 The shape of the compact must be kept as simple and uniform as

possible.

 Provision must be made for ejection of the green compact

without damaging the compact.

 P/M parts should be made with the widest acceptable tolerances

to maximize tool life

 Part walls should not be less than 1.5mm thick; thinner walls can
be achieved on small parts; walls with length to thickness ratios
above 8:1 are difficult to press.
 Steps in parts can be produced if they are simple and their size
doesn’t exceed 15% of the overall part length.
 Letters can be pressed if oriented perpendicular to the pressing
direction. Raised letters are more susceptible to damage in the
green stage and prevent stacking.
 Flanges or overhangs can be produced by a step in the die.
 A true radius cannot be pressed; instead use a chamfer.
 Dimensional tolerances are on the order of +-0.05 to 0.1 mm.
 Tolerances improve significantly with additional operations
such as sizing, machining and grinding.
 Thin walls and projections create fragile tooling.

 Holes in pressing direction can be round, square, D-shaped,

Keyed, splined or any straight-through shape.

 Draft is generally not required.

 Generous radii and fillets are desirable to extend tool life.

 Chamfers, rather the radii, are necessary on part edges to

prevent burring.
 Basic rules for the design of P/M parts
 Shape of the part must permit ejection from die
 Powder should not be required to flow into small cavities.
 The shape of the part should permit the construction of strong
tooling.
 The thickness of the part should be within the range for which
P/M parts can be adequately compacted.
 The part should be designed with as few changes in section
thickness as possible.
 Parts can be designed to take advantage of the fact that certain
forms and properties can be produced by P/M that are
impossible, impractical or uneconomical by any other method.

 The design should be consistent with available equipment.

 Consideration should be made for product tolerances.

 Design should consider and compensate for dimensional

changes that will occur after pressing.
 Die Design
 Must withstand 700 Mpa, requiring speciality designs.
 Can be automated
 1500 parts per hour not uncommon for average size part
 60000 parts per hour achievable for small, low complexity
parts in a rolling press
 Typical size part for automation is 1” cube
 Larger parts may require special machines(larger surface area,
same pressure equals larger forces involved)