THE COLD ISOSTATIC PRESSING OF COMPOSITE POWDERS .1. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS USING MODEL POWDERS

The cold isostatic pressing of composite powders was experimentally in vestigated using model rigid-plastic composite powders consisting of m ixtures of Plasticene spheres and various amounts, sizes and shapes of rigid inclusions. The model powders were densified in a pressure vess el which was instrumented to allow for the continuous monitoring of th e pressure and relative density of the powders. Several inclusion prop erties significantly affect the densification of the composite powders : the inclusion volume fraction, the size of a rigid inclusion relativ e to the plastic spheres and the aspect ratio (maximum dimension/minim um dimension) of an inclusion. Powders with a high volume fraction of inclusions, small relative inclusion size, and/or large inclusion aspe ct ratio required the greatest pressures to densify. Copyright (C) 199 6 Acta Metallurgica Inc.