Perfectly proportioned
Sunday, November 8, 2009 - 07:00
in Physics & Chemistry
It all happens very quickly: the feed shoe, configured as an open-bottomed box, moves across a surface in which a recess forms the shape of the desired part. The fine-grained metal powder dropping from the feed shoe settles in the mould. Stamps then compact the loose powder grains at a pressure of several hundred megapascals to produce the 'green body' - a preform in the shape of the finished part which now has to be sintered in a furnace at a temperature below the melting point of the material. This procedure ensures that the compacted grain structures become more compressed and harden...