Home Assignment (Powder Metallurgy), ME 406, 2017-18

A4MA
Q. Questions
No.
1 Explain why porosity impairs the mechanical properties of P/M parts, and why it impairs tensile and
impact properties more than compressive strength or hardness.

2 A Cu – 5Sn bronze is prone to coring. Show that why should be so and consider whether coring could
be eliminated more rapidly in a casting or in a powder metallurgy part.

3 A compacted body of Ni powder is sintered into a 30 mm diameter 50 mm tall cylinder which, upon
weighing, is found to have a mass of 290 gm. Calculate:
(i) Apparent density, (ii) the % theoretical density, and (iii) the void volume (porosity) in percent.

4 Assuming that the cylinder of 30 mm diameter 50 mm tall is sintered until full theoretical density is
obtained, and shrinkage is uniform in all directions, calculate the dimensions of the cylinder.

5 Cylindrical ligaments are thrown off a spinning disk atomizer with a length to diameter ratio 5.3 and a
length of 40 µm. a) What size spheres will result if the surface energy remains constant when the
ligaments decompose? b) How many equal sized spheres will result from this ligament?

6 A cylinder of do/ho=1 is compacted to 70% theoretical density by cold pressing a steel powder. Full
density and high strength are to be obtained by hot upsetting the cylinder to ¼ of its original height. (i)
What diameter should one expect, approximately, after upsetting? (ii) Should one anticipate cracking
in upsetting? If yes, where and why? (Illustrate with sketch) (iii) If cracking is a danger, how could it
be prevented?

7 Ni-powder is sometimes consolidated by cold rolling into a thin strip. After trimming the edges of the
green strip, it is sintered and cold rolled again. During this second cold – rolling operation, edge
cracking may occur. (i) What feature of the rolling process is responsible for cracking? (ii) What
feature of the sintered product contributes to cracking? (iii) What could be done to eliminate or reduce
cracking?
8 The total work needed in milling a brittle material is proportional to the inverse square-root of the
particle size. What is the relative difference in required energy to form a 10 µm and a 1 µm powder?

9 A green compact of 65% density is to be sintered to 86% density. What is the expected densification
parameter and linear shrinkage?

10 The Reynolds number must be below 1.2 for Stokes law to be valid in performing as sedimentation
analysis for particle size. For Al spheres settling in water, what is the maximum particle diameter for
which sedimentation is valid? (ρAl=2.7g/cm3, ρwater=1.0 g/cm3, viscosity of water 10-2g/s/cm)

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 Home Assignment (Powder Metallurgy), ME 406, 2017-18
A4MA
11 The ratio of the tap to apparent densities has been proposed as a particle shape index. Discuss such a
ratio and the possible combined influence of particle shape and size.

12 A polydisperse powder sample is analyzed for particle size using optical microscopy, giving a mean
size of13m. A second analysis is performed using sedimentation, giving a mean size of 28m. Give
some possible reasons for the difference in mean sizes.

13 The green density for a stainless steel powder is to be 6.5g/ cm3. The ρapparent density is 2.7g/ cm3.
What is the compression ratio and what is the required powder fill height for a final compact height of
40mm.

14 Two laboratories conduct sieve analysis for irregular shaped powder. The first laboratory reports the
mean size as 54m, while the second claims it to be 75m. Explain why these values differ.

15 Approximately how many particles are contained in a 10g sample of +325 to -270 mesh iron powder
and what is the estimated surface area?(Density=7.86 g/cm3).

16 Two different tungsten powders (ρW=19.3 g/cm3) are

properties of the powders A B
analyzed for particle size using a streaming technique and 2
specific surface area, m /g 0.26 0.12
found to have an equivalent mean size of 5m. However
apparent density, g/cm3 2.3 4.5
the other properties are quite different as given in table: 3
a. Explain the difference in surface areas. tap density, g/cm 4.6 8.1
b. What equivalent spherical diameter would give the same surface area?
c. What difference in the powders might explain the packing properties?
d. What additional information would be useful?

17 Calculate the upward gas flow velocity for air so that a 10m particle of lead will be levitated (held in
a constant position) against gravity. (Air viscosity=1.8x10-4g/s/cm, Pb density=11.4g/cm3)

18 Data is collected by sedimentation for an Al powder (density=2.7g/cm3) as follows:

size range, m 0-1 1-2 2-4 4-8 8-12 12-20 20-32 32-44 44-88 >88
weight, g 0.0 0.4 5.5 23.4 19.0 17.6 5.9 1.1 0.3 0.0

a. Give a particle size distribution plot showing the cumulative weight % versus the log of the
particle size
b. What is the mean particle size on a weight basis?
c. Estimate the mean particle size on a population basis
d. What techniques for size analysis would be applicable to this powder?

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 Home Assignment (Powder Metallurgy), ME 406, 2017-18
A4MA
19 A spherical 20m particle of titanium (ρ=4.5 g/cm3) has a 5m spherical void in its centre. What will
be the terminal settling velocity for this particle in water? How does this compare to the terminal
velocity for a pore free particle of the same diameter (ρ water=1.0 g/cm3, viscosity of water 10-2g/s/cm).
Air is permeated through a tube (1 cm2 cross sectional area by 1 cm long)containing Mo powder with
an ρapparent of 4.5 g/cm3.At one atmosphere pressure differential(2 atmospheres to 1 atmosphere)the
measured flow velocity is 0.15 cm/s. What is the equivalent spherical diameter?
(Air viscosity=1.8x10-4g/s/cm, ρMo =10.2g/cm3)

20 What powder characteristics might cause the surface areas to differ when measured by permeability
and by gas adsorption?

21 A 200 g sample is used to measure the particle size of spherical nickel powder. Assuming the size is
120 m, how many particles are in the sample? (Density of Ni=8.9 g/cm3)

22 What powder characteristics might cause the surface areas to differ when measured by permeability
and by gas adsorption?

23 Assume that the surface of an iron particle is covered with a 0.1-μm-thick oxide layer. What is the
volume occupied by this layer if the copper particle itself is 150 μm in diameter? What would be the
role of this oxide layer in subsequent processing of the powders?

24 Calculate the shape index k using equation S = k/m D (m is metal density, D is particle diameter and
S is specific surface area) for a regular parallelepiped particle with an axial ratio of 1:2:8.

25 Compare the design considerations for P/M products with those for products made by: (i) casting and
(ii) forging. Describe your observations.