Abstract: Method and apparatus whereby complex patterns are pressed into the interior of a part formed of compactible material. A flexible, pre-fabricated pattern form bearing the inverse of a desired pattern is wrapped around a conventional mandrel and this assembly is loaded inside of an isostatic pressing bag with a material charge. After compaction, the mandrel is separated from the pattern form, leaving the pattern form behind in the compact. The pattern form is then peeled, pulled, or otherwise removed from the interior of the compact, leaving behind the desired on the compact interior. Alternatively, a collapsible or melt-away mandrel with the inverse of a desired pattern formed on its exterior is employed to form the desired pattern on the interior of a compacted part.

Abstract: The invention includes an apparatus and method for hot isostatic compaction of compactible material in a heated and pressurized environment within a pressure vessel, having a compaction container which can be hermetically sealed over a load, and which can transmit pressure from the pressure vessel to the load sealed in the container, a compaction die which can be hermetically sealed within the container, the die having an interior wall area which defines within the die an internal cavity having a width measured along a first axis, the die interior wall area extending along a second axis transverse to the first axis to generally define the height of the die cavity, the die having a wall thickness measured along the first axis, and a punch arrangement for applying compacting force to the compactible material and having a width essentially equal to the die cavity width such that when the punch arrangement is loaded oriented along the first axis within the die cavity, respective ends of the punch arrangement cont