The Press and Sinter module will go into both fundamental and practical facets of the conventional powder processing route comprising pressing and sintering operations, as well as properties of sintered materials.
In the two first days, classes will alternate with lab work, starting with pressing on Monday and continuing with sintering on Tuesday. In both cases, the one-hour courses including basic and technological issues will be given by academic and industrial experts. During the lab work the participants will use the facilities of SIMAP laboratory of Grenoble INP. They will handle die pressing and free sintering devices, analyse powder compressibility and sintering shrinkage curves so as to identify densification mechanisms and observe the microstructure of sintered materials by electron microscopy.
In the third day, additional courses will involve process modelling and properties of sintered materials (mainly steels and cemented carbides). A more general lecture on material selection methods will also presented. Next, participant teams will be formed and each team will be asked to design a PM material and process allowing for the fabrication of a specific component.
The fourth day will be spent in a site of Hyperion company, in the Grenoble area. The participants will first visit the plant where cemented carbide components are fabricated by powder pressing and sintering. Next they will continue the team projects started the day before, with the help of Hyperion staff.
In the morning of the fifth day, two lectures will deal with specific applications of press and sinter processing and one on the common matter of entrepreneurship and innovation. Finally, a short exam will control the knowledge and expertise gained by the students during the full week.
For more information on Press and Sinter, EPMA has a short introduction here.
Date:
Location: Grenoble, France
Fees*: Regular €2000 / Academic €1000 / Individual (unemployed) €400
Academic Partner: Grenoble, INP
Industrial Partner: Sintertech, CEA
(* Fees include 5 nights accommodation/lunches/refreshements/training material. For additional internship week and/or additional PM life modules on other topics, please refer to the fees page)
Registration Deadline:
Programme:
| Time | Session | Lecturer |
| 09:00 | Presentation of PM Life programme and Press&Sinter Training week | Mr Didier Bouvard (Grenoble INP) |
| 09:10 |
Introduction to Powder Metallurgy |
Mr Didier Bouvard (Grenoble INP) |
| 09:30 |
Fundamentals of pressing |
Mr Didier Bouvard (Grenoble INP) |
| 10:30 | Break | |
| 11:00 |
Pressing and design of steel powder compacts |
Mr Vincent Bonnefoy |
| 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 |
Lab work |
Experimental and modeling work in SIMAP laboratory of Grenoble INP |
| 17:30 |
End of course |
Mr Luc Salvo (Grenoble INP) |
| 19:00 | Welcome party |
| Time | Session | Details |
| 08:30 |
Fundamentals of sintering |
Mr Jean-Michel Missiaen (Grenoble INP) |
| 09:30 | Liquid phase sintering |
Mr Jean-Michel Missiaen (Grenoble INP) |
| 10:30 | Break | |
| 11:00 | Study of process variation sources in industrial sintering furnaces |
Mr Philippe François (Rio Tinto Metal Powders) |
| 12:00 | Conveyor belt sintering furnaces |
Mr Michael Kanaan (Cremer Thermoprozessanlagen) |
| 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Lab work |
Experimental and modelling work in SIMAP laboratory of Grenoble INP |
| 17:30 | End of course |
|
| Time | Session | Details |
| 08:30 | Materials selection | Luc Salvo (Grenoble INP) |
| 09:30 | Modelling of pressing | Luc Federzoni (CEA Grenoble) |
| 10:30 | Break | |
| 11:00 | Mechanical properties of sintered steels | Guillaume Champion (Högänas) |
| 12:00 | Modelling of sintering | Didier Bouvard (Grenoble INP) |
|
13:00 |
Lunch | |
| 14:00 |
Press & Sinter processing of hard materials |
Jean-François Lartigue (Umicore Specialty Powders, France) |
| 15:00 | A novel concept for successive sintering and LPC treatment | Emmanuel Pauty (ECM Technology) |
| 15:30 | Break | |
| 16:00 | Team projects | |
| 18:00 | End of course |
| Time | Session | Details |
| 08:30 |
Leaving to Epinouze |
|
| 10:30 | Visit of Hyperion plant and continuation of team projects | |
| 18:00 |
Coming back from Epinouze |
|
| 20:00 | Dinner |
| Time | Session | Details |
| 08:30 |
Field assisted sintering |
Jean-Marc Chaix (Grenoble INP) |
| 09:30 | A novel route for net shape processing of medium-voltage electrical contacts |
Sophie Roure (Schneider Electric) |
| 10:30 | Break | |
| 11:00 | Entrepreneurship and Innovation | Sylvain Colomb (CEA Grenoble) |
| 12:00 |
Exam and debrief |
|
| 13:00 |
Lunch and closing |
The programme may be subject to change
