Degreasing behavior of iron-based powder metallurgy complex parts by warm flow compaction

Water-atomized iron powders were used by warm flow compaction to fabricate cross-shaped parts.The degrease process and microstructure of sintered parts were investigated.The optimal degrease process is to raise the temperature from ambient temperature to 160 ℃,then raise to 300 ℃ at a rate of 1 ℃·min^-1 and hold at 300 ℃ for 0.5 h,followed by raising the temperature to 450 ℃ at a rate of 1.5 ℃·min^-1 and hold at 450 ℃ for 0.5 h.Sintering was carried out at 1 300 ℃.It is shown that at the proper degreasing parameters the warm flow compaction method can produce complex-shaped components with low cost.