Find powder metal parts including sintered metal, powder metal components and more. From aluminum powder to bronze sintered metal, you will find the powder metal part you need. Use the time-saving Request for Quote tool to submit your inquiry to all the powder metal part manufacturers and suppliers you select.
At SMC Powder Metallurgy, our equipment and tooling capabilities and secondary finishing operations underscore the mission of SMC Powder Metallurgy—to be a world-class supplier of powder metal products to diverse end-use industries worldwide. We are TS 16949 certified.
Our powdered metal services have been around for 6 decades. Innovative Sintered Metals produces powdered metal parts from stainless steel, iron and brass. Our powdered metal knowledge &
sintered metal expertise result in the best powder metal parts available. ISO 9001:2000 certified.
APP uses Press/Sinter and MIM to manufacture metal components. We can develop your component and directly transfer it to manufacturing. ISO9001-2000 certified and an approved supplier for OEM medical, electronic, and industrial clients. Unique capability in micro components and alloy development.
Since 1987 our facility has offered powdered metal parts & sintered metallurgy solutions. Our manufacturing of powder metal product consists of pressed metal parts with complex shapes – gears, sprockets, pawls, cams, and much more. Our sintered parts are made from ferrous & nonferrous materials.
Formerly called Paradigm Sintered Products, Falcon Diversified Manufacturing is a powdered metal manufacturer of products for automotive companies & for nonautomotive customers. We offer helical gears, holding brackets, rack bearing assemblies, seats, spherical bearings & more.
Modern innovator and leader Alpha Sintered Metals produces 800 million plus lbs. of powdered metal parts a year. Complete in-house tooling, manufacturing and prototyping, as well as numerous secondary operations, for medium-to-high volume, structural, conventional components. Excellence since 1967.
Powder metal parts are created through powder metallurgy
(P/M). During this manufacturing process, solid ferrous and nonferrous
metal parts are created from metal
powder. P/M is suitable for numerous
metals, including iron, low alloy steels, stainless steel, nickel, copper,
brass and silver. Powder metal part manufacturers first reduce metals
to individual particles through methods including atomization, chemical
precipitation, comminution and hydrogen reduction. The resulting powders
are impregnated with lubricant. Then, they are compacted in a die cavity
at ambient temperature, after which they are in a near net state, or “green
state.” Finally, the green parts are sintered in a furnace at temperatures
below the melting point of the metal to bond the particles without changing
the shape of the part. The sintering process also increases part strength
and controls the porosity of the part. Although the finished parts look
solid, they actually consist of small interconnected capillaries, which
cause the parts to be approximately 25% porous. Secondary operations
are not usually required, but parts may still need to be sized, deburred,
heat or steam treated, machined, plated or oil/plastic resin impregnated.
Sintered metal products have many benefits over parts produced through
other methods. The process results in little waste, as approximately
97% of the materials are used during the procedures. Sintered products
are not shape sensitive either. Powder metal part manufacturers create
parts close to tolerances, often eliminating the need for secondary operations.
Therefore, P/M is often the technique of choice for the production of
intricate parts requiring bends, projections and depressions. A wide
variety of shapes and designs can be sintered out of an almost infinite
choice of alloys, composites and associated properties. Powder metal
parts have controlled porosity for self-lubrication and for gas or liquid
filtration.
Powder metal part manufacturers provide equipment components for almost
every industry. Powder, or sintered, metal parts are utilized in a variety
of industrial applications in the automotive, hardware, electronic, computer
and lawn and garden industries. Powder metal parts are found in automobile
components, structural parts, filtration
systems and magnetic
assemblies.
Gears are
particularly well-suited to the sintering process, as the inherent porosity
of powder metal parts naturally dampens sound. Bushings and bearing are
also simple to produce through this process, though their tight tolerances
usually require a secondary sizing operation. P/M is a popular choice
for parts with magnetic properties, as the soft magnetic material is
usually difficult to form, limiting the choice of shapes. However, powder
metal can be easily formed in a wide variety of shapes, and its magnetic
properties are enhanced in the proper sintering atmosphere.
When designing powder metal parts to be sintered, several factors must
be taken into account. The shape of the part must allow for its ejection
from the die. Thin walls, narrow splines or sharp corners weaken the
overall strength of powder metal parts. Having too many levels in the
part results in a considerable variation of density, which can be problematic.
Shapes should be simplified as much as possible and allow reasonable
clearance between the top and bottom pressing. Dies and punches should
be made without sharp edges.
Aluminum powder is a metal powder made from aluminum materials.
Metal powder is created through powder metallurgy and can be formed into solid components through the tool and die process.
Powdered metal is formed into solid components through the application of pressure and heat.
Powdered metal bearings
are often self-lubricating, providing low noise level, space
savings and low maintenance requirements. Lubrication is achieved through
the impregnation of oil into the bearings, which aids bearing performance
during rotary support of moving parts.
Powdered metal bushings
commonly provide support to rotating axles and other shafts
in engines, drive systems and other equipment. Like bearings, powdered
metal bushings can be lubricated through impregnation to increase efficiency.
Powdered metal gears
are cost-effective and advantageous in industrial applications
involving difficult shape requirements. Gears provide speed and directional
changes to motion in transmissions, power tools, appliances and a variety
of other equipment.
Powdered metal structural
parts are particularly common in the automotive industry in
exhaust, fuel and brake systems, engine parts and transmission components.
Sintered parts are also found in computer and electronic equipment.
Sintered bronze is a solid metal made from adhered particles of powered bronze.
Sintered filters
contain uniform porosity, which increases functioning. In addition,
sintered filters are strong, easy to clean and heat resistant.
Sintered metal is a solid product made by a cold forming process that presses metal powder into a coherent mass.
Powder Metal Parts Terms
Acicular Powder
– Powder comprised of needle-shaped particles.
Activated Sintering – A sintering
process whose rate is dramatically increased by something other than the
changing of temperature or time (e.g. adding a constituent to the powder,
thermal cycling or the atmosphere).
Air Classification – A process
in which an air stream of controlled velocity is used to separate powder
into particle size fractions.
Atomization – The production
of metal powder by dispersing molten metal into individual particles through
mechanical methods or through the rapid movement of streams of liquids
or gases.
Binder – A cementing medium
that is added to the powder to increase the green strength of the compact
and expelled during the sintering process. The term binder can also refer
to a material, typically having a lower melting point, that is added to
a powder mixture in order to bind powder particles together, which would
not have normally sintered into a strong body.
Blank – An unfinished compact
that has already been pressed, presintered or fully sintered but requires
some other operation, such as cutting or machining, to bring it to its
completed form.
Cold Pressing – The formation
of a metal compact through the compression of metal powder at room temperature.
Comminution – The process of
breaking down metal into individual particles through grinding and flaking
operations, among other procedures.
Compact – A solid material consisting
of compressed metal powder that has been pressed in a die.
Composite Powder – A compact
consisting of more than one distinct substance.
Die – A press
tool consisting of a cavity and shaped according to part design requirements,
into which the metal powder is pressed to form a compact.
Exudation – Also referred to
as “sweating,” it is the rising of a compact component to
the top of the compact. During sintering, the component has a lower melting
point than that of the main compact constituent.
Green – A term that refers to
an object that has not been sintered.
Growth – An increase in the
size of a compact that occurs during the sintering process.
Impregnation – Process occurring
after the sintering process in which a nonmetallic substance, such as
oil, is used to fill the pores of the compact.
Infiltration – Process occurring
either before or after the sintering process in which the pores of a compact
are filled with a metal substance having a lower melting point than that
of the compact.
Isostatic Pressing – The production
of a compact through the application of uniform pressure from all directions
to metal powder.
Lubricant – A fluid substance applied to the punch and die walls or mixed
into the metal powder to aid in the compaction process and compact removal.
Molding – Another term for pressing
metal powder into a compact.
Multiple Pressing – The production
of more than one compact at a time by pressing metal powder in different
dies.
Porosity – Measurement reflecting
the percentage of open spaces, or pores, on a powdered metal part compared
to the volume of the part.
Punch – Die component responsible
for pressing the metal powder into a compact. The punch makes contact
with the metal powder during the formation of a compact.
Shrinkage – A decrease in the
size of a compact that occurs during the sintering process.
Warpage – Deformations in a
compact resulting from the sintering process.
