| Abstrakt: |
The optimum zinc stearate content, ensuring the greatest compressibility of a powder at a given pressing pressure, is determined mainly by the volume of interparticle pores. The higher the density of a compact and the smaller the size of its pores, the smaller is the amount of zinc stearate it can hold. The weakening action of zinc stearate, which manifests itself in stress relief at interparticle contacts during pressing, substantially increases the density of compacts and at the same time decreases their strength. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced with compacts from powders of poor compactibility. After pressing at any given pressure, the strength of a compact with zinc stearate will be higher than that of a compact without a lubricant when the decrease of the contact surface brought about by the elastic aftereffect in the stearate is counterbalanced by the increase of this surface resulting from better compressibility of the powder. The addition of an optimum amount of zinc stearate to an iron powder is always more effective than lubrication of the die walls. A new mechanism of densification of iron powder with zinc stearate is proposed, in which the key factor is an intensification of stress relief at interparticle contacts by the solid lubricant. |
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