**6. Powder metallurgy**

Powder metallurgy (PM) is a term that covers a wide range of techniques by which materials or components are made of metal powders [23]. These processes are characterized by high productivity and ideal for making parts close to the complex geometry of a range of materials, increasing the use of materials, and minimizing or eliminating secondary processes such as machining. Common secondary processes of components made by liquid metal processing may lead to additional manufacturing steps that have significant cost and waste impacts [24]. However, powder metallurgy processing has obtained more attention with the advantages offered by comparison with casting and forging. In PM processing techniques, all or part of the some constituents are formed by compressing the particles with the characteristic structure, size and shape in a high-precision product. The ability of metal metallurgy powders to produce high-quality, complex parts characterized by high productivity and high durability represents significant advantages, such as potential low capital costs, with high energy efficiency. PM is widely used for a range of applications, ranging from dental restoration and implantation to bearings, transmission of automotive and engine parts across many industrial sectors (**Figure 4**).

**7**

**Author details**

Malaysia, Malaysia

Uday M. Basheer Al-Naib

Faculty of Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

\*Address all correspondence to: ummb2008@gmail.com

provided the original work is properly cited.

*Introductory Chapter: A Brief Introduction to Engineering Materials and Metallurgy*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86497*

**Figure 4.** *Schematic of powder metallurgy.*

*Introductory Chapter: A Brief Introduction to Engineering Materials and Metallurgy DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86497*
