A2Z Manufacturing Magazines West Coast Edition Feb-Mat 2022

Page 20

Powder Metal Manufacturing, Controlled Atmosphere Sintering For over 50 years Western Sintering has been an industry leader for powder Metallurgy. Precision and Control

Controlled Atmosphere Sintering is the process of forming a solid mass of material by heat and/or pressure without melting it to the point of liquefaction.The study of sintering in metallurgy powder-related processes is known as powder metallurgy. An example of sintering can be observed when ice cubes in a glass of water adhere to each other. Sintering happens naturally in mineral deposits or as a manufacturing process used with metals, ceramics, plastics, and other materials. The atoms in the materials diffuse across the boundaries of the particles, A2Z MANUFACTURING WEST COAST •

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fusing the particles together and creating one solid piece. The sintering temperature does not have to reach the melting point of the material being sintered and thus the pressed component maintains its shape during sintering. . In this process the parts are placed on ceramic trays and ran through a sintering furnace where the parts are heated in a controlled atmosphere up to a sinter ing temperature suited to the material and just below the metals melting point. The sintering temperature allows the powder metal particles to bond together and form a solid metal finished part.Yes, their expert engineers create a process that allows for high volume, consistent repeatable perfect parts every time.Their CNC machine shop can do what we call a ‘Kiss’ in the industry, to add any extra feature requirements they are not able to mold such as threads and undercuts. The powder is made from recycled metal and the press and sinter to net shape process, without the need for machining from a large piece of raw metal, is why Powder Metal is a “Recognized Green Technology”. WSC uses the same feed stock powder as Additive 3D Manufacturing process, but with hard tooling, high speed presses and robotic automation parts are pressed quickly, uniformly, consistently, and faster than most forms of manufacturing.


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