An Assessment of Powder Metallurgy Today and Its Future Potential

The present level of technology is briefly reviewed in four areas of powder metallurgy: hot forging/forming (P/F), cold forging of sintered preforms, injection molding and sintering of metal powder/plastic mixtures, and high temperature sintering. Some historical background on the factors that have slowed the market acceptance of P/F are reviewed as a guide to understanding future growth. Several examples of current commercially produced parts are cited for each technical area.