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[February 2009]
Sharper Focus on Powder Metallurgy at Ceramitec 2009
Cost-effectiveness and flexibility of use are still the key factors in success when it comes to technical applications for powder metallurgy (PM) components. Annual global production of PM components (without ceramics) was over €30 billion in 2007. At Ceramitec 2009, which takes place from 20 to 23 October 2009 at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre, there will be an even sharper focus on this strong segment of the industry.
New and tried and tested technologies for the production of PM parts will be showcased in a special focus day at the 11th International Trade Fair for Machinery, Equipment, Plant, Processes and Raw Materials for Ceramics & Powder Metallurgy. This 'Technical Ceramics and Powder Metallurgy Day', on 21 October 2009, is being organised by the Fachverband Pulvermetallurgie (German Trade Association for Powder Metallurgy) in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institut für Keramische Technologie und Systeme (Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems) and TASK GmbH. Manufacturing processes and newly developed systems will be presented on this day in a series of trade lectures; among those invited to speak are Prof Dr Herbert Danninger from the Technical University of Vienna, Prof Dr-Ing Paul Beiss and representatives from Dorst Technologies GmbH & Co KG, Maschinenfabrik Gustav Eirich GmbH and Schunk Sintermetalltechnik GmbH.
PM components have good dimensional accuracy, a wide variety of alloys and a broad spectrum of densities from highly porous to highly dense. The applications for PM components are unusually diverse, in line with this spectrum of metallurgical and technical variations.
In recent decades many new PM parts have been developed for the automotive, aerospace, engineering and electrical engineering industries: highly dense and high-strength sintered parts made of iron and steel, oil-lubricated sintered porous bearings, sintered filters, friction materials, highly complex injection moulded parts (MIM), sintered hard metal for cutting tools and wearing parts with additional mechanically resistant layers (oxide, carbide, diamond-coated etc. and multilayers), ultrahard diamond tools and semi-finished PM parts such as rapid-machining steels, heavy metals and super alloys.
Powder metal injection moulding in particular has gained ground steadily in recent years. However, advances are continuing to be made in the manufacture of high-performance components of aluminium with PM technologies. More and more engineers are recognising the excellent properties of this material and the weight savings that can be made by using PM parts based on aluminium.
In addition, good future prospects are predicted in the field of new drive systems for magnets made using powder metallurgy techniques (e.g. rare-earth magnets based on neodymium, iron and boron). Without these materials many improvements in communication technology, drive technology, control and measurement technology, vehicle manufacture and medical diagnostics would simply not be possible.
The annual global production of the powder metallurgy products mentioned here was over €30 billion in 2007. The largest proportion of this, at around €16 billion, is accounted for by hard metals. Worldwide production of PM parts based on iron is now worth over €6 billion . Of this, Europe has a share of around 27 percent.
ENDS