Sintered Steel?

Monofletch

Monofletch

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Is this just simply a process of pressing powder steel into a form then heating to bond?
 
And often times under pressure too from my understanding. Held at the right temperature the grains grow together to make it one piece. Often used for intricate parts that would be cost prohibited to machine out. Great for high volume parts
 
I asked because I want to buy this fixed blade. I had to see what that meant.

Overall Length: 11.61"

Blade Length: 5.83"

Blade Thickness: 0.22"

Blade Material: K490 Sintered Steel

Plain Edge
 
I'm guessing they really meant what we refer to as PM steel, though the process is much the same. Start with a powder or grains, heat and compress until the desired end form is obtained. For a knife you of course want a homogeneous steel. When I think of sintered metal I usually expect some residual porosity. Not what you'd want for a knife, but ok for, say, gears in power tools etc.

You can look up the specifics for K490 on the Böhler website.

Edit: Here's a link to the brochure. https://www.bohlersteels.co.uk/app/uploads/sites/92/2020/12/productdb/api/k490en.pdf
They call it a PM steel as is proper.
 
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Sounds to me like your typical PM steel. Looks pretty good from these threads

K490

Andre, Where do you purchase yours from? I'd guess that you aren't in the USA, but I have to ask. I've been begging steel suppliers to carry this steel in thin sections, but haven't gotten any helpful responses. I contacted Bohler directly and was told that their USA mill can get me a...
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K490???

I recently bought the Lion Steel T6 in K490. Anybody have any insight on K490? As good or better than 390? Gimmick? Thanks in advance!!
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
So is it just a fancy word for a process? Like my neighbor’s kid doesn’t just play baseball…. It’s “select” baseball.
 
Monofletch said:
So is it just a fancy word for a process? Like my neighbor’s kid doesn’t just play baseball…. It’s “select” baseball.
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Not fancy at all. A very old term used in this process for a long time. Probably longer then PM or CPM
 
Winchester pulled that sintered steel on the receivers of the post 64 Winchester Model 94s I read.
 
Well, I’ll give it a go and see if it’s any different than what I already have. Lionsteel gets great reviews on this knife and the K490 was a limited edition. It comes in 3v regularly.
 
As far as I know, powder metallurgy is the process of compressing and sintering the powder particles. So I'm guessing that they have used that term to indicate a PM steel. If that's the case it's a bit odd. Why not just say "PM K490" instead?
 
I agree. I have been at the knife game a looooong time and this is the first time I heard of this.
 
If it's lionsteel they are good. I'm guessing it's a bad translation from italain to english. The only time I've read about sintered anything was was when I was reading about 3d printing and that would make a horrible knife. I mean you could do it but you'd have to hammer or press it under the right heat and heat treat. Pretty sure that's not what lion steel is doing. So I have to believe its a pm process.
 
stonemedusa6264 said:
If it's lionsteel they are good. I'm guessing it's a bad translation from italain to english. The only time I've read about sintered anything was was when I was reading about 3d printing and that would make a horrible knife. I mean you could do it but you'd have to hammer or press it under the right heat and heat treat. Pretty sure that's not what lion steel is doing. So I have to believe its a pm process.
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I have a LionSteel folder with a 3-D Printed Handle. It is pretty impressive. Lightweight, well contoured, grippy, corrosion “proof”, 4 layers, but 1 piece of metal.View attachment 2177589
 
LionSteel doesn't do anything crappy!!! DamaSteel uses sintering in their process and their stuff is fantastic too. You should be pleased with what you get!!!! Looking forward to seeing this puppy too....

Hey Larrin Larrin any help here please!!!????
 
Powder Metallurgy steel isn’t typically called sintered but it does go through a sintering process. The powder is “hot isostatically pressed” (HIPed) to form an ingot. That ingot is then forged down and rolled like a normal steel ingot. So there is no porosity and it is completely homogenous. It is not in the “as-sintered” state.
 
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