POWDER METALLURGY

HASRUL FARHAN HARUN

SAFETY, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

ENGINEER
What Is Powder Metallurgy
PM refers to a range of manufacturing and metal
forming practices that are used to produce net or near-
net shape parts from mixtures of metal and alloy
powders
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Stages of process
Primary – Must
 Producing metal powder
 Compacting
 Sintering
Secondary – Depend on end product characteristics
 Sizing
 Machining
 Treatment
Other production processes
 Self inspection
 Sorting
 Final quality inspection
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Primary Processes
Metal Powder – DKM import from Sweden (Hoganas) and Japan
(Kobecol and Nigata Plant through Ryoko Sangyo as agent)
 Atomization
a stream of molten metal is transformed into a spray of droplets
that solidify into powder
 Chemical Methods
 formed between metal oxides and reducing agents such as iron ore
 Electrolytic Processes
 Begins in the electrolytic cell where the source of the desired
metal is the anode.
 As anode is dissolved the desired metal is deposited on the
cathode.
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Primary Processes
Mixing – DKM buy pre-mix metal powder from supplier. Raw metal
powder have to be mix to produce desired end product characteristic
Powder Material mix by using:
 Rotating drum
 Rotating double cone
 Screw mixer
 Blade mixer
Mixing consideration
 Mixing ratio
 Mixing time
 Re-agent - binder
 Flowrate
 Acceptance density – Low AD must use higher pressure at compacting
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Primary Processes
Compacting Process
 Pre-mix metal powder is placed in a die and compacted between punches
 Four steps of compacting process
 Feeding pre-mix into die through the shoe box
 Initial compaction
 Final compaction to achieve target pressure
 Ejection
 Compact pre-mix metal powder are call green compact
DKM have 13 compacting machineries from 5 ton to 500 ton
Critical point:
 Parts design that may easily cause defect due to parts flow through conveyor
 Chipping
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Primary Processes
Sintering Process
 A process which the green compact are heated below the melting
point of the base material in a controlled atmosphere that will
transform compacted mechanical bonds between the powder into
metallurgical bonds.
 Green compact condition while in sintering process
 Initiation of bonding
 Building necks
 Pores reducing in size
 Grain boundaries develop between particles
 Critical point
 Shooting – black carbon attach on parts
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Secondary Processes
Sizing
 Sintered part may expand or shrink depend on the base part.
Sizing process need to resize the part into end part criteria
 Improve density
 Coining
 DKM sizing machine varies from 5 ton to 500 ton.
 Operate with tool & die, turn table and sizing oil.
Critical point
 Tool & die, pressure
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Secondary Processes
Machining
 Turning
 Rotate the part as the primary method of moving metal against
the cutting tool by using lathes machine.
 Milling
 Cutting tool rotates to bring cutting edges to bear against the part.
 Drilling
 Holes are produced or refined by bringing a rotating cutter with
cutting edges to the part.
 Broaching
 Broaching is a machining process that uses a toothed tool, called
a broach, to remove material
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Secondary Processes
Machining
 Centerless
 Method of material removal through grinding
 Deburring
 Deburring process use tumbling and barreling machineries in
Nortion
 Lathe, rotary grinding, angular grinding
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Secondary Processes
Treatment
 Steam treatment
 Coated with thin layer of Fe3O4 to improve corrosion resistance.
 Induction hardening
 To harden some portion in a part
 Shot peening
 To produce compressive residual stress layer and create plastic
deformation
 Heat treatment
 Used to alter the physical or chemical properties with involves
the use of heating, normally to extreme temperatures, to achieve a
desired result such as hardening
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Secondary Processes
Treatment
 Ultrasonic wash
 The application of mechanical sound waves for the cleaning
process
 Magnetic crack detection (MCD)
 The part is magnetized before soak into oil and check under
ultra violet lamp.
 Oil Impregnation
 Usually use in copper based part. High quality premium oil is
inject into the pore in the part after air have been remove.
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Other production processes
Self inspection
 Done by the process operator at their work station depend on
standard requirement on the Self Inspection Sheet
Sorting
 100% visual check by sorting department on all produce parts at
DKM to visually detect defect.
 Sometimes customer ask for additional visual inspection such as
visual inspection to detect crack for rotor oil pump outer.
 Besides visual check, some of parts such as rotor oil pump outer
and inner may have extra sorting that use jig.
Powder Metallurgy Processes
Other production processes
Final quality inspection
 Inspection that done by QC department that base on sampling of
end product pick up after sorting process.
 Full inspection on all parts characteristic such as dimension,
strength and hardness.
Powder Metallurgy Advantages
Minimum wastage of material with proper control
Eliminates or minimizes machining by producing parts at, or
close to, final dimensions
Eliminates of minimizes scrap losses by typically using more
than 97% of the starting raw material in the finished part
Permits a wide variety of alloy systems – Distaloy AE
Produces good surface finishes by using carbide tool & die
Provides materials which may be heat treated for increased
strength or increased wear resistance – sinter hardening material
Provides controlled porosity for self lubrication or filtration
Powder Metallurgy Disadvantages
Metal powders are very expensive and in some cases
difficult to store without deterioration
Presses up to 100 tone capacity are used for even small
products.
Dies used must be of high accuracy and capable of
withstanding high temperature and pressure.
Due to high compacting pressures required to press the
powder, the wear on the dies is high.
Shapes that may be maid by this method are limited.
Powder Metallurgy Critical Points
Design consideration
Green compacts ejected from tools using vertical upward
motion. Any feature that would resist this action cannot
be pressed onto a part. Such features as: reverse tapers,
holes at some angle other than in the direction of
pressing and threads.
Tools will experience very high pressing forces. They
need to be as strong as possible in order to avoid tool
breakage and replacement.