Design and fabrication of symmetric FGM plates

Optimisation of symmetric FGM plates and disks during sintering by computer simulation was illustrated with respect to processing parameters such as green density, particle size and composition profiles. The goal was to minimise the FGM distortion, to avoid cracks and to generate an optimum residual stress distribution. As an example, FGM hardmetal cutting tools (WC-Co-TiC) and ZrO2-Al2O3 wear resistance disks were designed and fabricated using electrophoretic deposition (EPD) and pressureless sintering. The results show that optimal parameters in the FGM could be reasonably determined by the simulations in order to achieve a successful fabrication.