The Process

The PM process, depicted in the diagram below, consists of mixing elemental or alloy powders, compacting the mixture in a die, and then sintering, or heating, the resultant shapes in a controlled-atmosphere furnace to bond the particles metallurgically.

Most PM parts weigh less than 5 pounds (2.27 kg), although parts weighing as much as 35 pounds (15.89 kg) can be fabricated in conventional PM equipment. While many of the early PM parts, such as bushings and bearings, were very simple shapes, today's sophisticated PM process produces components with complex contours and multiple levels and does so quite economically.