ABSTRACT
A variety of structural parts, bearings, gears, and so on are produced from raw materials in the form of powders. This area of processing is generally called powder metallurgy, although parts can also be made from nonmetallic powders, such as ceramics, by these methods. In the main processing sequence used, raw material powders are mixed and then compressed into the required shape. The compact is then heated in a controlled atmosphere (sintered) to bond the particles together and produce the required properties of the part. A variation of the process, powder injection molding, has recently become more widely used and particularly has advantages for small complex parts. This process will be discussed later in the chapter (Section 11.14).
