Advantages
Cold Isostatic pressing and hot isostatic pressing Powder Metallurgy (PM) Advantages
- Uniform strength in all directions: The pressure used to compact the powder is applied equally in all directions.
- Uniform density: The resulting compacted piece will have uniform shrinkage during sintering or hot isostatic pressing with little or no warpage.
- Shape flexibility: Isostatic pressing makes it practical to produce shapes and dimensions that are difficult or impossible to produce by other methods.
- Component size: Wide range of component sizes can be made from massive 30 ton near net PM shapes down to densifying less than 100 gram MIM parts.
- Larger parts: Part sizes are limited only by the size of the isostatic pressure chamber.
- Low tooling cost: For short production runs, the tooling cost is low in comparison to other manufacturing methods.
- Enhance alloying possibilities: Able to enhance alloying elements without inducing segregation in the material.
- Reduced lead times: Complex shapes can be economically made from prototype to production quantities with significantly reduced lead times versus forgings or machined components.
- Material and machining costs: Near net shape parts can be fabricated, greatly reducing material and machining costs.
CIP PM Advantages
- High green strength: Increased possibilities for machining the compact in its green state.
- Difficult to press materials: Powders can be isostatically pressed dry without water, lubricants, or binders.
HIP PM Advantages
- Improved mechanical properties: Improved mechanical properties such as impact resistance, ductility, and fatigue strength as a result of internal porosity elimination. Equal or better than wrought.
- Isotropic Properties: Fine grain structure achieving part uniformity.
- Predictability: Greater confidence and predictability of part life due to decreasing variation in mechanical properties.
- Wear/corrosion resistance: Improved wear and corrosion resistance via the hot isostatic pressing PM route through cladding, extended alloying possibilities, control of grain size and shape, and producing homogeneous microstructures.
- Diffusion bonding: Enables diffusion bonding of similar and dissimilar materials, either in powder or solid form.
- Reduction in welds: Components can be designed and fabricated with a reduction, or complete elimination, in the number of welds and related inspections.
- Expensive Material Reduction: By cladding, components can be formed with premium/expensive materials in critical regions only.
Advantages of Hot Isostatic Pressing Casting
- Predictability: Consistency of mechanical properties improved.
- Mechanical properties: Increased tensile strength, impact strength, and ductility.
- Improved surface finish: Removes internal porosity enabling smooth, pore free wear surfaces.
- Extended service life: Fatigue life significantly increased achieving properties comparable to similar wrought alloys.
- Opens new markets: Improved properties allows penetration into new markets.
- Rejuvenation: Removes service induced porosity enabling rejuvenation of castings.
- Salvage: Allows salvage of rejected castings based on x-ray inspection.
- Quality cost: Improved and more consistent properties reducing quality assurance costs in combination with decreased scrapped castings.
- Manufacturing costs: Allows improved casting techniques such as reduced gating and feeding.
Review hot isostatic pressing and cold isostatic pressing applications.
View award-winning powder metallurgy parts made via isostatic pressing.