6 factors in powder metallurgy design

There are six key factors to consider when starting a powder metallurgy process design. Given that there are many options available for powder metallurgy processes, the choice of the appropriate process plan is largely determined by the following limiting factors.

 

(1) Size

Due to the physical characteristics of the production process and the practical limitations of industrial production equipment, the size of the product has a certain critical limit. For some powder metallurgy processes, such as MIM, the products are mostly small.

 

(2) Shape complexity

Powder metallurgy is a flexible process that can produce parts with complex shapes. In the powder metallurgy process, the ability to manufacture complex shaped parts depends on the method of powder molding. In view of the fact that powder metallurgy forming must use a mold, therefore, in most cases, the difficulty of mold manufacturing and the ability of the forming blank to come out of the mold determine the complexity of the shape pairs of the parts that can be produced.

 

(3) Dimensional tolerance

Controlling the dimensional tolerance of the product is an essential feature of all near final or final form manufacturing processes, which is a very complex problem in powder metallurgy processes.

 

(4) Material system

In the application of powder metallurgy process, the shape, size and purity of powder particles are important factors. For some powder metallurgy forming processes or processes, the powder particles must be spherical and the surface should be smooth, while for other processes, more irregular powder particle shapes are required.

 

(5) Performance

The functional characteristics of any product are determined by physical or mechanical properties. In powder metallurgy processes, these properties are directly affected by product density, raw materials (powder) and production process conditions (most often sintering parameters). When the density of powder metallurgy materials is lower than the theoretical density, its performance is reduced.

 

(6) Quantity and price

The economic viability of a powder metallurgy process generally depends on the number of parts produced. For the conventional press-sintering process, in order to cover the cost of the mold, the output is at least 1000~10000 pieces.