Abstract
In recent years, there has been the emergence of sintered bronze art objects. The fidelity of the surface finish and preservation of the artistic detail with minimised finishing costs are clear benefits. Furthermore, new alloying rules can be applied to sintered bronze. For example, a high tin content can be used while lead can be avoided (because casting fluidity is not an issue). Also, chemical segregation common to castings is avoided, so the absence of microgalvanic cells in the microstructure reduces the overall corrosion rate. Therefore, a powder approach gives fewer production steps, removes concerns over lead toxicity and allows selection of higher tin content alloys for improved corrosion resistance. However, there is a concern that the sintered composition might have degraded resistance to environmental exposure, especially in light of the high temperature exposure and surface connected open pores.
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