Powder press

A method of pressing a mass into a coherent workpiece in a mold assembly having

• a mold body defining a chamber,
• a mold liner in the chamber having a generally cylindrical pressing surface centered on an axis, directed in one radial direction, and defining a mold cavity and an opposite surface directed in an opposite radial direction, and
• a plunger engageable axially in the cavity, the method comprising the steps of:
• confining the mass in the cavity in engagement with the pressing surface and with the plunger;
• pressing the plunger axially against the mass and thereby axially compressing the mass;
• exerting a radial force in the one radial direction between the mold body and the opposite surface of the liner and thereby elastically deforming the liner in the one radial direction toward the mass and radially compressing the liner and mass in the cavity;
• and
• varying the radial force in different axially spaced regions of the liner during axial compression of the mass.