Undeniably, thanks to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the North American Powder Metallurgy (PM) industry endured one of the worst periods of declining production and sales (metal powders, equipment, and parts) in its history.  During the pandemic, manufacturing in North America was disrupted, hitting the PM industry especially hard, as the automotive industry, the primary consumer of PM parts, came to a standstill. Shelter-in-place mandates resulted in more people cooking at home and provided time to renovate kitchens, garages, and laundry rooms.  This was great for PM suppliers to small and large appliance manufacturers, until inventories of finished goods were exhausted, as assembly lines were shut-down due to the mandates.

The winners in the 2021 Powder Metallurgy (PM) Design Excellence Awards competition, sponsored by the Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF), demonstrate outstanding examples of PM’s diversity. From electric vehicles to golf putters, these components use PM’s flexibility to push forward new concepts and process controls to demonstrate the inexhaustible well of capabilities PM can marshal in the service of component design. Designers continue to choose PM for complex and critical applications such as automotive, medical devices, consumer products, hardware, and more.

Tungsten Heavy Alloy Handbook— Applications, Compositions, Fabrication, Properties, Microstructures, and Modeling of Sintered Tungsten Heavy Alloys, by Dr. Randall M. German, FAPMI, is now available for purchase through the MPIF website.

This handbook contains 27 sections, each composed of small segments that can be consulted without reading the entire book. The handbook organizes the facts on the process options, applications, compositions, shaping, measurement tools, sintering, heat treatment, embrittlement, microstructures, etc.

This handbook is designed to provide solutions to typical challenges. Both the table of contents and index help find specific data, relations, models, and correlations.

This Self-Study Course on Powder Metallurgy and Particulate Materials Processing provides a broad introduction to the fundamental principles of powder metallurgy. The user will gain an understanding of basic science and engineering as it relates to the technology. Practical applications of metal and alloy behavior, various manufacturing processes, and management objectives will be explored. This technically in-depth Course provides valuable knowledge for career development.

Registration has opened for the PM Parts Compacting/Tooling Seminar, which will be held September 13–14, 2021, at Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, State College, Pennsylvania.

Offered only every two years, the PM Parts Compacting/Tooling Seminar is the best way to learn about:

• basic and advanced compacting & tooling technology;
• the latest developments in tool design, tool coating, and unique press applications;
• the impact of tool design and press selection on product quality.