NET SHAPE MANUFACTURING - THE UTILITY OF POWDER METALLURGY PROCESSING

Powder metallurgy is a source of new and viable near or net shape manufacturing processes, with compelling economic and technical advantages over conventional ingot metallurgy practice. Selected commercial methods are considered, namely pressing and sintering, injection molding, powder preform working and direct powder consolidation. Particular attention is directed to the prevailing state of stress, temperature and time in each mode, since these dictate densification mechanism(s), and hence microstructure and properties.