Bodycote Hot Isostatic Pressing

HOT ISOSTATIC PRESSING (HIP) OFFERS THE POSSIBILITY OF ELIMINATING CLOSED POROSITY, E.G. IN ALUMINA BALLS FOR COLBALT CHROME HIP IMPLANTS WHICH ARE VERY SENSITIVE TO MINOR AMOUNTS OF POROSITY.

HIP thus improves material properties and may also improve the microstructural homogeneity.

The Bodycote HIP division offers a sub-contract HIP service as an integral part of the production route for such high quality parts.

Oxidceramic

The melting points of such ceramics as silicon nitride, zirconia and alumina are above 2000°C.

Ceramic parts are manufactured from high purity sintered ceramic powders.

Very fine milled powders (< 5µm) with a high specific surface and an extremely low friction and high density of defects are required for the sintering process.

Low porosity content can be achieved by high densification during uniaxial or cold isostatic pressing.

Medical Implants

Over the last few years, a wide variety of materials have been introduced into medical implants to improve and extend their life in service.

Important criteria for the function of the hip joint are extremely low friction and high wear resistance.

Such properties are characteristic of HIPped alumina or zirconia, which exhibit excellent mechanical stability, wear resistance and bio-compatibility.

Advantages

The combination of pre-sintering and HIPping offers the possibility of producing high quality ceramics, for example for bearings or medical implants.

The HIP process eliminates the porosity of the pre-sintered material to improve the tensile ductility, the fatigue strength and the polishability.

Applications:

Ball bearings

Medical implants

Industrial wear parts

Ceramics