Atlas Pressed Metals offers guide to density considerations for PM components
January 24, 2019
There are also opportunities to improve part density during the sintering operation (Courtesy Atlas Pressed Metals)
Atlas Pressed Metals, DuBois, Pennsylvania, USA, has published a guide to density considerations for Powder Metallurgy components on its website. In its article, the company looks at how tailoring the PM process can offer an excellent, cost effective alternative to machining metal components.
The typical density range for the PM process is 85% to 93% (6.6 g/cm3 to 7.3 g/cm3) in structural applications, and 75% to 87% (5.8 g/cm3 to 6.8 g/cm3) in bearing applications, while typical wrought steel material is 100% (7.8 g/cm3). In PM, density and chemistry can both be adjusted, affecting part characteristics and resulting performance. Atlas states that choosing the appropriate density for an application allows its customers to ‘trade’ the cost of a fully dense steel component for a more economical PM component.
Atlas’s guide addresses a number of factors that can impact the density of PM parts, including:
- Material selection
- Compaction process
- Sintering
- Infiltration while sintering
- Sizing
Atlas manufactures Powder Metallurgy components for the automotive, appliance, lawn and garden, controls, electric motors and hand tools industries. The company stated that by taking the stated density considerations into account early on, components can be manufactured cost-effectively, resulting in parts that are better for the end user, the assembler and the manufacturer.
Read the full article here
