Industrial Materials Technology, Inc.

Andrew D Hanson

A melt-away mandrel is disclosed for use in an isostatic pressing process and a flexible sleeve is disclosed for use with the melt-away mandrel. The mandrel is used during pressing of compactible material and then the mandrel is melted away leaving the compacted part. Preferably the sleeve covers the mandrel and this assembly is loaded along with a material charge in a cold isostatic pressing apparatus. The sleeve protects the powder charge from contamination from the material of the mandrel. The isostatic pressing process for forming an uncontaminated part includes assembling the melt-away mandrel in the flexible sleeve, placing the sleeve and mandrel assembly in a containment vessel with the material charge, and submitting the material charge and sleeve and mandrel assembly to pressure for compacting the material charge against the sleeve. After the mandrel is melted, the sleeve is peeled away from the pressed material.

Isostatic processing with shrouded melt-away mandrel

A cold isostatic pressing method and apparatus using fluid pressure to compact a material charge held in a flexible mold, including a hard die placed inside the mold, the die defining a receiver which has a longitudinal axis, at least one tooling member and a material charge placed in the receiver, such that when the hard die, tooling member and charge are sealed in the mold, pressure applied to the sealed mold will force the tooling member and the charge together to cause uniaxial compaction of the charge in the receiver along the longitudinal axis of the receiver. Preferably the charge is compacted between at least two tooling members. The charge also may be simultaneously compacted transverse to the longitudinal axis by a lateral tooling member.

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Derry, NH, United States of America

Andrew D Hanson