Applied Materials Technology Limited - Development of affordable Net Shape HIP processing utilising low temperature electroplating to produce complex geometry high quality hermetic ferrous shells

近净成形制造是工业制造中的一种创新概念，正越来越广泛地应用于高附加值制造领域。热等静压温度和压力激活固结粉末被认为是一种替代锻造、铸造和机械加工等传统工艺的高性能方法，但其应用受到可用于热等静压工艺的壳体的成本和复杂性的限制。有人认为，大多数髋部结构是由钢坯热等静压制造的，然后高达80%的材料被机加工掉。本项目提出了一种低成本生产网状热等静压用黑色金属外壳的新工艺。该项目将以精密铸造行业的蜡铸件为基础，开发一种创新的低温电镀铁工艺。该项目提供了一项使能技术，能够将NetShape HIP的使用扩展到更复杂的几何组件，并因此改善与均衡粉末金属性能相关的材料性能。该项目的主要阶段是：研究和开发实验室规模的铁电镀；扩大该工艺的规模，并开发用于外壳生产的受控工艺；为HIP试验生产具有代表性的实用外壳，并对外壳进行初始HIP试验；评估该工艺的成本/性能特征。对工艺能力的及时性和潜在需求得到了广泛的领先制造研究机构和高价值制造公司的支持。

Near Net Shape manufacturing is an innovative concept in industrial manufacture which is being increasingly employed in a wide range of high value manufacturing sectors.Temperature and Pressure activated consolidation of powder though Hot Isostatic Pressing is considered to be a high performance alternative to conventional processes e.g. forging, casting and machining.However its application is limited by the cost and complexity of the shells that can be fabricated for use in the HIP process. It has been suggested that most HIP structures are made by billet HIP & then up to 80% machined away. A novel process for producing low cost ferrous shells for Net shape HIP application is proposed in the project. The project will develop an innovative low temperature ferrous electroplating process based on wax castings from the precision casting industry. This project provides an enabling technology to expand the use of netshape HIP into more complex geometry components and consequent improvements in material properties associated with the isostatic powder metal properties.The principal stages of the project are; to research and develop the labscale ferrouselectroplating; to scale this process up and develop controlled process for shell production; to produce representative, practical shells for HIP trials and to undertake initial HIP trials with the shells; an assessment of the cost/performance characteristics of the process. The timeliness and potential demand for the process capability have been supported by a broad range of leading manufacturing research organisations and high value manufacturing companies.