Materials Technology

In order to produce a dense shaped body from powders, Fraunhofer IWKS uses various molding processes. Depending on the requirements on the shaped bodies, cold isostatic pressing, transversal field pressing or hot pressing can be used.

The cold isostatic pressing is particularly suitable for the production of large-sized parts and tubular structures made of difficult to press powder, e.g. for products of hard metal or ceramics.

Another focus is on the densification of rare earth magnet powders for sintered magnets.

In transversal field pressing, rare earth-containing magnetic powders can be compacted with the transversal magnetic field applied, in order to simultaneously achieve a high degree of compaction and anisotropy in the subsequent magnet.

The hot pressing technique offers the possibility of compressing magnet powders at temperatures of up to 800 °C and reforming them afterwards.