MANFACTURING

6.1 MANUFACTURING METHODS OF CONNECTING ROD

1. Casting 2. Forging 3. Direct machining 4. Powder metallurgy

Casting: It is defined as the process of making casts or molds. Something cast in a mold.
The act of throwing a fishing line.

Forging: It is defined as the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. Direct machining: It is defined as the process of removing metal to form or finish a
part.

Powder metallurgy: It is defined as the technology of powder metals, especially the

production utilization of metallic objects. With high quality of material purity.

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6.2 POWDER METALLURGY

Powder metallurgy is a forming and fabrication technique consisting of three major processing stages. First, the primary material is physically powdered, divided into many small individual particles. Next, the powder is injected into a mold or passed through a die to produce a weakly cohesive structure (via cold welding) very near the dimensions of the object ultimately to be manufactured. Pressures of 10-50 tons per square inch are commonly used. Also, to attain the same compression ratio across more complex pieces, it is often necessary to use lower punches as well as an upper punch. Finally, the end part is formed by applying pressure, high temperature, long setting times (during which selfwelding occurs), or any combination thereof. Two main techniques used to form and consolidate the powder are sintering and metal injection molding. Recent developments have made it possible to use rapid manufacturing techniques which use the metal powder for the products. Because with this technique the powder is melted and not sintered, better mechanical strength can be accomplished.

6.3 Design Considerations:

The powder metallurgy manufacturer is often confronted by a drawing for a component designed with an alternative manufacturing process in mind. It is not sensible or desirable for the powder metallurgy component manufacturer to attempt to quote or produce to these drawings or designs as it is likely that certain features cannot be produced. It is desirable to redesign the component so that it can fulfill its design function, as well as take full advantage of the powder metallurgy process, in particular cost effective manufacture to near neat shape with close dimensional tolerances. There are a few simple factors to consider:
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The need to avoid feather-edged tooling. Stresses on the edge would cause it to deform under pressing loads and bind against the mating parts of the tooling. (This problem can be overcome by the use of a small flat section.) The inability of the powder metallurgy process to introduce re-entrant angle and cross holes. Such features would have to be machined using a post processing step. Sharp corners should be avoided, being replaced by small radiuses. The need to be able to eject the part from the tools after pressing Other design rules relate to the practicalities of producing certain tooling configurations and have to be considered on a component-by-component basis.

6.4 MATERIALS USED FOR CONNECTING ROD:

Steel Light alloy metals

Aluminum Titanium

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6.5 Practicalities of Production:

There are constraints on the height and wall thickness of parts. The initial height of powder in the die is about 2.5 times that of the pressed compact. Consequently components with final dimensions of height to wall thickness of greater than about 16:1 are not possible. Filling also becomes a problem with this height to wall ratio when the wall thickness itself is small. Usually wall thicknesses of less than 2 mm at this ratio are not possible. Normally a powder metallurgy component is a single, pressed and sintered part. It is possible to produce a complex component, impossible to press in one operation, by pressing two simpler sub-components and co-sintering, or sinter-brazing them together during the sintering process. Co-sintering relies upon the interdiffusion of the two parts during sintering with no additional joining aid, whereas sinter brazing uses an intermediate layer of a braze material between the two parts, which joins them together whilst they are at the sintering temperature. A third option is to resistance weld the two parts together after sintering. It is highly desirable to seek the advice of a powder metallurgy component manufacturer to ascertain the most cost effective design for the component by discussing the function of the component and all of the critical features.

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6.6 Generation of powder:

Powders are manufactured by various methods. The size of the powder largely effects the properties of the part produced. Some of the methods to generate the powders are

1) Mechanical processes
a. Machining b. Crushing c. milling d. shooting e. Graining f. Atomization

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2) Physical processes
a. Condensation b. Thermal decomposition

3) Chemical processes
a. Reduction b. Intergrannular corrosion c. Generation of powders from aqueous solutions by precipitation d. Electro chemical process. A right type of powder should be employed for producing a part with required properties.

6.7 Blending or mixing:

Powders are to be blended or mixed properly for obtaining the required properties after sintering. In this process the powder and blender are mixed together very finely. A lubricant is also employed some times to reduce the friction and hence obtaining a finer mixing. The lubricant should be removed of the die before submitting it for sintering as the presence of lubricant may change the properties of the final object. Many types of blenders are being used for the manufacturing of various parts by powder metallurgy technique.

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6.8 Compacting:
Compacting is done for shaping of the powder in to the required shape. In this the mixed mixture is subjected to pressure and due to the application of pressure the gap between the molecules gets reduced and the powder becomes compact and gains sufficient strength to with stand ejection and handling. Pressures applied on the powder should be strictly regulated as if low pressures are applied on then the part generated will be very fragile in nature. If the pressure applied is more then there may be a deformation of tool. In general a pressure of 1to 150N.m2. Compacting is done by various processes like
Isostatic pressing

b. Explosive forming c. Powder rolling or roll compacting d. Powder extrusion e. Vibratory compacting
In addition to the forming of poper shape compacting also have other important effects

1) Density of the material is increased by removing the voids in the material 2) Adhesion and cold welding provides sufficient green strength to the part 3) Powders are plastically deformed by this due to this re crystallization occurs easily during sintering 4) Due to plastic deformation of the powder particles the contact area between the particles increases and hence helping in developing the green strength of the particle and also facilitating subsequent sintering Other than compaction shaping of powders can also be done by various other processes like 1) Hot compaction 2) Hot extrusion
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3) Hot rolling 4) Hot isostatic compaction 5) Hot coning 6) Powder (or) sinter forging

6.9 Sintering:

This process is carried out for increasing the strength and also the hardness of the part. In this the part is subjected to heating without any pressure for certain period of time under highly controlled conditions. Sintering is concerned with a. Diffusion b. Densification c. Re crystallization and grain growth

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6.9.1 Recrystallization and grain growth

This occurs between the contact surface which leads to a structure similar to the original component to be produced. Depending on the temperature of sintering these are classified in to two types 1) Solid phase sintering 2) Liquid phase sintering In solid phase sintering the part to be sintered is heated to a temperature above the Recrystallization temperature. In liquid phase sintering the part to be sintered is heated to a temperature above the melting point of one of its components or the melting point of the alloy formed. It is very necessary to maintain a proper atmosphere while sintering. Vaccum is preferred than maintaining a proper atmosphere. The atmosphere maintained during sintering may be either reducing or oxidizing or neutral. Of all reducing atmosphere is most commonly used.

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6.10 sizing or impregnation

From the above we understood that during the process of densification in sintering there may be a variation in size. So after sintering the produced part is checked by using a master die and pressure is applied over the part. This process is called sizing. Because of this process the interconnected porosity of the part gets closed and it will be not possible to fill the pores with oil or any other metal. So sizing is not frequently adopted. A pre machining operation is adopted before impregnation.

6.11 Testing and inspection

A component is to be checked clearly about its properties and other things before it is employed for the work. Some of the most commonly performed tests are 1) Compressive strength 2) Tensile strength 3) Porosity 4) Density 5) Hardness 6) Composition 7) Microstructure etc. Inspection is done on the size shape tolerances and the total number of defects. After all this if the parts is qualified then it is used for the real time applications the properties of the products obtained by sintering process depends on the following 6.12

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6.12 Parameters 1) Size of particles 2) Shape of particles 3) Distribution of particles 4) Porosity of particles 5) Density of particles 6) Chemical composition of particles 7) Surface characteristics of particles 8) Compacting pressure 9) Type of lubricant used during mixing (or) blending 10) Sintering temperature 11) Sintering time 12) Sintering type employed 13) Type of atmosphere maintained

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6.13 PRO/ENGINEER MANUFACTURING (MOLD EXTRACTION)

What You Can Do with Pro/MOLDESIGN and Pro/CASTING Pro/Moldesign is an optional module for Pro/ENGINEER that provides the tools to simulate the mold design process within Pro/ENGINEER. This module lets you create, modify, and analyze the mold components and assemblies, and quickly update them to the changes in the design model. Pro/CASTING provides tools to design die assemblies and components and prepare castings for manufacturing. Pro/MOLDESIGN and Pro/CASTING, together with Pro/ENGINEER Foundation, provide tools to do the following: Design Part Creation and Modification Create models in Pro/ENGINEER including features requiring Pro/SURFACE Import and repair geometry if necessary The import functionality can be used with the following: See Data Doctor Option and Interface for Pro/ENGINEER Analyze if a design part is moldable, using Draft Check and Thickness Check capabilities Automatically create parting lines and detect undercuts using Silhouette Curve functionality Fix problem areas by creating draft, rounds, and other features as needed Cavity Creation

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Assemble and orient design model dynamically while checking draft and projected area Apply a shrinkage that corresponds to design part material, geometry, and molding conditions Automatically create the workpiece stock from which core, cavity, and inserts will be split Create parting geometry, including sliders, inserts, automatic parting lines, and automatic parting surfaces Automatically split the workpiece to create cores, cavity, and inserts as solid models For casting, create and assemble sand cores Mold Layout Creation About Mold Layout The Mold Layout application provides a dynamic environment for designing and assembling single or multi-cavity tooling in an assembly. Mold Layout also provides efficient tools for fast and robust design of single or multi-cavity molds. You can easily populate your assembly with cavity subassemblies, a mold base assembly, standard components, and an injection molding machine. You can also create some mold-specific features. The Mold Layout application is mold functionality that is accessible from Assembly mode. You create or open a regular assembly (.asm) file to use this application. You can switch from working on a multi-cavity mold assembly to working on an individual cavity. To do this, use a regular assembly structure where the multi-cavity mold assembly model is a top level assembly and each cavity model is a subassembly. These cavity subassemblies are represented by Mold or Cast assemblies
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You can make changes in one cavity assembly model appear in all cavity assembly models in the multi-cavity mold assembly. The cavity population tool allows flexible patterning of the cavities according to rectangular, circular, and user defined pattern rules. You can add, remove, move, or reorient each cavity pattern member individually, or even replace any cavity model with a family table instance. Other functions specific to Mold Layout are as follows: Selecting and placing mold bases with the Mold Base Selection dialog box Selecting and placing Injection Molding Machine models Creating runners at the assembly level Creating waterlines at the assembly level Creating ejector pin holes at the assembly level Using the standard component Catalog to add, redefine, delete, trim, and cut components Opening the mold by defining steps, deleting, modifying, reordering, and exploding The Mold Layout application contains the same basic Mold Opening information as the Mold or Die Opening process. Click Mold or Die Opening Process in the Help Table of Contents for more information. Create top level mold assembly Placement and patterning of mold cavities to allow multi-cavity molding Online selection and automatic assembly of standard mold bases

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Modification of mold base plates to allow for assembly of mold cavity Online selection and automatic assembly of ejector pins and other Mold Catalog items Automated creation of runners Automated creation of waterlines, including 3-D waterline interference checks Define and simulate mold opening and check for interference between mold components Drawing Creation Create complete production drawings, including dimensions, tolerances, automatic bill of materials (BOMs) with or without balloon notes Use of drawing templates

About Splitting to Volumes

Instead of creating a volume, you can split the work piece into one volume or two volumes using one of the following Split commands:

MOLD > Feature > Work piece > Solid Split MOLD > Mold Volume > Split Features resulting from the splitting are created as assembly features. Splitting does not alter work piece or die block geometry. Whenever a work piece or die block is split, the system copies the work pieces or die blocks into one or two volumes that you can then use in creating mold components or die blocks. You can split the work piece or die block or a mold or cast volume using a surface, a parting surface, or a volume. You can specify that you want to ignore one of the volumes and create a volume to one side of the parting surface only.
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About Extracting Mold Components or Die Blocks

Mold components or die blocks are produced by filling previously defined mold volumes with solid material. This process, performed automatically, is called extracting. Extract features looks for mold or die volumes at the assembly level for extraction into parts. When a split results in more than two volumes, the system prompts you to classify the extracted part as belonging to one volume or another. Once extracted, the mold components or die blocks are fully functional Pro/ENGINEER parts; they can be retrieved in Part mode, used in drawings, machined with Pro/NC. New features can be added, such as chamfers, rounds, cooling passages, draft, gating, and runners.

About Applying Shrinkage :

You must consider the shrinkage of the material and proportionally increase dimensions of the reference model before you start molding the reference model. You can apply shrinkage to the reference model in Mold (Cast) mode and depending on the method of applying shrinkage, it may propagate to the design model. You can also apply shrinkage to the design model or reference model in Part mode. The two methods of applying shrinkage are: By Dimension allows you to set up one shrink coefficient for all model dimensions, and specify shrink coefficients for individual dimensions. You can choose to apply shrinkage to the design model. By Scaling allows you to shrink the part geometry by scaling it with respect to a coordinate system. You can specify different shrinkage ratio for the X-, Y-, and Z-

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coordinates. If you apply shrinkage in Mold (Cast) mode, it applies only to the reference model and does not affect the design model. Pro/ENGINEER uses two formulae to calculate shrinkage. The formula 1/(1S) allows you to specify a shrinkage factor that is based upon the final geometry of the reference part once shrinkage is applied. The formula 1+S uses a pre-calculated shrinkage factor that is based upon the original geometry of the part.

To Specify a Shrinkage Formula

Click MOLD (CAST) > Shrinkage. The SHRINKAGE menu appears. Note: If you are in the part mode, click Edit > Setup. The PART SETUP menu appears. Click Shrinkage. The SHRINKAGE menu appears. Click By Dimension or By Scaling. Alternatively, you can click or on the toolbar. The Shrinkage by Dimension or Shrinkage by Scale dialog boxes open, respectively. Under Formula, select 1+S or 1/ (1-S) to calculate the shrinkage ratio. 1+Sspecifies a pre calculated shrinkage ratio based on the original geometry of the part. This is the default. 1/ (1S)Specifies a shrinkage ratio based on the resulting geometry of the part, after shrinkage is applied.

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