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P/M Aluminum
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GKN Sinter Metals has developed aluminum P/M technology into a robust production process, primarily through the manufacture of some 40 million aluminum cam shaft bearing caps during the late 1990s and into the early part of this decade. Currently, P/M Aluminum is the material of choice for selected high-volume applications.
Metallurgical Fundamentals Aluminum has a strong affinity for oxygen. Powder particles are coated with a thin shell of aluminum oxide. The shell must be fragmented to ensure that strong inter-particle bonds are produced. Fragmentation is accomplished by spinel formation and liquid phase sintering. Concentration of the liquid phase, and thus temperature, must be precisely controlled. 
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