13/10/2010 Pressing & Sintering

Improved machinability by selection of PM materials, additives, and tool materials

The strength of the PM manufacturing technology is the ability to manufacture net-shape or near net-shape components. Nevertheless there is a large share of PM components machined to improve tolerances or to make additional geometrical features which are not possible to press. The efficiency of the machining operations is of great importance to be cost competitive. A number of factors influence the efficiency of the machining operation. In this paper data for three alloying systems, Fe-Cu-C, Distaloy AE and Astaloy CrM are presented. The influence of machine enhancing additives and tool materials were investigated and based on the results guidelines for selection of additives and tool materials are outlined.