MEMORANDUM

TO: Dr. H. Jack, P. Eng.

FROM: Scott Woodard

SUBJECT: Sinter Metals Tour

DATE: 4-8-97

Professor Jack:

I found it to be a very interesting tour. I know that we had previously discussed the process in EGR 367, but without actually seeing it done, I was still not sure of the exact details of the process. It was amazing just how brittle that the gears are after they have been stamped, but before they have been sintered. I also found it quite interesting how they were changing the wear properties of the gears by adding the copper to them as they went through the sintering oven. I would never have guessed that the copper would be wicked completely throughout the material. I was also surprised at how fine the powder actually is that the products are made from. It was quite interesting to hear about how the lubricants are added to the powder material to assist them in coming out from the die after the stamping process. It seems that this would adversely affect the material properties that they are trying to achieve through the mixture recipe. It was also interesting to see the difference between a coining operation (after sintering) and a briquetting operation (before sintering). I also found it to be quite interesting to see how they tested the strength of the gear teeth in their quality test lab. The tour really opened my eyes to the possibilities of powder metal technology. I found the tour to be well put together, as well as informative.

Regards,

Scott Woodard