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 […]
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, […]
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 […]