Patent ID: 6919041

Claim:
A method for compacting powder materials into articles, comprising the steps of: placing a powder material in a shaping cavity of a mold, said cavity being defined by active and passive shaping surfaces of one-piece or composite shaping members of the mold; mutually moving said shaping members of said mold along a pressing axis, with the pressing force transferred from said shaping members of said mold to said powder material through the active shaping surfaces; and forming surfaces of the powder article, parallel to the pressing axis, by the passive shaping surfaces of said one-piece or composite shaping members of the mold, wherein said forming of surfaces of the powder article, parallel to the pressing axis, comprises using parts of at least one said passive shaping surface, located on said one-piece or composite shaping members, split along the pressing axis; said shaping members of the mold are moved so that at least one continuous surface of said powder article, parallel to the pressing axis, is formed by said parts of at least one said passive shaping surface split along the pressing axis, the parts belonging to different said shaping members moving in opposite directions.