Realising the full potential of powder metallurgy Engineers with Element Six Ltd in Ireland have developed new, stronger tools that can withstand the rigours of machining powder metallurgy composites. Industrial Technologies © Shutterstock The GROWTH Programme was dedicated to promoting innovation in European industry and the PM-MACH project was no exception. The objective set by the PM-MACH consortium was to reduce manufacturing costs for components with complex geometry using powder metallurgy (PM). The financial benefits of PM are well established, but problems remain regarding the machining phase. Element Six Ltd, a materials specialist participating in PM-MACH, investigated several new concepts for machine tool materials for green PM applications. First, in collaboration with the Technical University of Berlin, Element Six produced new cutting tool edge geometries that significantly reduce the occurrence of surface breakouts. Next, the extreme hardness of polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) was exploited to construct drill bits for green PM materials. This led to further improvements in the surface quality of the finished product, including fewer edge breakouts. Finally, Element Six and its PM-MACH partners experimented with soft magnetic composite (SMC) PM materials to determine whether tool wear characteristics could be improved. They identified one effective SMC material and also proposed the selective use of SMC additives to instil increased machinability. The PM-MACH results will aid not only PM but also other machining applications.
