Gear applications have emerged as an important target for the PM structural parts sector and several of the leading PM groups have developed new processing methods, such as overall or selective densification of sintered preforms, in order to attack this market opportunity. However, not all potential PM gear applications require these densification processes and it is important to be able to analyse the requirements of various applications in order to optimize the choice of material and processing sequence and therefore deliver the required performance at minimum cost. As a contributor to a program with this overall objective, the influence of nickel additions to a sintered hardened Fe-1.5 % Mo-0.6 %C base material on tooth bend fatigue strength has been studied in a paper reported by A. DeNicolo (GKN Sinter Metals, Brunico, Italy) and D. Rubesa (University of Applied Science Joanneum, Graz, Austria) at the Euro PM 2011 Conference, held in Barcelona, 9-12 October, 2011.