Under this project, Drs. John Beddow of the University of Iowa, and P. Ramakrishnan of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB) will continue their cooperation in the study of powder metallurgy. The key objective of this research is to seek to relate the characteristics of powder particles that are used to form powder metallurgy and ceramic products to the structure and properties of the sintered materials so produced under a variety of processing conditions. Investigations will include new theories of particle characterization and morphological analysis of particle size and shape on the one hand and study of new theories of morphological texture analysis and new and well-established methods of sintered material property measurement on the other. Empirical, phenomological and theoretical correlations between powder and sintered material will be developed and explored. Most of the experimental work will be done at IITB, with the analysis and theoretical formulation done at IITB and the U. of Iowa. Scope: The two scientists have been cooperating for a number of years with a number of joint publications in various refereed journals and presentations in U.S. and European conferences. The area of research can lead to optimization of the methods used in recycling ferrous scrape, thus leading to important savings in material and energy usage. Funding: The project is being supported under two grants: INT 9103107 to the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; INT 9106225 to the University of Iowa
