The demand for powder metallurgy (P/M) parts in its traditional automotive market is predicted
to grow, but future sector expansion depends directly upon its capability to manufacture
zero-defect parts for industries such as aerospace and medicine. The lack of
adequate inspection systems has important implications from the point of view of quality
assurance, since it increases the costs, time and wasted material. In recent years the applicability
of several techniques for the inspection of P/M parts has been investigated, such as
Eddy current testing, computer tomography or X-ray imaging, but studies have revealed
that all of them have deficiencies that make them unavailable for a complete and reliable
flaw detection and density defect recognition. A new inspection tool has been developed
based on pulse echo ultrasonic technology combined with robotics, which makes it possible
to provide a global density map of sintered.