’s taking place within the coalescing mass. That’s a harder system to understand, but its various mechanisms have been examined in some depth. It begins with […]
What is Infiltration of Powdered Metals?
Imagine the powder metallurgical process as a series of illustrated steps. The powders and additives mix, then they’re formed and sintered. The process is clearly marked out in the various illustrations. Adding another illustrated block to the process, infiltration action strengthens powder metal components. Basically, the technique adds a second metal to the part, and […]
What are Powdered Metal Parts?
There’s a tendency to put self-lubricating bearings in their own applications spotlight. Alternatively, given the chance, curious would-be engineers should try giving other powdered metal parts their chance to shine. Granted, bearing technology owes a lot to powder metallurgy, but there is a whole other range of equally capable powder-fabricated products, all of which use […]
How Powdered Metals Convert for the Strength You Need
Historically speaking, powdered metals are recognized as moderately strong materials. They form relatively hard bearings and other self-lubricating items. By heat treating sintered metal parts, they become even tougher. In point of fact, the sintering process uses thermal energy and pressure, so some heat treated hardenability is applied during the production phase. Okay, this strength-conversion […]
Common Causes of Shaft Runout or Misalignment in Sintered Bearings
Shaft runout is described as a centreline deviation issue. To illustrate this drive transmission glitch, imagine the rod of a drive shaft. It moves around its axis, always. Should the drive rod’s centre of radial motion stray, it’ll develop runout. This drift movement is clearly undesirable. Nonetheless, runout problems and misalignment errors can occur in […]
Sintered Bronze Bearing Material Properties
Based on powder metallurgy technology, sintered bronze bearings deliver a very familiar feature. That opening sentence is, of course, referring to the material’s porous build. Friction counteracting lubricants are stored inside the metal’s tiny chambers. Okay, so this general property gets mentioned in every article, because that’s what the bearings do best, but there’s more […]
Reasons Why Sintering Metals is More Economical than Machining
Let’s match two manufacturing giants, toe-to-toe and kilo for kilo. On one side, there’s the machining industry. It’s not going anywhere, but there are certainly times when this sector could benefit from a few process-oriented refinements. As for the competitor, this is a heavyweight. Sintering technology is, by its very nature, a refined and economical […]