ROBUST SINTERING OF IRON-PHOSPHORUS P M STEEL

Robust Design, or Parameter Design, is a method developed tp adjust a production process so that the output of the process is not sensitive to disturbances of the process environment. The results of two full sc ale robust design experiments have shown how dimensional variation can be minimized and Charpy unnotched impact energy can be maximized. In endogas, sintering time, different settings of belt load, gas flow rat e and carbon potential were investigated. In dissociated ammonia, sint ering time was investigated. During both experiments, the process was disturbed simultaneously using green compacts with a controlled variat ion in green density, phosphorus content, graphite content, and Fe3P-p article size. The results show that a robust setting is possible, but conflicts arise in the setting of some variables, in order to obtain s table dimensions or high impact energy. Guidelines are given for the b est variable settings for the two scenarios.