Metal Powder
Metal powder is used in the powder metallurgy process to make solid metal products. During this process, the solid metal material is reduced to individual particles, or powder, through one of many processes. Metal powder can be made from many different materials, including aluminum, copper, bronze, nickel, brass, steel, stainless steel, nickel, and titanium.
Some of the most common methods used to create metal powder include atomization, chemical precipitation, centrifugal disintegration, and hydrogen reduction. The process of atomization, by far the most common, separates molten, liquid metal into small beads that are frozen into a solid form. After the metal is in powder form, it continues to the next steps of the powder metallurgy process.
Powder metallurgy, often abbreviated P/M, involves three basic steps. After the metal is reduced to powder, the powder is poured into a die and compacted at room temperature. The metal mass then is removed from the die and put into a furnace. This part of the process, called sintering, fuses the metal particles together without melting them. Powder metallurgy produces less waste than traditional metalworking processes.