THE POWDER METALLURGY PROCESS (PM) IS A COST EFFECTIVE MEANSTO PRODUCE A VARIETY OF METAL PRODUCTS HOWEVER TOOLING COSTSAND GEOMETRIC CONSTRAINTS SEVERLY RESTRICT PART GEOMETRY ANDECONOMIC PRODUCTION QUANTITIES.

THE POWDER METALLURGY PROCESS (PM) IS A COST EFFECTIVE MEANSTO PRODUCE A VARIETY OF METAL PRODUCTS HOWEVER TOOLING COSTSAND GEOMETRIC CONSTRAINTS SEVERLY RESTRICT PART GEOMETRY ANDECONOMIC PRODUCTION QUANTITIES. A NOVEL POWDER PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY IS PROPOSED BY WHICH FULLY THREE-DIMENSIONAL PARTS CAN BE PRODUCED ECONOMICALLY IN SMALL QUANTITIES. THE PROCESS, BASED ON THE MACHINING OF COMPACTS PRIOR TO SINTERING, COMBINES THE MATERIAL UTILIZATION AND PRODUCTION RATES OF POWDER METALLURGY WITH THE FLEXIBILITY OF MACHINING. THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE PROCESS CAN BE FURTHER EXPLOITED BY INTEGRATING IT WITH CAD/CAM FACILITIES AND WITHPRODUCTION EQUIPMENT TO PROVIDE A CAPABILITY FOR AUTOMATED PRODUCTION OF CLASSES OF FULLY 3-D PRODUCTS. THE EFFECTS OF MATERIAL FORMULATION, BINDER SELECTION, MACHINING PARAMETERS, BINDER EXTRACTION, AND SINTERING CONDITIONS ON FINAL PART CHARACTERISTICS WILL BE INVESTIGATED. CRITICAL ISSUES INCLUDE "GREEN" COMPACT MACHINABILITY, FINAL PRODUCT STRENGTH AND TOUGHNESS AND THE ACCURACY WITH WHICH FINAL PART DIMENSIONS CAN BE PREDICTED. THE CONCEPTS RELATED TO AN INTEGRATED CAD/CAM POWDER PROCESSING SYSTEM WILL ALSO BE DEVELOPED. THE ANTICIPATED RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW POWDER PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY COMPATIBLEWITH THE PHILOSOPHY OF FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS AND SMALL BATCH PRODUCTION.