분말야금 또는 분말재료공정은 금속과 세라믹에 기초를 둔 신소재 가공기술로서 점차 그 역할이 증대되고 있다. 분말 공정은 합금의 신축성이라는 고유 잇점을 비롯하여, 조성적 균질성, 미세한 조직특성, 그리고 완성 또는 준 완성형태의 성형가능성 등을 제공하는 것으로 특징지워지는데 이러한 모든 것들은 첨단 재료의 제조가공을 위해서 요구되는 특징들이다. 본 강연의 전반부에서는 분말야금공정의 일반적 특징과 이제까지 개발된 첨단 재료들을 분류하고 그 현황을 살펴보았다. 강연의 후반부에서는 기계적 합금화, 고온등압성형, SHS, 금속사출성형과 같은 첨단 분말 공정을 간단하게 소개한다. 이들 새로운 공정은 대부분의 금속 및 세라믹 신소재의 제조가공기술로 도입되어 널리 응용되고 있다. 오늘날 분말재료공정은 신소재를 얻는 신기술 또는 신공정의 동의어로 이해되고 있다. 그러나 미래에 있어서도 더욱 새로운 첨단재료를 개발하는 데는 이러한 분말야금공정에 크게 의존하지 않을 수 없을 것이다.

The present status of the thennomechanica1 evaluation of functionally gradient materials(FGMs) for space plane application was reviewed, in which research activities and the cooperation of the national project team organized to study FGM science were demonstrated. The project team was divided into three working groups; de singing, processing and evaluation, each of which had their own tasks in the project cooperation. The testings details of the various thennomechanical tests for the FGM samples fabricated by the processing groups were described, along with their corresponding heating conditions of the real environments in the space plane application. For small-sized samples, laser beam heating test and burner heating test were well applied to study the heat shielding and heat resisting properties. Arc-heated wind tunnel test and high temperature!high velocity gas flow test were used for large-sized panel assemblies having cooling structures. The criteria for the evaluation of the heat shielding and heat resisting properties of the FGMs, as well as a crack activation mechanism in their differential temperature heating, were proposed on the basis of the observation in the burner heating test.

In mechanical testing of W-Ni-Pe heavy alloys, the cracks nucleate at W/W interface and propagate through W/ Imatrix interface or through matrix phase together with the cleavage of W grains. The mechanical properties can therefore be improved by control of the interfacial strength and area. In this presentation, some experimental result and techniques on this subject will be reviewed and discussed. The hydrogen embrittlement caused by the hydrogen segregation at interfaces during sintering in an hydrogen atmosphere can be removed by an heat-treattnent in vacuum or in an inert atmosphere. The heat-treatment condition can be estimated by using a diffusion equation for a cylindrical shape. The mechanical properties, in particular the impact property, are degraded by the segregation of non-metallic impurities, such as Sand P. The degradation can be prevented by adding a fourth element, such as La or Ca, active with the non-metallic impurities. The cyclic heat-treatment at usual heat-treattnent tempemture causes the penetration of matrix between W/W grain boundaries and results in remarkable increase in impact energy. This is due to an increase in the area of ductile failure during the impact test. The instability of W/matrix interface casued by addition of Mo or Re can be controlled by using W powders of different size. The increase in the interfacial area in found to be related to the presence of non-equilibrium pure W gmins among W(Mo or Re) solid solution gmins.

Ferrous powder metallurgy in Japan has developed in the last four decades, where every decade is featured by certain breakthroughs in materials. The progress in PM materials is closely related to newly developed powders. Low alloy steel powders for high strength PM components are grouped into three types: Ni and/or Mo containing completely alloyed powders, Ni containing partially alloyed powders, and Cr containing completely alloyed powders. Every type has its special characteristics. The tensile strength of PM materials is improved up to 2 GPa. The hardness is also increased to exceed 500 HV with normal hardening methods, and 700 HV with novel surface treatment techniques. The present maximum of fatigue strength is 550 MPa, and that of impact energy is 100 J. Novel PM materials with improved properties are applied to a variety of automobile and other components: power steering pumps, rocker anns, valve guides and inserts, bearings, torque sensors, etc. The future outlook for the ferrous PM is Quite positive, and the industry is expected to show renewed growth by applying many types of alloy steel powders and new ferrous PM materials.