Determinants of the quality of sintered steel for the automotive industry

The increasing demand on components obtained using powder metallurgy is driven by economic changes that have turned product quality into the most basic criterion which affects the interest in a component and its successful use. The improvement in quality should be expected in the beginning of the planning of the technological process and selection of adequate raw materials. High requirements concerning product quality management and production improvement stimulates the development of the current automotive industry where sintered steels represent the highest percentage of products. The multiphase sinters investigated in the study were prepared from two types of water– atomized steel powders: 316L and 409L. Optical microscopy, X–ray phase analysis and examinations of microhardness were performed in order to determine the microstructure and basic properties of sintered steels. The main assumption for this study was to analyse the microstructure and mechanical properties of sintered steels used for manufacturing of various car parts.