Determination of Porosity in Fluidized-Bed Carburized P/M Compacts Using an Image Software Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this research was to study the porosity in carburizing in fluidized-bed on sintered alloys produced by powder metallurgy route using an image analysis software and to compare the obtained results with the conventional method for porosity measurements. Porosity is a measure of the void fraction in a material. The total porosity is defined by the ratio of the volume of void space to the total bulk volume of the material, expressed as a percentage. Development of digital images and computer software lead to a new and suitable method to determine the porosity of powder metallurgy materials.