Key considerations in the heat treatment of ferrous P/M materials

摘要

Secondary heat treatment is the term applied to any thermal operation that occurs on a powder metal component after sintering. These operations are necessary to obtain the high performance characteristics required from some P/M alloys, which canbe achieved only by secondary heat treatment methods.Ultimate tensile strength, hardness, wear, corrosion resistance, and compressive strength can, in general, be improved by heat treating while other properties such as impact resistance, and ductility may be adversely affected. With this in mind, theselection of material chemistry, part process parameters, and processing equipment are critical considerations for the successful application of heat treatment techniques to P/M parts.