Engineering the Green State of Powder Products

摘要

This paper will present the aims of a major collaborative research programme recently established in the UK, involving 7 research groups and 23 industrial companies. In a series of connected modules, the programme aims to create a significant advance in the fundamental understanding of, and process control in, each of the steps involved in producing a range of green compact types by die pressing; advanced ceramic components, PM structural parts, magnets and hardmetal parts. By a combination of experiment and, where appropriate, numerical simulation, the critical issues associated with each of the following process steps are to be investigated for a range of powder material types: 1. Formulation, blending and (as appropriate) granulation 2. Powder handling, transport and delivery to the forming press 3. Die filling 4. Powder transfer within the die 5. Compaction 6. Ejection In a separate module, the additional issues related to each of these process steps by the potential use of nano-scale powders are also under investigation.