For attaining optimum fatigue resistance of PM steels, high density levels are necessary. In this work, sintered steels Fe-1.5%Mo-0.6%C and Fe-1.5%Cr-0.2%Mo-0.6%C were produced with density levels of 7.1 to . Ultrasonic fatigue testing with 20 kHz was performed in push-pull mode up to 10E9 cycles. It was shown that the fatigue endurance strength is strongly improved by higher density levels, but also higher sintering temperatures are beneficial. The Cr-Mo steels proved to be superior to the plain Mo alloyed, due to a more favourable as-sintered matrix microstructure.

We present a systematic study of the heating and pre-sintering behavior of porous copper powder metal compacts. We employ a TE102 single mode microwave system to position the samples in the separated electric field (E) or magnetic field (H) anti-node of the cavity. We observe significant differences in the heating, pre-sintering, and microstructure evolution of the samples due to the individual fields. We note that sample history (whether heated first in the E-field or H-field) greatly effects a difference in heating trends and subsequent heating behavior and does not appear to be solely a thermal process.

Crack initiation and short crack propagation was studied on the polished notched surfaces of Cr-Mo prealloy sintered steels with 7.35 sintered density. An ultrasonic resonance test system operating in push-pull mode at 20 kHz and R=-1 was used. It showed that crack initiation took place in several places, small cracks growing oriented to the local pore structure rather than to stress orientation. Their growth rate is markedly higher than the corresponding one of long cracks. Finally, several microcracks join to form a dominant crack.