Patent ID: 7393193

Claim:
A system for making a metallic product, the system comprising: a pressing stage which is configured to compress powder to form a green compact from the powder; a sintering stage, coupled to the pressing stage, which is configured to sinter the green compact to form a sintered structure from the green compact; and a consolidation stage, coupled to the sintering stage, which is configured to apply electric current to the sintered structure to form the metallic product from the sintered structure, the electric current being configured to consolidate the sintered structure at grain boundaries to produce the metallic product; wherein the consolidation stage includes: a holder configured to hold the sintered structure; a first electrode adjacent the holder, the first electrode being configured to contact a first side of the sintered structure when the sintered structure is held within the holder; a second electrode adjacent the holder, the second electrode being configured to contact a second side of the sintered structure when the sintered structure is held within the holder; and a controller coupled to the first and second electrodes, the controller being configured to apply, as the electric current, electric bursts through the sintered structure using the first and second electrodes; wherein the controller, when applying the electric bursts, is configured to: provide, as the electric bursts, a high density short pulse of current between the first and second electrodes through the sintered structure at periodic intervals to generate non-uniform heating within the sintered structure which results in localized melting of high resistance portions of the sintered structure; wherein the controller includes: a power source configured to provide, as a high density short pulse, current for a time interval which is less than or equal to 10 milliseconds; and wherein the power supply, when providing the current for the time interval, is configured to: provide, through the sintered structure, greater than 80 Amperes of electric current per square millimeter.