Rolls 85 Which mechanical property allows metal to be deformed without breaking? For example: iron and steel powders (for automotive components), aluminium powders (for lightweight parts), copper powders (for electrical and thermal components), and titanium powders (for aerospace and biomedical applications). Selective Laser Sintering is a technique of powder forming that uses a highpower laser to fuse small particles of metal (but also ceramic and plastic) powders into a mass representing a desired 3D object. Metal FORMING Elongated grains Metal forming is a process that creates structural parts and components out of metal sheets or tubing. The metal workpieces are bent or deformed to the desired geometric shape through mechanical deformation. This process mass-produces parts used in industrial sectors such as aerospace, automotive, appliances, agriculture, consumer and commercial electronics, rail, telecommunications, marine, and petrochemical industries. Drawing Drawing is a process which uses tensile forces to stretch metal or glass: as the metal is drawn (i.e. pulled), it gets thinner and is stretched into a desired shape and thickness. This technique has long been used to produce flexible metal wires by drawing the material through a series of dies of decreasing size. Sheet metal forming Sheet metal forming involves shaping thin sheets of metal by applying pressure with presses, usually through stamping, in a wide variety of ways. Presses may be mechanical or hydraulic. There are different types of sheet forming: Rolling, in which the sheet of metal passes between rollers where it is compressed and squeezed. Direction of feed Rolls The hardness of the finished product is determined by the amount of pressure applied to the rollers: the higher the pressure, the harder the finished product; Bending, in which a force (i.e. a press) is applied to a metal sheet, causing it to bend at an angle and form the desired shape. This operation deforms the sheet along one axis, but a sequence of different operations can be done to create more complex parts; Spinning, which is used to shape round metal parts by clamping the metal sheet on the machine mandrel, then rotating it very fast, while progressively forming the desired round shape. Powder forming Powder forming is a type of technology that uses suitable powders to produce workpieces. Powders are squeezed together in a die under high pressure and then heated to temperatures below their melting points until their particles adhere to each other. The result is a solid workpiece; the process of solidification is called sintering . Stages of the Powder Metallurgy Process Powders to bend: piegare to clamp: clampare, serrare to draw: trafilare mandrel: mandrino roller: rullo sintering: sinterizzazione spinning: tornitura, filatura to squeeze: spremere Sintering Compacting Tooling 204 MECHANICS Mixing