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MH2101 Metal Powder: Production, Handling and Characterisation 6.0 credits

Course memo Autumn 2025-50028

Version 1 – 10/26/2025, 6:51:24 PM

Course offering

Autumn 2025-50028 (Start date 27 Oct 2025, English)

Language Of Instruction

English

Offered By

ITM/Materials Science and Engineering

Course memo Autumn 2025

Headings denoted with an asterisk ( * ) is retrieved from the course syllabus version Autumn 2020

Content and learning outcomes

Course contents

1.       Explanation for the use of metal powder

2.       Methods for metal powder production

3.       Powder properties and characterisation methods

4.       Handling of metal powder

5.       Process paths for production of components from metal powder

Intended learning outcomes

After passing the course, the student should be able to:

  • Give example of and evaluate different process paths for production of metal powder
  • Compare relevant methods to measure properties of powder and evaluate these for a given powder material and intended application
  • Justify for possible changes in powder properties due to storing and handling and explain how this can be prevented or is mitigated
  • Give example of and justify different process paths for production of PM components (components of metal powder)
  • Explain which different generic properties a powder may depending on production process and justify for the suitability for a specific component manufacturing method
  • Give example of components produced with powder metallurgy and justify why the PM process has been used in these cases

Learning activities

The course consists of eleven non-mandatory lectures and two mandatory laboratory sessions for each student.  Some of the lectures may be pre-recorded and distributed through the online Learning Management System (i.e. Canvas), while others are in-person. The lecturer shall try to record each lecture and make the recording available for future study and revision.

Students are expected to perform a home assignment lasting approximately 20 hours at the end of the course.  Information will also be distributed through the online Learning Management System for students to study in their own time.  There will be a written exam after the end of the course.  The home assignment allows students to apply the knowledge they have gained from the course (and any prior training in powder metallurgy) to an industrial scenario and to assess the impact of technical choices on sustainable development.

The non-mandatory lectures provide information and discussion, which is complemented by the information uploaded to the online Learning Management System.  It is highly recommended that students attend all sessions, even though they are not all mandatory.

The laboratory session provides practical experience and more information about powder characterisation.  Successful participation in the session is required to pass the course.

Assessment of the project is by written home assignment, laboratory report and examination.  This is intended to provide students with sufficient opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and practice different forms of communication.

Detailed plan

The following table is correct at the time of writing.  Students are encouraged to check the KTH Schema system for the latest course schedule and to subscribe to the course schedule to receive any updates automoatically.  If there is any disagreement between this information and that presented on KTH Schema, KTH Schema should be taken as correct.  Links to any scheduled Zoom meetings shall be published on the schedule page of the Learning Management System as the course progresses.

Day

Date

Start

End

Location

Activity

Teacher

Description

Preparation

Monday

2025-10-27

1000

1200

B26

Lecture

Chris Hulme

Course introduction, Introduction to powders

None

Friday

2025-10-31

1000

1200

Q13

Lecture

Chris Hulme

Powder production techniques

None

Tuesday

2025-11-04

1300

1500

D42

Lecture

Chris Hulme

Gas atomisation

Review of material on powder production, including on Learning Management System

Friday

2025-11-07

1000

1200

Q13

Lecture

Chris Hulme

Gas atomisation (time to watch previous recording again)

None

Monday

2025-11-10

1000

1200

E52

Lecture

Chris Hulme

Water atomisation and milling

Review of material on gas atomisation, including on Learning Management System

Wednesday

2025-11-12

1300

1500

 D33

Lecture

Chris Hulme

Powder handling and safety issues

Review of introductory  material about metal powders, including on Learning Management System

Monday

2025-11-17

0800

1700

TBC

Lab

Chris Hulme

TBC

TBC

Wednesday

2025-11-19

1000

1200

Q13

Lecture

Chris Hulme

Introduction to sustainability

None

Monday

2025-11-24

1000

1200

Digital

Seminar

Chris Hulme

Sustainable development debates

Review of previous material on sustainability, including on Leraning Management System; preparation of arguments for the case to be debated

Wednesday

2025-11-26

1000

1200

TBC

Lecture

Chris Hulme

Powder characterisation techniques I

Review of introductory  material about metal powders, including on Learning Management System

Thursday

2025-11-27

1300

1500

E34

Lecture

Chris Hulme

Powder characterisation techniques II

Review of previous session and associated pages on Learning Management System

Wednesday / Thursday

2025-12-03 / 2025-12-04

 

Multiple groups; times and other information to come

TBC

Laboratory

Chris Hulme

TBC

TBC

Tuesday

2025-12-09

1000

1200

B22

Lecture

Chris Hulme

Powder consolidation techniques

Review of introductory material about metal powders, including on Learning Management System

Thursday

2025-12-11

1300

1500

D32

Lecture

Chris Hulme

Additive manufacturing

Review of previous session, including relevant pages on LEarning Management System

 

Preparations before course start

Specific preparations

Recommended prior knowledge

  • Students should be aware of the basic theory of the heat transfer phenomena convection and radiation.
  • Students should have understanding of materials science so they can understand a metal solidification process, including the associated thermodynamics.
  • Prior knowledge of powder metallurgy is advantageous but not essential.

Equipment

None required.

Literature

Course literature

There is no compulsory course literature for this course.

Useful books

Randall M. German, Powder Metallurgy & Particulate Materials Processing, Metal Powder Industries Federation, 2005, ISBN 978-0976205715.

Andrew J. Yule and John J. Dunkley, Atomization of Melts: For Powder Production and Spray Deposition, Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0198562580, 1994 (reprinted 2018).

Andrej Salak and V. E. Riecansky, Ferrous Powder Metallurgy, Cambridge International Science Publishing, ISBN 978-1898326038, 1997.

Other sources of informaiton

Extensive use shall be made of the Learning Management System.  Additional content will be published there and it is recommended that you visit the course room on the Learning Management System regularly throughout the course.

Equipment

None required.

Software

No specialist software will be used in this course, except when you perform experimental work in the lab exercise (in which case the software is available in the lab).

Examination and completion

Grading scale

A, B, C, D, E, FX, F

Examination

  • HEM1 - Home assignments, 3.0 credits, grading scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F
  • TEN1 - Written exam, 2.0 credits, grading scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F
  • LAB1 - Laboratory work, 1.0 credits, grading scale: P, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

If the course is discontinued, students may request to be examined during the following two academic years.

The section below is not retrieved from the course syllabus:

Home assignment (HEM1)

Each student shall be set a unique industrial scenario and required to provide a suitable response.  This response form the written report of the assignment.  This shall be submitted via the Learning Management System.  All sources of inforamtion may be used during the home assignment.

Laboratory work (LAB1)

Students shall attend two labroatory exercise sessions and complete written questions.  Answers should be submitted to the exercise leader.  It is the responsibility of the students to arrange the deadline and submission method with the exercise leader during the exercise.  All sources of information may be used during the home assignment.

Written exam (TEN1)

The written exam shall be a traditional written exam with a variety of question styles, lengths and difficulties.

Grading criteria/assessment criteria

Laboratory Exercise

Both grading criteria must be passed to pass the laboratory execise:

Criterion    
Participation: the students attended and actively took part in the lab session.
Pass
 
The student did attend and was active in the lab session.
Fail
 
The student either failed to attend or did attend but took little or no part in the activities.
Report: the overall quality of the report
Pass
 
The student submitted a report and made a serious attempt to complete all parts of the report to an adequate standard. A significant fraction of the information given was reasonable and/or correct.
Fail
 
The students either submitted no report or submitted a report with fundamental errors. Significant plagiarism will also lead to this grade in addition to other appropriate procedures. Late reports may be failed if they are not of a sufficiently high quality to excuse the lateness. Late submissions with justifiable reasons for the late submission will not be penalised.

Home Assignment

Criterion          
Main topic: this will take approximately 5-6 pages and will include one of the following types of powder technology:
  • production
  • characterisation
  • consolidation
30 to >24 Pts
Excellent
 
You construct an efficient and effective argument about why your chosen technology/technologies are the best for the situation you have been asked to consider. You consider all relevant information and connect different arguments together to create an overall argument.
24 to >16 Pts
Good
 
You consider most of the scientific issues surrounding the problem you are asked to solve with a good level of detail, or you consider all of the relevant issues in some detail, but the level of detail could be improved. You have not discussed any issues that are irrelevant.
16 to >8 Pts
Average
 
You consider some scientific principles that are relevant for your problem, but you also miss several important points, or do not discuss the points in enough detail. One or two of the issues you discuss are not relevant to the problem you have been asked to solve.
8 to >2 Pts
Poor
 
You include almost no relevant information to solve the problem you have been set in your assignment. You either present too little information, or discuss irrelevant information.
2 to >0 Pts
Very poor
 
You do not include any relevant information to find an answer for the situation you are asked to consider in your assignment.

Secondary topic: this will take approximately 1-2 pages and is another of the three topics listed in the "main topic":

  • powder production
  • characterisation
  • consolidation
10 to >8 Pts
Excellent
 
You have described many relevant scientific issues, relating to the problem you have been asked to consider and have provided information to cover the topic thoroughly.
8 to >4 Pts
Good
 
You have included at least three relevant scientific issues for the problem you have been asked to consider and none of them are inappropriate or incorrect.
  4 to >0 Pts
Poor
 
You have not included more than two relevant scientific comments for the problem you have been asked to consider, or multiple statements are simply incorrect.
 
Sustainable development: 1-2 pages answering the questions set i your assignment that deal with the area of sustainable development, including health and safety. 10 to >8 Pts
Excellent
 
You include the required number of discussion points for the problem you have been asked to consider and all are correct, relevant and described well.
8 to >4 Pts
Good
 
You include multiple relevant discussion points, but not the number you were asked to provide. Alternatively, one of your discussion points is completely incorrect or irrelevant. Alternatively, you include enough discussion points, but do not include enough explanation or detail to answer the question(s) you have been asked to consider.
  4 to >0 Pts
Poor
 
You fail to consider sustainable development, or include discussion that is irrelevant for the problem you have been asked to consider.
 
Citations: inclusion of appropriate citations for any information you include that is not found in the course material. 4 to >2 Pts
Excellent
 
You have included citations to the information that you have collected form sources other than the course material. The citations are detailed enough that the information could be found by a reader.
  2 to >0 Pts
Average
 
You have either not taken any information form sources outside the course material, or you have provided some good citations, while missing others, or you have cited information but not well enough to let a reader find the information easily.
0 Pts
Poor/missing
 
You have taken information from sources but have not cited them at all.
 
Language and figures: the quality of language in your report, as well as the clarity and usefulness of any images, graphs, tables, etc. you include.

You should present graphs, tables, images, etc. if they improve the quality of your report, but you do not need to do so to achieve the top grade, as long as you present information in the most appropriate way in your report. In other words, if you choose to not use graphs, tables, images, etc. and it would make your report better if you did include them, you may lose points. If your report would not be improved by including images, graphs, tables, etc. then you will not lose points if you do not include them.
6 to >4 Pts
Excellent
 
There are only a few mistakes in your English and the meaning of your writing is clear.
4 to >2 Pts
Good
 
There are only minor mistakes in your English, but the meaning of your writing is fairly easy to understand.
2 to >0 Pts
Average
 
There are many mistakes in your English, but the general meaning can still be understood.
0 Pts
Poor
 
Your use of English is so poor that it is very difficult to understand. You may also lose marks form other assessment criteria as a result, if you fail to demonstrate the required knowledge as a result of the standard of your English.
 

Written exam

The written exam shall be graded and scaled proportionately to give a score out of sixty points.  A grade shall be awarded for the written exam itself based on the grading criteria for the course.

Overall course grade

The points from the exam shall contribute to the course grade by being added to the 40 points awarded for the home assignment to give a total out of 100. This total shall be used to set the overall grade for the course.

Opportunity to complete the requirements via supplementary examination

Should any student miss any deadline or mandatory exercise, they should discuss the matter with the examiner to agree an alternative examination exercise or task.

Opportunity to raise an approved grade via renewed examination

It is not permitted to raise an approved grade via a renewed examination.

Alternatives to missed activities or tasks

It is possible to arrange a replacement exercise to replace the laboratory exercise if compelling reasons are provided to explain why it is not possible to attend the laboratory exercise. In such cases, the students should contact the examiner at the earliest opportunity. The examiner alone shall decide if an alternative task should be given to the student to replace the laboratory exercise, or if the student shall not be permitted to pass the labroatory exercise examination. Applications for a replacement exercise made after the session itself shall be considered only in exceptional circumstances and at the sole discretion of the examiner.

Reporting of exam results

Results form all parts of the examinations shall be reported via the Learning Management System in the first instance.  This will include a breakdown of the individual grading criteria for the home exam. One week after the final grades are posted to the Learning Management System, results shall be submitted for entry to Ladok unless disputed by the student.

Ethical approach

  • All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
  • In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
  • In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

The section below is not retrieved from the course syllabus:

  • Any use of artificial intelligence (AI) shall be in accordance with the rules and guidelines set out by the examiner and published on the course room on the Learning Management System.

Further information

Changes of the course before this course offering

The teacher has returned from parental leave and so the lectures ahve returned to a traditional, physical style, replacing pre-recorded lectures that were used while the teacher was on leave.

Round Facts

Start date

27 Oct 2025

Course offering

  • Autumn 2025-50028

Language Of Instruction

English

Offered By

ITM/Materials Science and Engineering

Contacts

Communication during course

Chris Hulme may be contacted by email, phone (office hours only).  Communication should always be attempted via the Learning Management System in the first instance, unless an immediate response ir required.

Other teachers should be contacted via the Learning Management System or, if necessary, by email.

Course Coordinator

Teachers

Examiner