TENSILE CHARACTERISTICS OF NITROGEN ENHANCED POWDER INJECTION-MOLDED 316L STAINLESS-STEEL

A simple, inexpensive change in powder injection moulding sintering pr ocedure resulted in a product with superior tensile properties and in reduced operating costs. By processing in a nitrogen gas environment i nstead of in an inert gas environment nitrogen was alloyed to 316L sta inless steel powder during the sintering and densification step. Inter stitial nitrogen concentration of 0.4 wt-% increased the yield strengt h by over 100%. Graphs of tensile properties versus temperature of pow der injection moulded stainless steels with and without nitrogen were found to be comparable with those observed for similar as cast alloys. (C) 1996 The Institute of Materials.