Quality and Productivity Improvement of Belt Pulleys
Belt pulleys are commonly produced by the powder metallurgy process. The shape normally features a teeth section where a narrow and deep cavity is to be filled when the parts are pressed. With modern presses the performance of the powder mixes will often limit the productivity of the compaction process. Increased press rate will lead to distortion of shape due to uneven filling of the tool die. By using high a performance bonded mix filling is improved and the shape of the parts, e.g. parallelism and run-out, are improved in combination with increased productivity. In this paper results are presented from manufacturing of belt pulleys in a state-of-the-art hydraulic press. A high performance bonded mix is benchmarked with an elemental mix of the same nominal composition. Improvements in productivity as well as quality of sintered components are presented.