Powder metallurgy or pressing and sintering

The powder metallurgy process starts with manufacturing the powder by which the component to be produced, then the powder is blended and pressed into the desired shape mould. The compressed material is then heated so that the powders get fused (or the sintering happened).

Fig.1: Powder Metallurgy Process

Level of surface finish achieved: around 0.8 micro meters

Advantages:

–      Very less machining operations (like drilling, milling, turning )required after the components are produced

–      Rate of production is very high

–      Scrap wastage is very less

–      Complex 3D objects can be created

Disadvantages:

–      Weak strength

–      Material is costly

–      Cost of tooling is high

–      Only limited size and shape can be produced

Ideal applications: The applications including the components made up of iron and its alloys, steel, aluminum and its alloys, copper and its alloys for aerospace, automotive and power tool industry.  

Shibashis Ghosh

Hi, I am Shibashis, a blogger by passion and an engineer by profession. I have written most of the articles for mechGuru.com. For more than a decades i am closely associated with the engineering design/manufacturing simulation technologies. I am a self taught code hobbyist, presently in love with Python (Open CV / ML / Data Science /AWS -3000+ lines, 400+ hrs. )

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Pratul

    During an ordinary pressing operation for soft ferrite materials, there exists a variation in height and weight of the pressed core. Although abundant care is taken to keep the raw material homogenous, the pressing load constant and die surfaces smooth. Why does this variation exists.?

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