Thu, 11 December, 2025
TWI Industrial Members are invited to join a new joint industry project (JIP) titled, ‘Improving the Quality and Reducing the Cost of PM HIP Manufactured Parts by Removing and Controlling the Variability of the Process (IQ-HIP),’ dedicated to unlocking the benefits of Powder Metallurgy Hot Isostatic Pressing (PM HIP) as a manufacturing solution.
Manufacturing complex parts using PM HIP technology provides a number of advantages in comparison to conventional manufacturing processes such as casting, forging-machining and welding. Being a solid-state alloy powder consolidation process, PM HIP delivers parts with fine-grained microstructure and minimal residual stresses while reducing the number of welds when creating complex parts. In short, PM HIP technology can produce complex shaped parts like castings but with mechanical properties comparable to forging and with much less material wastage and manufacturing cost. Moreover, PM HIP engineering parts can be manufactured with a wider variety of materials, including aluminium, titanium, steels, nickel, refractory and ceramics.
PM HIP can also overcome supply chain issues that delay the manufacturing of critical engineering parts by the conventional manufacturing routes due to a lack of suppliers, thereby removing bottle-necks in production to speed up time-to-market. The process also reduces the environmental impact in comparison to many conventional methods as the production of parts in near-net shape removes the need for machining, which can lead to reductions in material wastage of as much as 90%.
Challenges to Adoption
Despite the clear benefits of PM HIP technology, its widespread adoption poses several challenges, including:
- Ability to design and fabricate leak proof encapsulation
- HIP equipment availability, cost and capacity
- Lack of standards, guidance and documentation to support industrial implementation
- Lack of knowledge on certification and qualification
About the Project
The joint industry project, ‘Improving the Quality and Reducing the Cost of PM HIP Manufactured Parts by Removing and Controlling the Variability of the Process (IQ-HIP),’ has been designed to remove these challenges so you can gain the benefits of this revolutionary process, allowing for smart manufacturing of selected industrial parts in near net shape form with reduced supply chain length, material wastage, and carbon footprint, whilst yielding superior mechanical properties.
The project will achieve this by removing and controlling the variability of the process, with the following objectives:
- Develop a framework for PM HIP manufacturing of selected parts, considering various factors such as a shape prediction software tool, powder materials, pre- and post-HIP operations, required materials properties, and service conditions
- Establish quality assurance and control measures for PM HIP technique to ensure reliability and consistency in near net shape manufacturing of high value engineering parts
- Develop training material and a template instruction for PM HIP process to ensure adherence to industry standards and best practice
Project sponsors will gain benefits including:
- Increased opportunities to adopt this technique as a replacement for traditional manufacturing processes, as a result of knowledge and understanding of PM HIP parts manufacturing
- Enable you to undertake the certification and qualification of PM HIP parts as well as help in developing the relevant codes and standards, by use of the best practice guidelines developed in this project
You can find out more about the project, including how to get involved as a sponsor, here:
https://www.twi-global.com/what-we-do/research-and-technology/research-programmes/joint-industry-projects/improving-the-quality-and-reducing-the-cost-of-powder-metallurgy-hot-isostatic-pressing-pm-hip-manufactured-parts-by-removing-and-controlling-the-variability-of-the-process-iq-hip