Metal Powders (Powdered Metals)

Metal powders are finely divided or powdered metals used in fabricating sintered parts, thermal spraying, filling plastics, and other specialized applications. Powdered metals include iron, aluminum, zinc, copper, bronze, brass, steel, stainless steel, nickel, platinum, palladium, titanium and silver.

Metal powders are used in powder metallurgy, which is the process of making metal parts and components by heating compacted powdered metals to just below melting. Powder metallurgy is also known as press-and-sinter. Many metals are treated with this process to produce a porous material called sponge fines. For example, sponge iron fines are small particles of iron ore that has been reduced by heat. Sponge iron can come in lumps or finer particles and is frequently used as an alternative to steel scrap metal. The advantages to using this method to create metal parts include elimination of much of the waste of traditional machining, ability to create a wide variety of alloyed components, and the ability to heat-treat materials for increased strength.

Metal powders are made using a variety of techniques. Powdered metal can be milled, atomized, precipitated, or blended to proper consistency and texture for a specific use. Atomizing involves separating molten metal into small droplets that are then frozen solid. Precipitated metal powders are high in purity and can be made in precise particle sizes. Some metal powder is made through electrolysis resulting in high-purity, high-density powder made of copper and magnesium. Mechanically alloyed or blended metal powders are mixtures of powders that are crystallized at atomic levels, forming a compound with uniformly dispersed particles, ensuring the final product’s high strength. Many other metal powders are pre-alloyed, meaning that every particle in the powder mixture contains more than one element. Metal powders are used to make all kinds of metal parts, and are also used into sintering applications, polyester fiber spinning, injection molding, and brazing.

• Powder Metallurgy (PM) Primer: Conventional Powdered Metal Components
  Powder Metallurgy (PM) has advanced considerably during the last seventy years. This paper describes the conventional press & sinter process used for manufacturing highly sophisticated net-shape metal...
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• Powder Metal Designs Win PowderMet 2009 Awards
  Advanced Materials Technologies Pte LLC, Best Access Systems - Stanley Security Solutions, A steel manifold, lockset refractor, all-terrain-vehicle transmission parts, an air nozzle, and a fiber-optic...
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• Thermite Welding
  Thermite welding uses an exothermic chemical reaction process to weld components together. A metal powder which releases a great deal of energy (highly exothermic) when reacting with oxygen, is...
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