Effect of powder metallurgy conditions on the properties of porous bronze

The ability to achieve close control of porosity and pore size is the main reason that porous metallic materials are prepared by powder metallurgy. Bronze has widespread applications in this field. This investigation aimed to study the effect of processing conditions on the porosity of bronze. It was found that, increasing of compaction pressure, sintering temperature and sintering time decreased of apparent porosity and water absorption and increased of bulk density of sintered compacted samples. On the other hand, increasing of bronze particle size increased of apparent porosity and water absorption, and decreased of bulk density of both sintered compacted and sintered loose samples. Finally the porosity of sintered compacted samples was (20–30%) while it was (50–60%) for sintered loose samples.