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Powdered Metallurgy Process

Three Steps for Powdered Metallurgy Excellence

Here at Volunteer Sintered Products, our three basic steps for producing conventional density parts by the powder metallurgy process are mixing, compacting, and sintering. A brief explanation of each step follows:

Step One: Mixing
    Elemental or pre-alloyed metal powders are mixed with lubricants or other alloy additions to produce a homogeneous mixture of ingredients. The initial mixing may be done by either the metal powder producer or the manufacturer of the P/M parts.
Step Two: Compacting
    A controlled amount of mixed powder is automatically gravity-fed into a precision die and is compacted, usually at room temperature. Compacting pressures of 30 - 50 tons per square inch are typically used. Compressing the loose powder produces a "green compact," which, with conventional pressing techniques, has the size and shape of the finished part when ejected from the die and sufficient strength for in-process handling and transporting to a sintering furnace. Typical compacting techniques use rigid dies set into special mechanical or hydraulic presses.
Step Three Sintering
    In the typical sintering step, the green compact is placed on a wide-mesh belt and slowly moved through a controlled atmosphere furnace. The parts are heated to below the melting point of the base metal, held at the sintering temperature, and then cooled.

    Basically a solid-state process, sintering transforms compacted mechanical bonds between the powder particles into metallurgical bonds. This provides the P/M part's primary functional properties.

    P/M parts are generally ready for use after sintering. However, the pieces can be repressed, impregnated, machined, tumbled, plated, heat treated, or welded to provide special properties.

Powdered Metallurgy

Advantages Of Powdered Metallurgy

Material Efficiency

Uniformity

Diversity of Materials

Controlled Porosity

Improved Mechanical Properties

Cost Effectiveness