CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Powder Metallurgy

Powder metallurgy is a process of metal-forming performed by heating compacted metal powders

to just below their melting points. The powder is a finely divided solid; the size is smaller than
1mm (0.04) in. It generally consists of three basic step: powder mixing, die compaction, and
sintering. The process involved the shaping of powder and subsequently bonding through heat
treatments or mechanical working.

2.1.1 Sample Preparation

Group 1H was assigned to work with metallurgy of a ratio 97% powder, 2% boric acid and 1%
carbon. Thus, a total of 3 grams of specimen; 2.91 grams copper, 0.06 grams boric acid and 0.03
gram carbon was weighed using a digital weight balance. Figure 1 shows the weighing process.

Figure 1: Weighing of Specimen

2
 2.1.2 Mixing

The process of mixing is as shown below:

a) The powders are put in ball mill to obtain uniform mixing.

b) It is recommended for the mixing process to be conducted in an inert atmosphere to avoid
explosion/ingestion.

2.1.3 Compaction

For this experiment, a powder charge of 1 - 2 grams is used. Two pallet components are made by
compacting of the metal powder at two different punch-loads. The die, in the form of pallet
container is made of hardened steel. In order to reduce die wall friction, the powder was lubricated
thoroughly by mixing in the solid lubricant. It is also to assist ejection of the compact die.

The process of compaction is as shown below:

a) The test equipment is setup. It is crucial to confirm the bottom position is the punch.
b) The copper is weighted carefully for 2-3 gram by using the sensitive weighting scale.
c) The powder is poured into the die cavity and level it off to obtain a uniform distribution.
d) The top punch is inserted and apply the punch load steadily until 3000 N and place it for 5
minutes.
e) The specimen is removed carefully from the die after punch. Then, the specimen is weighted
again by using the sensitive weighting scale.
f) Record all the weight data.

2.1.4 Sintering

The process of sintering is as shown below:

a) The sintering process for the specimen was conducted in furnace.

b) The sintering should be performed at 2/3 melting temperature of copper in order to avoid
structure collapse.

c) Hence, the sintering process was conducted at 723.3oC which was 2/3 of the melting
temperature of copper (1085oC).

3
d) During the sintering process, the specimen was placed under the heat lab oven.
e) First, by perching process, the oxygen was removed for 30 minutes and then, replaced by the
inert gas by inserting it into the heat lab oven and was carried out at room temperature.

f) The temperature of the heat lab oven was set to increase steadily from 30oC to 750oC for 1
hour and 30 minutes directly after 30 minutes of replacing the oxygen.

2.2 Optical Microscopy

A process that used to see the micro-structure for the specimen is called Optical Microscopy which
include the process of molding with plastic, grinding, polishing and microscopic on the surface of
the structure.

a) The specimen was carefully placed into the molding machine, after all experiment equipment
was set up.
b) Then, the molding powder was poured into the die cavity and was pressed with the top cover
and it was set up for 3 minutes period.
c) After that, the specimen was removed from the automated molding machine and was cleaned
with ethanol and nitric acid.
d) Next, the surface of the specimen was grinned from smaller to bigger grinding paper number.
Then the final product was polished.
e) In order to see the micro-structure on the surface of the polished specimen, electro
microscopic was applied on the surface. Lastly, the micro-structure can be seen and captured
with the same equipment.