An investigation was carried out on the possibility whether the ball-milling process of low energy could successfully improve the packing density and flowability for MIM application in W-20wt%Cu system. In this study, W-20wt%Cu powder mixture was prepared by ball-milling. W powder was not fractured by low mechanical impact energy used in the present work during the critical ball-milling time, but the ductile Cu powder was easily deformed to the 3 dimensional equiaxed shape, having the particle size similar to that of W powder. The ball-milled mixture of W-20wt%Cu powder had the more homogeneous distribution of each component and the higher amount of powder loading for molding than the simple mixture of W-Cu powder with an irregular shape and a different size. Accordingly, the MIM W(1.75)-20wt%Cu powder compacts were able to be sintered to the relative density of 99% by sintering at for one hour.

W-Cu alloy is attractive to thermal managing materials in microelectronic devices because of its good thermal properties. The metal injection molding (MIM) of W-Cu systems can satisfy the need for mass production of the complex shaped W-Cu parts in semiconductor devices. In this study, the application of MIM process of the mechanically alloyed (MA) W-Cu composite powders, which had higher sinterability were investigated. The MA W-Cu powders and reduction treated (RT) powders were injected by using of the multicomponent binder system. The multi-stage debinding cycles were adopted in and atmosphere. The isostatic repressing treatment was carried out in order to improve the relative density of brown parts. The brown part of RT W-Cu composite powder sintered at 110 had shown the higher sinterability compared to that of MA powder. The relative sintered density of all specimens increased to 96% by sintering at 120 for 1 hour. The relationship between green density and the sintering behavior of MA W-Cu composite powder was analyzed and discussed on the basis of the nanostructured characteristics of the MA W-Cu composite powder.

An investigation was performed to apply the M3/2 grade high speed steel for metal injection molding using both prealloyed and elementally blended powders. The injected samples were subjected to a debinding step in gas atmosphere at a ratio that affected the carbon content of the material. The carbon content ranged from 1.4wt.% to 1.43wt%. with increasing content up to 80% in atmosphere for the prealloyed powders. The carbon contents of the elementally blended powders exhibited 1.44wt.% and 1.62wt.% at 10% and 20% gas, respectively. This level decreased to 0.17wt.% upon increasing the content. The sintered density of both powders increased rapidly as the temperature reached the liquid phase forming temperature. After forming the liquid phase, the density rapidly increased to the optimum sintering temperature for the prealloyed powders, whereas the density of mixed elemental powders goes up slowly to the optimum sintering temperature. The optimum sintering temperature and density are 126 and 97.3% for the prealloyed powders and 128 and 96.9% for the elementally blended powders, respectively. The microstructure of the specimen at the optimum sintering temperature consisted of fine grains with primary carbides of MC and type for the prealloyed powders. The elementally blended powders exhibited coarse grains with eutectic carbides of MC, and type.

The effect ofgas sintering atmosphere on the carbon content and mechanical properties during the metal injection molding process of carbonyl iron-nickel powder was studied. The carbon content of the specimen after debinding in the pureatmosphere appeared 0.78 wt%. After showing the maximum value of 1.48 wt.% in the debinding atmosphere of 10%gas mixture, the carbon content of the debinded specimen decreased gradually with increasing thecontent in thegas mixture. The carbon contents of the sintered specimen were 0.46~0.63wt% in Na gas atmosphere, while they appeared extremely low above 40%gas atmosphere. The relative sintered density increased abruptly from 88~90% to 93~96% with the addition of Ni, while the density nearly unchanged above 2% Ni addition. The sintered density increased with increasing the fraction ofgas mixture. Tensile strength and hardness increased, and elongation decreased with increasing carbon and Ni content. In spite of high carbon content of 0.63 wt%, the superior elongation value of 10% was shown.