: Panakkal, J.P.; Arnold, W.; Willems, H.

Abstract
Characterization of sintered powder metal parts and ceramics using ultrasonics has been widely reported in the literature (1-3). Nondestructive evaluation of elastic moduli of these parameters at different stages of fabrication would help in improving the quality of the final product. Elastic moduli and Poisson's ratio of sintered iron compacts (different compaction pressures and sintering cycles) have been evaluated as a function of porosity (up to 21.6 %) using ultrasonics. Analysis of the data indicates that ultrasonic velocity itself can be used for monitoring the elastic moduli of porous materials without measuring density. This paper presents the experimental detail and analysis of the data generated and compares the results with theory.