powder metallurgy

Iron powder is commonly used for sintering Powder metallurgy (PM) is a term covering a wide range of ways in which materials or components are made from metal powders. PM processes are sometimes used to reduce or eliminate the need for subtractive processes in manufacturing, lowering material losses and reducing the cost of the final product. This occurs especially often with small metal parts, like gears for small machines. Some porous products, allowing liquid or gas to permeate them, are produced in this way. They are also used when melting a material is impractical, due to it having a high melting point, or an alloy of two mutually insoluble materials, such as a mixture of copper and graphite.

In this way, powder metallurgy can be used to make unique materials impossible to get from melting or forming in other ways. A very important product of this type is tungsten carbide. Tungsten carbide is used to cut and form other metals and is made from tungsten carbide particles bonded with cobalt. Tungsten carbide is the largest and most important use of tungsten, consuming about 50% of the world supply. Other products include sintered filters, porous oil-impregnated bearings, electrical contacts and diamond tools.