Machinability is more important in extending the applications of powder metallurgy (PM). This article provides an overview of the machining process and machinability measurement of PM steels. It discusses various approaches to improve machinability, including the closure of porosity, green machining, presintering, microcleanliness improvement, free-machining additives, microstructure modification, and improvements in tool materials. The effects of free-machining agents on machinability and the sintered properties of PM steels are also reviewed.

Machining is a term that covers a large collection of manufacturing processes designed to remove unwanted material, usually in the form of chips, from a workpiece. This article discusses the basic classes of machining operations, including conventional, abrasive, and nontraditional, and outlines the type of costs incurred by the process. It describes the types of machining equipment, including general-purpose machine tools, production machining systems, and computer numerically controlled machining systems. The article lists the common classes of metallic work materials, in order of decreasing machinability. It also shows the range of dimensional and surface finish tolerances in graphical form that can be achieved using various machining processes under general machining conditions.

This article describes the influence of steel chemical compositions and microstructure on machining processes. It discusses the various microstructural phases of standard carbon and alloy steels, which influence machinability. The article reviews the expected response of several traditional machining operations, such as turning, drilling, milling, shaping, thread cutting, and grinding, to the microstructure of standard steel grades. It also explains the technologies in non-traditional machining processes, such as abrasive waterjet cutting, electrical chemical grinding, and laser drilling.

Fabrication of wrought stainless steels requires use of greater power, more frequent repair or replacement of processing equipment, and application of procedures to minimize or correct surface contamination because of its greater strength, hardness, ductility, work hardenability and corrosion resistance. This article provides a detailed account of such difficulties encountered in the fabrication of wrought stainless steel by forming, forging, cold working, machining, heat treating, and joining processes. Stainless steels are subjected to various heat treatments such as annealing, hardening, and stress relieving. Stainless steels are commonly joined by welding, brazing, and soldering. The article lists the procedures and precautions that should be instituted during welding to ensure optimum corrosion resistance and mechanical properties in the completed assembly.

An understanding of the influence of microstructure on machinability can provide an insight into more efficient machining and the correct solution to problems. Providing numerous microstructures to depict examples, this article describes the relationship between the microstructure and machinability of cast irons, steels, and aluminum alloys. It presents data on hardness values and the effect of the matrix microstructure of cast iron on tool life. It also explains how a higher inclusion count improves the machinability of steels and why aluminum alloys can be machined at very high speeds.

The machinability of stainless steels varies from low to very high, depending on the final choice of the alloy. This article discusses general material and machining characteristics of stainless steel. It briefly describes the classes of stainless steel, such as ferritic, martensitic, austenitic, duplex, and precipitation-hardenable alloys. The article examines the role of additives, such as sulfur, selenium, tellurium, lead, bismuth, and certain oxides, in improving machining performance. It provides ways to minimize difficulties involved in the traditional machining of stainless steels. The article describes turning, drilling, tapping, milling, broaching, reaming, and grinding operations on stainless steel. It concludes with information on some of the nontraditional machining techniques, including abrasive jet machining, abrasive waterjet machining electrochemical machining, electron beam machining, and plasma arc machining.

This article provides a discussion on the machining guidelines that serve to improve the machinability of powder metallurgy materials. It provides a description of various cutting tool grades and tool-edge design and describes the machining conditions for common operations, namely, turning, drilling, tapping, grinding, and finishing. The article introduces a few overlooked details that can heavily influence the performance and success of the machining process. These include dwell, margin design on round tools, and proper edge hone.

Machining or material removal processes are secondary manufacturing operations that are used to achieve precise tolerances or to impart controlled surface finishes to a part. This article summarizes rules for designing parts to improve machined part quality and reduce machining costs in mass and batch production environments. It discusses the factors affecting the total cost of a machining operation, including raw material costs, labor costs, and equipment costs. The article describes three types of machining systems, namely, general-purpose machine tools, production machining systems, and computer numerically controlled (CNC) machining systems. It reviews general design-for-machining rules that are applicable to all parts, regardless of the type of equipment used to produce them. Special considerations for production machining systems and CNC machining systems are discussed. The article describes the structure and typical uses of computer-aided process planning and design-for-manufacturing programs.

The machinability of carbon and alloy steels is affected by many factors, such as the composition, microstructure, and strength level of the steel; the feeds, speeds, and depth of cut; and the choice of cutting fluid and cutting tool material. This article describes the influence of the various attributes of carbon and alloy steels on machining characteristics. It lists the relative machinability ratings for some plain carbon steels, standard resulfurized steels, and several alloy steels. The addition of lead to carbon steels is one of the means of increasing the machinability of the steel and improving the surface finish of machined parts. Low carbon content of carburizing steels may be beneficial to tool life and production rate. The sulfur content of through-hardening alloy steels can significantly affect machining behavior. Cold drawing generally improves the machinability of steels containing less than about 0.2% carbon.

Powder metallurgy (PM) stainless steels, as with conventional PM steels, are often used in the as-sintered condition. In addition to cost considerations, minimization of postsinter handling and secondary operations is also preferred because it reduces the potential for contamination of the parts with particulates and residues, which can result in the appearance of surface rust. This article provides information on various secondary operations, including tumbling, re-pressing, resin impregnation, annealing or heat treating, brazing, machining, and welding. It describes those aspects relating to welding of PM stainless steels, specifically, the effects of density, residual porosity, and sintered chemistry on weldability. Further, the article investigates the influence the sintering atmosphere has on machinability, as well as differences created by the presence of residual porosity.

This datasheet provides information on composition limits, heat treatment, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and applications of free-machining aluminum alloys 6033, 6040 and 6041.

Ceramics are materials with the potential for a wide range of high-speed finishing operations and for high removal rate machining of difficult-to-machine materials. This article describes the production process, composition, properties, and applications of ceramic tool materials. It presents a comprehensive discussion on the properties and composition of alumina-base tool materials, including alumina and titanium carbide, alumina-zirconia, and silicon carbide whisker reinforced alumina, and silicon nitride base tool materials.

This article presents the analytics challenges in additive manufacturing. It discusses the types and applications of data analytics. Data analytics can be classified into four types: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive. The diverse applications of data analytics and machine learning include design, process-structure-properties (PSP) relationships, and process monitoring and quality control. The article also presents tools used for data analytics.

The primary goal of quality control in electron beam (EB) welding is to consistently produce defect-free and structurally sound welds. This article discusses the common procedures for controlling the EB welding process, the control of the essential machine parameters, and the introduction of closed-loop controls and diagnostic feedback systems in the EB welding systems. It reviews the beam diagnostic tools that interrogate the beam to produce a reconstruction of the power density distribution and provide additional information on the size and shape of the EB. Knowledge of these beam parameters can be used to improve process understanding and control. The article also describes the application areas of beam diagnostics: machine characterization, weld parameter transfer, and weld quality control.

Rapid prototyping (RP) is a field in manufacturing involving techniques/devices that produce prototype parts directly from computer-aided design models in a fraction of time. This article discusses the principles of RP and three major commercial processes, based on their layer creation method. These include selective cure layered processes, extrusion/droplet deposition processes, and sheet form fabricators. The article provides information on the three classes of RP, namely, voxel sequential volume addition, periphery cutting, and area sequential volume addition. It presents equations that represent build times for each of the three classes.

Cemented carbides belong to a class of hard, wear-resistant, refractory materials in which the hard carbide particles are bound together, or cemented, by a ductile metal binder. Cermet refers to a composite of a ceramic material with a metallic binder. This article discusses the manufacture, composition, classifications, and physical and mechanical properties of cemented carbides. It describes the application of hard coatings to cemented carbides by physical or chemical vapor deposition (PVD or CVD). Tungsten carbide-cobalt alloys, submicron tungsten carbide-cobalt alloys, and alloys containing tungsten carbide, titanium carbide, and cobalt are used for machining applications. The article also provides an overview of cermets used in machining applications.

This datasheet provides information on key alloy metallurgy, fabrication characteristics, processing effects on physical and mechanical properties, and general applications of free machining aluminum alloys 2011 and 2012. The effect of cutting speed on cutting force for different aluminum alloys is also illustrated.

This article discusses the types and operations of the most common machines used for die threading. The construction, types, and comparison of solid and self-opening dies are discussed. The article explains the modification of chasers for threading Monel shaft. The principal factors that influence thread quality, production rate, and cost in die threading are composition and hardness of work metal; accuracy and finish; thread size; obstacles, such as shoulders or steps; speed; lead control; and cutting fluid. The article examines these factors and describes the tools and cutting fluids used for pipe threading along with the severity of stop lines.

Powder metallurgy is a near-net shape process capable of producing complex parts with little or no need for secondary operations such as machining, joining, or assembly. However, the inability to produce certain geometrical figures such as transverse holes, undercuts, and threads frequently necessitates some machining, particularly drilling. This article provides a discussion on the measures that can optimize the machining of P/M materials. It reviews the factors influencing machinability of P/M components, including workpiece and tool material properties, cutting conditions, machine and cutting tool parameters as well as some P/M material and production process parameters. These parameters discussed include the particle size, part geometry, porosity, compaction and sintering methods. In addition, the article presents guidelines for the various machining processes, namely, turning and boring, milling, drilling, grinding, reaming, burnishing, tapping, and honing and lapping.