The achievement of high density at reasonable cost is one of the major challenges of the P/M industry. One of the key factors contributing to the compressibility of a mix is the lubricant. New experimental lubricants enabling higher green density by conventional compaction or temperature-controlled die compaction were identified. The compaction and ejection characteristics of these new lubricants as measured with a fully instrumented lab press are presented and compared to that of conventional lubricants.

Premixes treated with a binder, such as in the FLOMET process, exhibit better flow, reduced dusting and segregation and improved productivity and part consistency compared to conventional premixes. The binder treatment is highly suitable for high performance P/M applications which often require premixes containing very fine alloying additives and excellent die filling characteristics. With this process, various binders and lubricants can be utilized in order to make premixes with unique properties. In this paper, the characteristics and performances of bonded premixes are reported.