Microstructure, Mechanical Properties and Corrosion Behaviour of Iron - Manganese PM Materials Pressed and Sintered Once and Twice

Elemental iron and manganese powders were blended to form mixtures containing 25, 30 and 35wt.% Mn. Mixtures were compressed into prismatic bars and sintered. Some of the bars were repressed and resintered. Compared to a bar pressed and sintered once, the bar pressed and sintered twice possessed a higher relative density, a higher bending stiffness, and a grid microindentation data set with a lower variance. Bars were immersed in Hank's solution for eight weeks. After this procedure, the bending stiffness were found reduced for all bars except for those pressed, sintered and only repressed, the bending stiffness of which remained unchanged. The repressing has most likely closed up throats connecting the clusters of pores with the free surface of a bar, reducing thus a surface area exposed to a corrosive attack. The resintering has opened up those throats, the electrolyte could fill accessible pores and corrosion weakened the near-surface material, reducing thus a bar's bending stiffness.