Heckel

Heckel is a surname of German origin. It may refer to individuals who bear the name or to scientific concepts named after a person with the surname.

Notable people with the name include Erich Heckel (1883–1970), a German painter and printmaker who was a founder of the Die Brücke, an important early 20th-century expressionist movement. He is the most widely recognized bearer of the name in the arts; other individuals with the surname work in various fields such as science, academia, and industry, though they may be less well known.

The Heckel equation is a model used in powder metallurgy to describe densification of powders during cold compaction. It expresses a relationship between the relative density D of a compact and the applied pressure P. In its common form, ln(1/(1−D)) = kP + A, where D is the relative density, P is the applied pressure, and k and A are material constants. The slope k is interpreted as a measure of plasticity and compressibility, while A relates to the initial porosity. The model is widely used to analyze pressing behavior and to estimate achievable densities, but it assumes uniform deformation and may be less accurate at very high pressures or with complex tooling.