Materials Science Forum, Vol.299, 208-213, 1999
The use of organic compounds to prevent segregation in sintered steels
The use of powder mixtures to obtain a sintered alloy is usual in powder metallurgy. An example is the Fe-Cu-C-MnS alloy (MPIF FC-0208) produced with particles that have very different physical characteristics. These differences will mostly contribute to microstructural heterogeneities, and it is well known that the dimensional stability of a sintered part is closely dependent on the microstructural homogeneity. The control of process variables is necessary to get this homogeneity. One of the most important aspects is the segregation during the pressing process, i. e., the homogeneity of the green compact. To obtain this homogeneity one has to control the feeding characteristics of the mixture. Therefore, the first logical step in order to improve dimensional stability before and after sintering would be to prevent segregation to occur during handling of the powder mixtures. This paper will evaluate the effect of anti-segregation selected organic compound on dimensional tolerance of pressed and sintered MPIF FC-0208 alloy. Samples produced in industrial conditions are investigated. The differences in specific regions of the samples (basically rings) are considered.