Objective Powder metallurgy (P/M) is the major manufacturing route for a wide range of industrial parts such as transmission and gearbox steel parts for automotive, cem ented carbides and high speed steels for metal-, wood- or stone-working, magnet s and soft magnetic materials, fine ceramics, refractory metals, bearings... A ll these parts are produced by cold pressing a powder in a die and sintering th e resulting green body in a furnace. Although the problems are different in d etails, all these branches encounter the same practical difficulties: - in most cases, a post-sintering operation (sizing or machining) is necessary to obtain the final geometry of the parts. This operation represents 10% to 25% of the p roduction costs. - a tool set for die pressing costs between 1.000 and 100.000 ECU. The design of a tool set for a new product is made with a trial-and-error procedure that generates overcosts (up to 50% of the initial tooling costs) and delays (several weeks or months). - about 2% (and far more for new fabrication s) of the parts are defective due to the presence of cracks. The need of a fina l control and the value of the rejected parts strongly increase the global prod uction costs. Savings for European industry estimated between 100 and 150 MECU appear to be possible on development and production costs and time-to-market co uld be markedly improved: - if the as-sintered parts could be more accurate, - if the tool design could be based on reliable predictive methods, - if the proc ess could be well designed, so that no cracks occur. This could be obtained by replacing the common trial-and-error procedure by a more efficient approach usi ng predictive methods based on numerical simulation. Consequently, the objectiv e of the MC2 Project is to develop the industrial modelling of the whole P/M pr ocess for the wide range of materials concerned by this technique. It is expect ed that crack-free parts with high geometrical accuracy (10 pm or 0.1%) and den sity homogeneity can routinely be produced, if the design of the parts, of the pressing tools and of the pressing schedule is based on a numerical simulation that integrates the knowledge generated experimentally and theoretically in thi s project. To achieve this goal, the technical programme will include - the se lection and implementation of existing macromechanical models for cold compacti on, friction and sintering in suitable finite element codes - the experimental determination of materials data for several reference materials - the validat ion and optimization of the numerical modelling, the simulation and the fabrica tion of reference parts - the comparison between computed and experimental res ults in term of geometry, density distribution, residual stresses and mechanica l strength. The project will end with the specification and the design of an i ndustrial modelling tool usable in all powder industries. The MC2 project is pr esented with the full support of the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EP MA) which represents 80 companies or manufacturing groups i.e. 80% of the Europ ean Powder Metals Industry (see letter in Appendix). The proposed project will comply with the aims and objectives of Brite Euram III programme in the general technical areas 2.1.1 .M (New more accurate and energy efficient near net shap e powder metallurgy to reduce costs, energy and waste in the mass production of components), 2.2.1.S 2.2.2.S.The MC2 project is proposed in the scope of PM- MODNET , a Thematic Network funded by the EC in the frame of the IMT Programme (n BETN-0010). The objective of this Network coordinated by the EPMA is to exa mine the possibility to initiate projects on the modelling of P/M processes. Fields of science natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryinorganic compoundsengineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringsubtractive manufacturingnatural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicsgeometryengineering and technologymaterials engineeringceramicsengineering and technologymaterials engineeringmetallurgy Programme(s) FP4-BRITE/EURAM 3 - Specific research and technological development programme in the field of industrial and materials technologies, 1994-1998 Topic(s) 0201 - Materials engineering Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique EU contribution No data Address Rue des Martyrs 17 38054 Grenoble France See on map Total cost No data Participants (8) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Aimants Ugimag SA France EU contribution No data Address Route d'Uriage 38830 Saint-Pierre-d'Allevard See on map Total cost No data Aleaciones de Metales Sinterizados SA Spain EU contribution No data Address 388,c/ Laurea Miró 388 8980 San Feliu de Llobregat See on map Total cost No data Cerametal SARL Luxembourg EU contribution No data Address Route de Holzem 101 8201 Mamer See on map Total cost No data FEDERAL-MOGUL Technology Ltd. United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address Cawston Lane CV22 7SA Rugby See on map Total cost No data FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.* Germany EU contribution No data Address Woehlerstrasse 11 79108 FREIBURG (IN BREISGAU) See on map Total cost No data Höganäs AB Sweden EU contribution No data Address 263 83 Högands See on map Total cost No data INSTITUT NATIONAL POLYTECHNIQUE DE GRENOBLE France EU contribution No data Address Domaine Universitaire, 1023 rue de la Piscine 38041 GRENOBLE See on map Total cost No data LULEAA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Sweden EU contribution No data Address 971 87 LULEA See on map Total cost No data
