Article published Powder metallurgy
New invention cuts filling times?
A powder filling system for use with complex mould shapes is being developed as part of the ANR TechnoRemp project. Three times as fast as conventional methods, the new system guarantees perfectly reproducible metal parts.
Filling complex mould shapes presents a real challenge in powder metallurgy. It is difficult to reproduce identical parts using the traditional method in which powder is simply dropped into the mould then levelled off at the surface. “In granular media, the grains are rearranged at random, meaning that even if parts have the same volume, they do not automatically have the same mass,” explains CEA LITEN researcher, Luc Federzoni. A team of researchers from CEA and Federal-Mogul Sintertech, working on the TechnoRemp project, which seeks to develop a clean filling system compatible with a multi-stage die for making parts with complex shapes, has devised a novel system to overcome this problem. The system uses a specially designed and sized turbine to inject a pre-weighed dose of powder into the die. By tailoring the turbine profile, the team has invented a convincing industrial prototype that is able to produce perfectly level filling surfaces, thus avoiding the problem of local overdensity that can occur after pressing. The new technique fills complex dies at three times the speed. Given that for some metal parts (especially in the automotive sector) filling accounts for half the total production time, the industrial advantages are obvious. Three patents have been filed for this process, which can be adapted for manufacturing parts made from a range of metals and ceramic.
