EURO PM2003, in Valencia, Spain. Author: Ricardo Canto Leyton At present, high sintering temperatures are essential in order to meet the density requirements of ferritic stainless steels intended for high performance applications. Use of high sintering temperatures leads to large dimensional changes, making close tolerances more difficult to achieve. By increasing compressibility of the powder, less shrinkage is necessary to meet the density requirements and closer tolerances can be achieved. This paper will give a general overview of advantages and disadvantages of different process routes available to reach a final density of 7,3 g/cm³ with ferritic stainless steel 409L. One of the processes discussed here is warm compaction, a technique already proven to increase compressibility of ferritic stainless steels by about 0,2 g/cm³. Green and sintered properties, including tensile test data, are compared.