Objective
The project is aimed at increasing the competitiveness of SMEs in a large and growing market whilst conserving raw materials and energy consumption. The overall effect will be to open new sales and employment opportunities for European Powder Metallurgy SMEs by developing an innovative manufacturing process specifically aimed at the equipment capabilities of the great majority of small companies in that sector.
The main deliverables from the project will be the composition of novel HSS alloy powder(s) together with defined sintering conditions (e.g. atmosphere, temperature profile etc) for the manufacture of near-net shape, high density HSS components. The technical objectives are to determine the composition of HSS material(s) that can be sintered at temperatures not above 1150(0)C and with a process window of ±15(0)C and identify the sintering parameters required to process the novel powders to produce parts which exhibit at least 98% density, have 20% higher mechanical properties (hardness, toughness, modulus) and tolerances on as-sintered parts compared to other HSS parts sintered at 1150(0)C are within 1.5% of the designed geometry.
Description of the Work:
The research approach will be to identify potential elemental additions to HSS that will have the effect of depressing the solidus temperature in the phase diagram. One approach will use Mo, Co and Cr, which are elements that are considered likely to fulfil this role, when heated in a nitrogen-rich atmosphere. The PM process will then be developed based on achieving the optimum balance between alloy composition and sintering conditions whilst minimising materials costs. The other approach will use the principle of reaction sintering to lower the temperature at which the densification occurs. Small quantities of Al and Ni are added which undergo an exothermic reaction with surface oxides to produce lower melting point phases, which bind the particles together.
The main tasks for the RTD Performers will be to identify potentially suitable alloy compositions, produce powders of the necessary form for PM, sinter trial parts in the laboratory and determine their mechanical and metallurgical properties. The industrial partners will be mainly concerned with product ionising the defined process in a commercial environment and assisting in the evaluation of case study components.
Expected Results and Exploitation Plans:
The expected results are powder compositions and the specifications for processing them powder such that HSS parts can be manufacture at a sintering temperature less than 1150(0)C in a belt furnace. This and the results of a complete evaluation of the properties will provide the necessary information to assist the sintering companies in their marketing of this process as a means of economically producing near-net shape HSS parts. The powder producers will have an additional product to add to their range and the evaluation of end products, such as near-net shape HSS tools and automotive valve seats, will, if successful, provide information for marketing by the relevant companies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineering
- natural scienceschemical sciencesphysical chemistrythermochemistry
- natural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicsgeometry
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementemployment
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringmetallurgy
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Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CRS - Cooperative research contractsCoordinator
DE7 4QU IKESTON (DERBYSHIRE)
United Kingdom