Module 8

Powder metallurgy and its applications

ME 222: Manufacturing Technology I

Department of Mechanical Engineering

IIT Guwahati

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 Powder metallurgy (PM)
 Powders are blended, compacted into the desired
shape Powder+ additives
 Sintered (heated below melting temperature) in a
controlled atmosphere
Blending
 Bonding at the contacting surface to obtain desired
properties
 Followed by final finishing process to obtain the Compaction
final product
Sintering
Applications: Almost 70% of PM components are used
in automotive industry for components such as - piston
rings, connecting rods, break pads, gears, cams etc. Finishing processes

Structural part of aircrafts like landing gear components, Finished product

engine disks, impellers and engine disks etc.
 Powder metallurgy
Characteristics of powder mainly define the properties of PM products

Important factors:
microstructure, surface properties, chemical purity, particle shape and
size, distribution and porosity

• Particle sizes - ranges from 0.1 to 1000 μm (100 nm to 1mm).

• The particle shape is described in terms of aspect ratio. It is the
ratio of largest to the smallest dimension of the particle. It ranges
from 1 to 10
• Shape factor (SF) is a measure of the ratio of the surface area of
the particle to its volume
 Atomization
Powder production: Atomization
• ~ 80% of all commercial powder is produced by melt atomization process

• Liquid material is fragmented into small droplets and allowed to cool to

produce particles/powder
Molten metal
Ladle

• Liquid metal is injected through Tundish

a small orifice
Atomizing gas
or water spray
• The stream is broken up by a jet
of high pressure gas (usually
nitrogen, argon or helium) or Atomization
water chamber

Metal particles
• Water allows for more rapid
cooling - higher production rate
is possible Gas and water atomization

• Gas atomization normally leads

to spherical particles
 Atomization

• In centrifugal atomization, the molten metal is allowed to fall on a

rapidly rotating disk; the centrifugal forces breaks up the stream and
generate particles.

Molten metal
Ladle

Tundish

Liquid metal

Metal particles
Spinning disk

Centrifugal atomization with a spinning disk

 Atomization
• A consumable electrode may be used to rotate at high rotational
speed against an electric arc generated by tungsten electrode.

Inert gas Vacuum

• The centrifugal forces Non-rotating tungsten

cause the molten electrode

droplets to fly from the Rotating consumable

surface of consumable electrode
electrode and freeze in Spindle
flight.

• Uniform particle size can

Metal
be formed and the size particles
can be varied by Collection
changing the speed of port
rotation.

Atomization with a rotating consumable electrode

 Mixing and blending
Powder mixing and Blending

• Powders of different metals are blended or mixed along with lubricants

and binders to obtain good properties

• Proper mixing is necessary to ensure uniformity of mechanical properties

throughout the part

• Lubricants improves the particle flow characteristics or mobility by

reducing the friction.

• Additives such as binders are used to provide sufficient green strength in

the component

• Binders are used to facilitate sintering

 Compaction
Compaction

• Blended powders are compressed and densified into the a shape – called
green compact

• Helps to obtain the required shape, density and particle to particle contact

• Compacting is mainly done by mechanical or hydraulic presses and rigid

tools

• Initially the powder is loosely packed - significant porosity

• With the application of pressure, the powder rearranges, filling the voids
and producing a denser powder; however the stresses among the
powders are still low.

• With increase in compaction, increases the contact stress and cause

plastic deformation, resulting in increased powder adhesion
 Compaction
• Density of green compact - depends on compacting pressure

• Theoretically, with increase in pressure - compact density approaches to

bulk metal

• Higher the density of the compacted part, higher the strength and elastic
modulus.

• Variation in density exists – due to friction between

(a) the metal particles in the powder

(b) the die walls and punch surfaces.

• This variation can be reduced by proper design of punch and die and by
controlling the friction.

• Friction affects the ability of powder to flow readily and pack tightly
 Compaction
Pressure distribution during compaction
• The pressure during compaction decays rapidly away from the punch surface for a
single action press
• The pressure distribution along the length of the compact is given as
𝟒𝝁𝒌𝒙/𝑫
𝒙 𝟎
μ - coefficient of friction between particles and the container wall;
k – factor indicating the interparticle friction during compaction;
D – compact diameter ;
p0 - the pressure at the bottom of the punch; Punch
px - the pressure at a distance x from the punch in compacting direction
The stress in radial direction
If there is no friction between the particles, k = 1
(powder behaves like a fluid and hydrostatic pressure exists)
If there is high friction, k = 0
Types of compaction:
• Isostatic pressing
• Roll compaction (rolling)
• Compaction by extrusion
• Dynamic and explosive compaction
 Sintering
Sintering

• It involves heating of green compact in a controlled atmosphere, below

melting temperature of the metal but high enough to permit solid state
diffusion

• It involves the complex mechanism of diffusion, plastic flow,

recrystallization, grain growth, evaporation of volatile materials and pore
shrinkage.

• Parameters: Temperature, holding time and furnace atmosphere

• Metals and alloy are sintered ~ 70 to 90% of Tm

• Holding time - vary from 10 min for iron and copper alloy to 10 hours for
tungsten and tantalum.
 Sintering
• For optimum properties - proper control of the furnace atmosphere is
essential

• Oxygen-free atmosphere - to control the oxidation, carburization and

decarburization of iron based powders and compacts

• Vacuum is used for sintering refractory-metal alloys and stainless steels,

most common sintering gases are hydrogen and nitrogen.

• In solid state bonding - powder particles begin to form a bond by diffusion

mechanism. As a result - strength, density, ductility and thermal and
electrical conductivity of the compact increases

• In vapor-phase transport – as material is heated close to melting

temperature, metal atoms will be released to the vapor phase from the
particles

• At the particle interface, the vapor phase may re-solidifies

• The interface grows and strengthens while each particle shrinks as a

whole
 Hot-Isostatic Pressing (HIP)
In conventional process, the pressing is usually performed at room
temperature and the sintering is performed at atmospheric pressure
 HIP combines powder compaction and sintering into a single operation
 It involves gas-pressure squeezing at elevated temperature
 Hot-isostatic pressing begins by sealing the powder in a flexible, airtight
evacuated container which is then subjected to high-temperature and
high-pressure environment.
 Iron and steel powders – 70 to 100 MPa & 1250°C
 Nickel based super-alloy and ceramic powders – 310 MPa & 1500°C

Properties: Depends on many variables – type and size of powder, amount

and type of lubricant, pressing pressure, sintering temperature and time,
finishing treatment etc.
• It is difficult to generalize the property. Products can be low-density highly
porous to high-density with strength 1250 MPa is possible
 Powder metallurgy
Secondary and finishing operations

• Coining and sizing

• Machining

• Grinding

• Plating

• Heat treating

• Electroplating

• Densification or roll densification

 Powder metallurgy – Advantages
 The dimensional accuracy and surface finish of P/M product are such
that machining can be eliminated. Specifically attractive for difficult-to-
machining materials.

 High production rate: steps are simple and readily automated; product
uniformity and reproducibility is the highest compared to other
manufacturing technologies

 Complex shapes can be produced: gears, cams, internal keys etc.

 Wide variation in compositions are possible: metals and ceramics can

be mixed, solubility limit can be exceeded

 Wide variation in properties are available: low-density to high-density

products, damping of noise and vibration can be tailored, magnetic
properties, wear properties and friction characteristics can be designed

 Scrap is eliminated or reduced: the only manufacturing process in

which no material is wasted
 Powder metallurgy – Disadvantages
 Inferior strength properties: residual porosity makes mechanical
properties inferior than cast or wrought product. The required strength
can be obtained by other secondary processing techniques

 Relatively high tooling cost: dies can be made of expensive materials

 High material cost

 Size and shape limitations: parts must be able to ejected from the die,
thickness/width ratio is limited

 Dimensions change during sintering:

 Density variations produce property variations

 Health and safety hazards: many particles like Al, Ti, Mg, Fe – can
ignite or explode when surface/volume ratio is very large; fine particles
can be inhaled by workers
Thank you
for your kind attention

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