Automotive parts is a major market of powder metallurgy(PM) ferrous parts. Activities of R&D and mass production of PM stainless steel auto parts have been intensified in last few years Tone wheels working with ABS sensor and exhaust flanges made from PM 4XXseries stainless steel are available in the auto parts market in North America and Japan.. Such results are attributed to advances in PM4XX alloys and PM techniques. Implementation of mass production of PM 4XX series stainless steel auto parts opens new opportunities and challenges for developing the PM products and techniques.
It is well known that the material cost of stainless steel powder is higher than that of fused-cast stainless steel. The reason why powdered stainless steel parts can be used instead of fused-cast stainless steel parts is that if the shape of stainless steel parts is complex, due to the poor machining performance of fused-cast stainless steel, the processing cost of complex parts will increase. double. If powder stainless steel parts can be processed without subsequent machining, the saved processing cost can offset the high cost of powder materials, and powder stainless steel parts will still have strong market competitiveness.