Key Advantages of PM HIP Manufacturing
Powder metallurgy hot isostatic pressing offers a range of benefits for industry, including:
- High Density Parts: Capable of producing parts with close to 100% density
- Improved Mechanical Properties: The PM-HIP process improves fatigue resistance and increases strength and ductility by eliminating internal porosity
- Near Net Shape Manufacturing: PM HIP reduces or eliminates the need for post-process machining by creating parts to their desired final shape and size
- Flexibility of Design: PM HIP can form parts with complex geometries as well as being able to combine dissimilar materials
- Material Innovation: Allows for the creation of parts with innovative material combinations for demanding applications, including metal matrix composites (MMCs) and functionally-graded materials (FGMs)
- Faster Production: PM HIP provides a faster production route compared to traditional manufacturing methods such as casting and forging
- Fewer Supply Chain Issues: Cast or forged products suffer from supply chain issues that can be overcome by PM HIP technology, offering a faster route to manufacture high quality industrial parts
- Reduced Costs: Because PM HIP creates near net shape parts with reduced supply chain length, there are fewer processing steps and material wastage than with processes that require post-processing, hence saving costs
- Improved Sustainability: Less material wastage also means a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable process
The multiple benefits of PM HIP advanced manufacturing technology have led to its adoption by several industries, including aerospace, oil and gas, automotive, nuclear, and medical; manufacturing components ranging from landing gears, aeroengine casings, manifolds, valve bodies and pressure vessels, to medical implants and high-stress automotive parts.
PM HIP at TWI
With decades of experience, our experts are among the global leaders in the PM HIP process, providing dedicated and bespoke industry support, guidance and advice to our Industrial Members.
Hot isostatic pressing (HIP), which was first used in 1955 for diffusion bonding activities, has seen a renewed interest for next generation, high-integrity applications that require high performance components. PM HIP has also become a practical solution to the supply chain issues associated with the manufacture of large parts by casting; dramatically reducing lead times for a range of industries.
With pressures comparable to that found in the depths of the Mariana Trench (1,086 bar), hot isostatic pressing (HIP) has found a number of additional industry applications outside of PM HIP, including to densify castings and pre-sintered components, and as a post-thermal treatment for additive manufacturing, where the application of pressure and heat can fully consolidate materials including steels, stainless steels, nickel base superalloys, titanium alloys, refractory alloys, and more.
As expertise in many traditional manufacturing becomes less widespread and lead times and supply chains lengthen, PM HIP and HIP, being alternate processes, have the potential to overcome supply chain issues and to reduce costs and material waste, shorten lead times, and allow for the creation of coherent, net shape parts from similar and dissimilar materials. Capable of meeting increasingly complex design and operating conditions, PM HIP is a viable alternative to traditional manufacturing processes, offering as much as a 90% reduction in material wastage (along with the associated sustainability and environmental benefits), while also offering superior mechanical properties.
Despite the multiple benefits, many industries are yet to adopt the process. TWI is working with our Industrial Member companies to help address the challenges and remove the barriers to adopting PM HIP and HIP processes in their manufacturing.
Our experts can advise on the use of the process as well as using our facilities to carry out process development, testing and prototyping for your targeted industrial parts.
PM HIP and HIP Services
TWI provides technical excellence for industry in the following areas:
- Prototyping
- PM HIP Modelling Tools
- Metal Powder Analysis
- Canister Design and Manufacturing
- Powder Filling (under ambient, vacuum or inert conditions)
- Outgassing (room or elevated temperature)
- Crimp and Seal
- HIP Treatment
- Dimensional Measurement (GOM Scanning)
- Heat Treatment
- Destructive and Non-Destructive Testing
- HIP Diffusion Bonding of Dissimilar Materials
- Certification and Qualification
To find out more about HIP and PM HIP, as well as to see how we can help solve your industry challenges, please email contactus@twi.co.uk.