Atlas Pressed Metals has a team of highly experienced powder metal experts who regularly publish insightful white papers. These publications are invaluable resources for engineers and industry professionals. To request access to read the full papers, please click on the link(s) below.

Powder metallurgy (PM) is the fabrication process of compacting metal powders to shape and sintering these compacts to yield the final material’s properties. The PM compaction process allows for complex geometries to be formed that would normally lead to long and expensive machining processes from wrought steels.

Read more →

Magnetic powder metallurgy (PM) components are produced primarily from ferrous based materials exhibiting soft or temporary magnetic forces in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field. These soft magnetic alloys are primarily used for their DC and AC magnetic response characteristics where complex geometry, low cost and high volume production is needed. In some cases, the PM fabrication technique completely eliminates the need for machining, resulting in substantial cost savings compared to conventional manufacturing.

Read more →

The use of binder-treated premixes has grown dramatically since the introduction of the technology in the late 1980’s. Decreased levels of respirable dust coupled with reduced segregation and significantly improved powder flow have helped to stimulate this growth. More recently, binder-treated premixes that significantly enhance the green strength of P/M parts have been developed. The higher green strength results in more robust handling of green parts prior to the sintering operation and reduced levels of green scrap. In addition, the significantly higher green strength provides an opportunity for “green” machining of the P/M parts prior to sintering. This paper will discuss recent advances in binder-treatment technology and will review production experience with binder-treated premixes.

Read more →

Lubricants are a necessary component to the production of parts from powdered metal to assist in the compaction and removal of the part from the compaction die. The added lubricant is then thermally diminished during the initial stage of the sintering process to help achieve desirable microstructure and physical properties of the part. From previous observations, mechanisms were identified in which the lubricant exits the compacted component during the thermal de-lubrication segment. This paper continues previous research that applied metrics to the exit of the lubricant by way of mathematically modeling lubricant pressure and flow using a form of the Rideal-Washburn equation. The data analysis from the previous research is expanded to include additional lubricant data. Several conditions are considered for study including density, lubricant type, temperature, and atmosphere.

Read more →

According to the Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF) Standard 35, sinter hardening is quench hardening during the cooling cycle of the sintering furnace. Accelerated cooling is applied to thepart to achieve a microstructure optimized for strength and improved tolerancing capabilities. While conventional sintering requires regulation of time, temperature and atmosphere within the sintering furnace, sinter hardening further requires careful regulation of the cooling curve to yield the desired physical and mechanical properties...

Read more →

Due to economic considerations, companies that produce electrical contacts are shifting from single-layered to bi-layered electrical contacts. In this method, a thin layer of refractory based material (e.g. silver-graphite, silver-tungsten, silver-tungsten carbide) is bonded to a layer of pure copper (Cu) to create a bi-layered contact. Unfortunately, the traditional press, sinter, repress method has not been successful in producing bi-layered (clad) silver graphite (AgC)-Cu electrical contacts due to the presence of carbon (graphite) at the interface, as carbon is not diffusible into either silver or copper. This leaves a poor interface between the AgC section and the copper section decreasing the shear strength of the joint. This paper presents the results on the use ofNiCr and Fe interlayers for diffusion bonding of bi-layered AgCu electrical contacts.

Read more →