J O U R N A L O F M A T E R I A L S S C I E N C E 3 9 (2 0 0 4 ) 6399 – 6420

Review
Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) technology and its
applications to metals and ceramics
M. H. BOCANEGRA-BERNAL
Centro de Investigación en Materiales Avanzados, CIMAV S.C., División de Materiales
Ceràmicos y Beneficio de Minerales, Miguel de Cervantes # 120 Complejo Industrial
Chihuahua, 31109 Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México
E-mail: [email protected]

This review examines some of the components of this increasingly exploited technology as
well as the application of which will surely increase as a result of constant development in
equipment design and extensive research in the field of ceramic and metal materials in
general for the production of fully dense and reliable parts. Newly developed high
temperature HIP equipment can offer potential improvements to material properties
relative to more conventional techniques as a possible solution to the manufacture of
ceramic and metal components for airframe and structural components where critical and
highly stressed applications are required. By the use the near net shape techniques, exotic
materials can be used more cost effectively than machining from solid. Designers and
manufacturers alike can make better products by introducing HIP to their production route.

C 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers

1. Introduction for a diffusing bonding of nuclear fuel element assem-

Hot Isostating Pressing (HIP) techniques play an im- blies. It can bond materials, which are difficult to bond
portant role in the research and development of dif- only at a high temperature, using a multiplier effect of
ferent materials, including metals and ceramics. In the high temperature and isostatic pressure. Initially at the
HIP technology, high temperature and high gas pressure Institute, as it was used for the bonding of similar or
can be simultaneously applied to workpieces resulting different materials, it was called Gas Pressure Bonding
in fully isotropic material properties [1–3]. It thus of- [7]. Pore free sintered parts such as hard metal tools,
fers unique benefits for metal, ceramic and refractory high speed steel billets, P/M superalloys and soft fer-
applications. The ability to form product shapes to pre- rites for magnetic recording heads are some of the prod-
cise tolerances (reducing costly machining) has been ucts produced via the HIP process. However, the range
a major driving force for its commercial development of applications for hot isostatic pressing is expanding
[4]. HIP can be used directly to consolidate a pow- rapidly, from producing dense components from pow-
der or supplementary to further densify a cold pressed, dered metals and ceramics [5].
sintered, or cast part. The HIP process, which sub- Another fundamental application of the HIP pro-
jects a component to elevated temperatures (generally cess is cladding. Cladding is the selective bonding of
over 1000◦ C) and pressures (generally over 98 MPa hardfacing materials onto various substrate surfaces. A
(1000 kgf · cm−2 )) to eliminate internal microshrink- less expensive material is coated with a thin layer of
age, helped engineers respond to the aerospace indus- powdered metal, creating a buffer on its wear surface.
try’s increasingly stringent regulations. HIP enabled en- This reduces costs by placing expensive, wear resis-
gineers to design components so they could meet speci- tant materials only where they are needed. As a result,
fications for use in critical, highly stressed applications wear resistant properties are improved without incur-
[5–8]. HIP is also used to optimise the properties of ring unnecessary cost penalties. An additional benefit
the latest generations of single crystal and direction- of cladding is that it can create bonds between otherwise
ally solidified investment cast blades. For parts that are incompatible materials such as metal, intermetallic, and
subjected to such high in-service stresses, the removal ceramic powders. For most applications a small amount
of porosity is essential to maximise the properties and of residual porosity is not detrimental to product per-
working life of the component. HIP can also be used to formance. However, for high performance applications,
rejuvenate turbine blades by removing creep porosity the product can be Hipped or Sinter-Hipped [10].
developed during service. To densify a powder directly requires a can to trans-
Since Hot Isostating Pressing was invented in the mit the pressure to the powder. This can (mold) can be
United States (Battelle Institute) [8, 9] as a technique mild steel, stainless, an exotic metal, or a glass capsule.

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C 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers 6399
This method is used when a simple shape is required. ceramic engine parts, however, some impediments must
When a complex shape (such as a turbocharger blade) is be removed. These ceramics, mainly nitrides and car-
required, it is common to cold press first because a rub- bides, must be processed at temperatures over 1600◦ C,
ber mold is much easier to make than a stainless steel but conventional HIP equipment was no able to work
mold. The cold pressed part (called as green body) can stably at such high temperature. Now, however, HIP
then be sintered to a high enough density to close any equipment technology is also changing and several ap-
interconnecting porosity. This part can then be hot iso- proaches employing new high temperature HIP equip-
statically pressed without a can (mold) as the part itself ment are being studied. This rapidly advancing tech-
will transmit the force to any internal porosity [6]. nology offers many possibilities. New applications are
The HIP process enables engineers to produce mate- constantly being discovered. In the last decade it has
rials of all shapes and sizes, including cylindrical billets, become a reliable process for commercial applications.
flat rectangular bar billets, solid shapes with complex The furnaces are of various types, to particular require-
external geometry, and complex shapes with internal ments, such as: (i) Oxygen resistant kanthal heating el-
cavities. Because powder metals do not have the di- ements for temperatures up to 1200◦ C : These allow hot
rectional property characteristics of forgings, the HIP loading and unloading of the workpieces, (ii) Molybde-
process can produce materials from metallic composi- num heating elements for temperatures up to 1450◦ C:
tions that are difficult or impossible to forge or cast [5]. used mainly for densification of materials sensitive to
A technological problem exists in the HIP equip- surface contamination and (iii) Graphite heating ele-
ment itself. For example, some ceramics, such as Si2 N4 ments for temperatures of 2000◦ C or above: permit
and SiC must be HIPed at temperatures so high above treatment of materials in either an argon or nitrogen
1600◦ C, that special HIP equipment stable at such as atmosphere [4, 19, 20].
high temperatures must be developed. Another problem On the most important problems to commercialize
is economy. So, according to the amount and the type of ceramics such as non-oxide ceramics (silicon nitride
the product, a proper selection of HIP equipment must and silicon carbide) is the R & D to produce high
be made. strength parts with complex shape. However, recent
For instance, high performance ceramics, especially development within the hybrid electric car gas turbine
high temperature ceramics such as silicon nitride and project has resulted in improved high temperature mate-
silicon carbide, were the first of these materials to be rial properties, and components like combustion parts
produced commercially, and HIP has been considered and turbine wheels have been fabricated to near-net-
one the must promising technologies to manufacture shape with these materials. For such components, a
parts with sufficient mechanical strength and reliability highly uniform green powder body is desired and com-
made from these materials [1, 11–14]. From the view- bined with a type of encapsulation or container during
point of HIP equipment, precise temperature control at HIP which does not create shear stresses at the sur-
temperatures higher than 1600◦ C and more, economi- face if the green body during shrinkage/sintering to full
cal operation is desired. density but prevents penetration into the body, optimal
Oxide ceramics have a long history of development near-net-shape results can be achieved [21]. However,
and therefore are the most familiar to us of the many ex- the containers such as glass were used for HIPing and
isting ceramic materials. Their manufacturing process, there have been still some problems on practical use,
however, is still being improved in order to meet new re- i.e., the production of complex shaped container, the
quirements in properties and reduced processing costs. prevention of reaction between silicon nitride and con-
About fifteen years ago, the HIP was introduced to tainer and so forth. On the other hand, HIP method
manufacture alumina cutting tool inserts with excellent which needs no container (containerless HIPing) has
cutting properties at a reasonable cost. Since that, the been applied to cemented carbides, alumina, ferrites,
application of HIP to oxide ceramics [15–18] has even- porous ceria doped tetragonal zirconia and piezoelec-
tually spread to other oxide such as Mn-Zn ferrite, PZT tric ceramics [22, 23].
and PSZ. In these cases, HIP has been performed using HIP technology applications have expanded to the
a completely inert argon gas as a pressure medium gas. manufacture of high speed tool steel and Co based al-
Rapid advances in industrial equipment require loys. Focussing on the past several years, extensive re-
stronger and tougher materials. In heat engines, re- search and development of HIP process technology has
search and development are focussed on a higher oper- been carried out for oxides (O2 – HIPing), nitrides,
ation temperature to enhance their energy efficiency. In carbides, metals and fiber-reinforced metals [24, 25].
order to meet this requirement, many metallurgists have In actual production, high strength partially-stabilized-
been searching for new superalloys which can stand zirconia parts [23, 26, 27], diffusion bonded mechanical
higher temperatures, while ceramists have been chal- parts as cemented carbide composites [28] and complex
lenging to replace some engine parts with non-oxide engine casings over one metre in diameter, for exam-
ceramics. HIP has been used as a means to fully den- ple, are new products manufactured by the HIP process.
sify the powder materials and is now deemed to be the This technique is applied to post-densify performed and
most promising technique in terms of its shape making sintered parts and castings, or to densify powders at near
possibility. HIP is a process in which sintered parts con- net shape or to billets [29, 30].
taining residual closed porosity or encapsulated powder The advantages offered by HIPing are well known.
bodies are subjected to a high gas pressure at an elevated It provides: uniform density very close to theoreti-
temperature. In order to utilize HIP in the production of cal density, elimination of porosity, improved fatigue

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