Based on my 70 years’ experience of powder metallurgy, including 66 in the hardmetals industry, EuroPM asked me to suggest a few topics which might make interesting or even valuable research projects for EuroHM (the EPMA Hard Materials Group). Some of these suggestions derive from completed or uncompleted research projects of my own, though few records remain and hardly anything has previously been published. Others are simply ideas for possibly helpful research, where fundamental knowledge, manufacturing methods or quality control might be improved. As far as I know, none of the technology mentioned here is encumbered by patents or patent applications.
In just about every instance I personally carried out (almost always unpublished) research on the subject, often leading to successful commercial products and in some cases properties and productivity unavailable even at the present time.
The reader might ask why, if the research was successful, these products are not available today, nor have the research results been published except in general terms in the author's own publications, or on a confidential basis to consultancy clients. The reasons are an unusual and possibly unique combination of circumstances, explained in some detail in Parts 1 and 2 of this paper.
This article appeared in the Jan/Feb issue of Metal Powder Report.
