Powder Metallurgy Review, Autumn 2022, Vol. 11 No. 3

Jun 14, 2024

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In addition to over fifty pages of news from the Powder Metallurgy industry, the 120-page Autumn 2022 issue of Powder Metallurgy Review magazine (Vol. 11 No. 3) includes the following articles and special features:

With the automotive industry’s adoption of a model-based engineering approach dependent on access to reliable information, the limited data available for PM materials is putting the industry in a vulnerable position compared to wrought or cast materials.

As Ian Donaldson, Director Advanced Engineering Applications at GKN Sinter Metals, explains, in order to compete for its place in the rapidly changing automotive supply chain, it is imperative that the PM industry moves away from a primarily document-centric approach that relies on engineering specification sheets and limited material databases and toward developing more comprehensive databases.

In the Winter 2021 issue of PM Review, we began our four-part series on metal powder atomisation. Over the course of this series, two atomisation experts, Joe Strauss and John Dunkley, have offered our readers a valuable overview of the principles of atomising technology, atomised powders and their applications.

In this final instalment in the series, Strauss and Dunkley present those special atomisation methods such as centrifugal, ultrasonic, pressure (single-fluid) atomisation, and two-fluid atomisation with unconventional media. While perhaps not as widely known as gas or water atomisation, each of these specialist methods of metal powder atomisation has its own unique applications – some industrially significant and some highly niche.

After a four-year interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ceramitec, the leading trade fair for the ceramics industry, reopened its doors at the Munich Exhibition Centre this June.

Although the focus of Ceramitec is on ceramic production technologies, many exhibitors also offer and showcase products for the Powder Metallurgy industry – in particular, powder compaction technology for press and sinter PM.

Dr Georg Schlieper visited the trade fair on behalf of PM Review, and spoke to a number of suppliers of powder compaction technology about the latest developments and trends in the industry.

After a five-year hiatus, delegates from twenty-seven countries gathered once more to attend the Plansee Seminar in Reutte, Austria, this June.

Here, the most knowledgeable minds from the refractory metals and hard materials world, both industrial and academic, gathered to discuss the present and future of this important sector of Powder Metallurgy (and maybe enjoy some in-person networking).

Bernard North provides his view of the conference and outlines the opening sessions and technical programme.

Ultra-high temperature materials, such as niobium-base alloys, have been limited to simple geometric designs due to their high working temperatures and related production costs.

Now, thanks to the development of commercially available Nb-base alloy powders, it is possible to additively manufacture complex-shaped, high-performance components from this material. To do so, it is important to understand the full workflow, from powder production and characterisation, to determining the optimal process parameters for these speciality materials.

In this article, Taniobis GmbH and Alloyed Ltd detail the process of preparing, characterising, and processing two such alloy powders.

Lubricants are a necessary addition to the Powder Metallurgy compaction process, reducing ejection forces from the tool, maintaining product quality, and increasing tool life. Depending on the application, different amounts and types of lubricant are needed to address issues related to green density and product geometry.

In this article, researchers from Penn State University, North American Höganäs and Abbott Furnaces review the compaction and sintering effects of three commonly used lubricants – Acrawax® C, Intralube® E, and Intralube® HD – to shed light on the best application for different types of lubricant, and the effects these choices can have on final part quality.