Simulation of Hot Isostatic Pressing of a powder metal component with an internal core Original Research Article

This paper presents a finite element simulation of the thermomechanical phenomena occurring during Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) of a powder metal component which includes a graphite core. The thermomechanical coupling is achieved in a staggered step manner. The staggered step approach considers the coupled thermomechanical response of solids, including nonlinear effects in both the thermal and mechanical analyses. The creep behaviour of the powder material during densification is modelled using the constitutive equations of thermal elasto-viscoplastic type with compressibility. The various mechanical material properties are assumed to be functions of temperature and relative density. The mechanical solution also includes large deformation and strains. The thermal problem includes temperature and relative density dependent specific heat and thermal conductivity. The constitutive equations and relations for thermal characteristics are implemented into the implicit nonlinear finite element code, PALM2D.