Can Fine Iron Powder Be Compressed into a Solid Puck Without Heat or Binders?

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Compressing fine iron powder into a solid puck without heat or binding agents is theoretically possible but requires significant force. The particle size of about 30 microns presents challenges due to the powder's tendency to absorb moisture, leading to the formation of an oxide layer that complicates cold welding. To achieve successful compaction, a lubricant is often necessary to facilitate the process. The pressure needed for effective compaction is higher than commonly anticipated. Techniques from powder metallurgy, such as those used in diamond setting with cobalt powder, demonstrate that high pressure can achieve near full density through sintering.
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I was just curious if it would be possible to compress fine iron powder into a solid puck without applying any heat or binding chemicals, etc. I'm guessing it would take several tonnes of force?

Particle size of powder: about 30 microns
 
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Look up 'sintering' or 'powder metallurgy'. Various metallic and ceramic products are made by compressing powdered raw material.
 
Thanks, I wasn't sure where to start looking. I guess my google searches were too specific.
 
Thirty microns is quite fine for iron powder. You would probably need a lubricant to to cold compact such a fine powder in practice. This is because fine iron has quite an affinity for water vapour from the atmosphere and the resultant surface layer of iron oxide will take quite a bit of pressure to break up this oxide layer so that cold welding between the underlying iron can occur.

Yes, you can do it, but the required pressure will be higher than you think.

In diamond setting, they compact very fine cobalt powder under very high pressure and then sinter it to get to near full density
 

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