Some Aspects of Powder Metallurgy

HIS correlated review is an attempt to present some of the more common aspects of the powder metallurgy process in order to acquaint telephone engineers with an increasingly important production method, and to provide an outline of topic references that could otherwise be obtained only from many different sources. Basically, the art of powder metallurgy deals with the preparation of metal powders and their utilization. This is a general description, however, and covers not only the metallurgical field, but also the paint and pigment and other more strictly chemical industries. I As a more pertinent definition, the following has been suggested: "Powder metallurgy is the art of producing metal powders and shaped objects from individual, mixed, or alloyed metal powders, with or without the inclusion of non-metallic constituents, by pressing or forming objects which are simultaneously or subsequently heated to produce a coalesced, sintered, alloyed, brazed, or welded mass, characterized by the absence of fusion, or the fusion of a minor component only" 1 . In the past few years, powder metallurgy has received considerable attention, not only in technical publications, but also in the newspapers and popular periodicals, the general implication of the latter being that a completely new and revolutionary field of metallurgical endeavor has been uncovered. Actually, however, instead of something new, we are dealing with an art that had its inception at the time man first started using metals; numerous examples exist today of the early attempts to produce solid articles from metal powders.