the binder but does not attack the metallic powder next at block 76 the preform 70 is sintered as shown in fig6 the preform 70 is placed in a chamber 78 which includes means for creating a suitable atmosphere to prevent undesired oxidation of the preform 70 or other reactions during the sintering process in the illustrated example a supply 80 of inert gas such as argon is connected to the interior of the chamber 78 the sintering could also be performed under a vacuum the preform 70 is heated in a known manner for example with a resistance heater 82 to a temperature below the liquidus temperature of the metallic powder and high enough to cause the metallic powder particles to fuse together and consolidate the high temperature also evaporates and drives out any remaining binder the preform 70 is held at the desired temperature for a selected time period long enough to result in a consolidated puck 48 see fig7 alternatively the preform 70 may be microwave sintered to accomplish this an optional microwave source 86 such as a known type of cavity magnetron with an output in the microwave frequency range would be mounted in communication with the chamber 78 the microwave spectrum covers a range of about 1 ghz to 300 ghz within this spectrum an output frequency of about 2 4 ghz is known to couple with and heat metallic particles without passing through solid metals when the sintering cycle is complete the puck 48 is removed from the chamber 78 and allowed to cool when required the puck 48 may be subjected to further consolidation using a known hot isostatic pressing u201c hip u201d process to result in a substantially 100 dense component as noted in block 88.