Current Project Information
CPMT is presently involved in the following projects:
Fatigue Testing
This project will investigate of strain-controlled, low-cycle axial fatigue response of steel and aluminum PM steel materials and process conditions. The building of data for use with comprehensive design tools for fatigue performance is expected to continue for several years.
Rust Prevention of PM Parts
The work in this project has included comparative corrosion testing of various standard corrosion prevention solutions along with a second phase of the project which includes corrosion testing of different corrosion prevention packaging methodologies.
Impact Testing of PM Gear Teeth
This project will investigate the impact resistance of the gear teeth for different PM materials and processing parameters. The project goal is to identify powder metallurgy materials and processing techniques capable of replacing wrought 8620 case hardening gears commonly utilized in AG applications along with other similar gearing applications that are subject to high impact loads.
Guideline Development for the Joining of Powder Metallurgy Components
The purpose of this project is to document guidelines for various joining technologies commonly utilized to join Powder Metallurgy Components.
Inputs Needed for FEA Modeling of PM Materials
The purpose of this project is to identify what inputs or recommendations are needed so that FEA modeling of powder metallurgy materials do not under predict the actual performance of the powder metallurgy materials in applications. Many FEA users have expressed opinions that when they utilize published MPIF Std 35 data for PM materials in FEA software, the FEA software under predicts the PM material strength by 50 to 75% in both monotonic and fatigue strength applications as compared to real life bench testing results. The project work underway is to attempt to identify FEA modeling methodologies and recommendations to reflect powder metallurgy materials performance capabilities more accurately.
Defect Identification and Reduction in the PM Process
This project goal is to identify the largest sources of variation, scrap and rework within the conventional powder metallurgy parts manufacturing sector. Information gathered from conventional powder metallurgy parts companies will be utilized to prioritize future CPMT projects and activities that focus on reducing sources of process variation, scrap and rework.