To understand the effect of powder characteristics on the thermal debinding behavior, PIM parts produced with powders with different particle sizes and particle shapes were examined to determine their weight losses during thermal debinding. The results show that the average diameter of the pore channel in the compact increased when the temperature increased and when coarse powders were used. However, the weight loss rates did not increase proportionally with the pore size. This suggests that the different powders that are frequently used in PIM parts do not affect the thermal debinding rate significantly. This is because the pore size is much larger than the mean free path of the decomposed gas molecules. Thus, the diffusion rates of the gases are not rate-controlling in thermal debinding. The controlling mechanism of the thermal debinding rate is the decomposition of the backbone binder in the PIM parts.

통상적인 금속분말의 성형은 분말야금 공정으로 이루어지기 때문에 복잡한 형상의 부품을 구현하는 데는 제약이 있다. 하지만, 1970년대 후반 이래 새로운 금속분말의 성형기술로 크게 각광을 받으며 연구되고 있는 금속분말사출성형(Metal Powder Injection Molding, MIM) 기술을 이용하면 다양한 형태의 부품을 성형할 수 있다 최근에는 이러한 MIM 기술을 이용하여 다양한 산업분야에 응용될 수 있는 마이크로 부품을 제조하고자 하는 연구개발

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the method decreasing debinding time as well as lowering operation condition than pure supercritical debinding by using cosolvent or binary mixture of propane + . First method is to add cosolvent, such as n-hexane, DCM, methanol, 1-butanol, in supercritical . In case of adding cosolvent, we were found the addition of non-polar cosolvent (n-hexane) improves dramatically the binder removal rate (more than 2 times) compared with pure supercritical debinding, second method is to use mixture of supercritical propane + , as solvent. In case of using mixture of supercritical propane + , the rate of debinding speeded up with increasing of pressure and concentration of propane at 348.15 K. It was found that addition of cosolvent (e.g., n-hexane, DCM) and binary mixture propane + for supercritical solvent remarkably improved binder removal rate for the paraffin wax-based binder system, in comparison with using pure supercritical .

The production of micro components is one of the leading technologies in the fields of information and communiation, medical and biotechnology, and micro sensor and micro actuator system. Microfabrication (micromachining) techniques such as X-ray lithography, electroforming, micromolding and excimer laser ablation are used for the production of micro components out of silicon, polymer and a limited number of pure metals or binary alloys. However, since the first development of microfabrication technologies there have been demands for the cost-effective replication in large scale series as well as the extended range of available material. One such promising process is micro powder injection molding (PIM), which inherits the advantages of the conventional PIM technology, such as low production cost, shape complexity, applicability to many materials, applicability to many materials, and good tolerance. This paper reports on a fundamental investigation of the application of W-Cu powder to micro metal injection molding (MIM), especially in view of achieving a good filling and a safe removal of a micro mold conducted in the experiment. It is absolutely legitimate and meaningful, at the present state of the technique, to continue developing the micro MIM towards production processes for micro components.

CAE technology is an integrated tool including all aspects such as powder, binder system, mixing, injection molding, debinding and sintering. Therefore, CAE technology is considered as one of core technologies for PIM industry in the future. Recently many researchers are developing not only CAE software itself but also application procedures of CAE software. In this study, the applications for CAE technology in PIM industry are presented including feedstock mixing effect, several cases of troubleshooting and optimization procedure.

In this paper we presented numerical method for the simulation of powder injection molding filling process, which is one of the key processes in powder injection molding. Rheological properties of powder binder mixture such as slip phenomena and yield stress were introduced into the numerical analysis model of powder injection molding filling simulation. Numerical model can be classified into two types. One is 2.5D model which can be introduced to a arbitrary thin geometry and the other is full 3D model which can be applied to a general 3D shape. For 2.5D model we showed the validity of our CAE system with several verification examples. Finally we suggested flow analysis model for 3D powder injection molding filling simulation.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the influence of thermal debinding and sintering conditions on the sintering behavior and mechanical properties of PIMed 316L stainless steel. The water atomized powders were mixed with multi-component wax-base binder system, injection molded into flat tensile specimens. Binder was removed by solvent immersion method followed by thermal debinding, which was carried out in air and hydrogen atmospheres. Sintering was done in hydrogen for 1 hour at temperatures ranging from 1000℃ to 1350℃ The weight loss, residual carbon and oxygen contents were monitored at each stage of debinding and sintering processes. Tensile properties of the sintered specimen varied depending on the densification and the characteristics of the grain boundaries, which includes the pore morphology and residual oxides at the boundaries. The sinter density, tensile strength (UTS), and elongation to fracture of the optimized specimen were 95%, 540 MPa, and 53%, respectively.

분말사출성형(PIM, Powder Injection Molding) 기술은 금속, 초경 또는 세라믹 등과 같은 소결 가능한 분말을 유기결합체와 혼압하고 이를 기존의 사출성형법을 이용하여 일정한 형상으로 성형한 다음 결합제 제거정 공정을 거처 최종 고온 소결함으로써 3차원의 복잡한 형상의 부품을 후가공 없이 정밀하게 대량 생산 할 수 있는 신분말 성형 기술이다.기계 , 항공,전자정보,반도체,의료 등의 제반 분야에서 산업 및 생활기기들이 초소형화, 초정밀,

Recent remarkable progress in the semiconductor industry has promoted smaller size of semiconductor chips and increased amounts of heat generation. So, the demand for a substrate material to meet both the characteristics of thermal expansion coefficient and heat radiation has been on the increase. Under such conditions, tungsten(W)-copper(Cu) has been proposed as materials to meet both of the above characteristics. In the present study, the W-10wt.%Cu powders were synthesised by the mixing and hydrogen reduction of the starting mixture materials such as W-Cu, and in order to obtain the full densification. The W-10wt.%Cu produced by hydrogen reduction showed the higher interparticle friction than the simple mixed W-10wt%Cu because of the W agglomerates. In the dilatometric analysis the W-10wt.%Cu prepared from the was largely shrank by heating up at the constant heating rate of /min. The possibility of application of metal injection molding (MIM) was also investigated for mass production of the complex shaped W-Cu parts in semiconductor devices. The relationship between the temperature of molding die and the pressure of injection molding was analyzed and the heating up stage of 120- in the debinding process was controlled for the most suitable MIM condition.

A new binder system and debinding process for low carbon residue in the injection molding of Nd(Fe, Co)B powder are investigated. In the injection molding of magnetic materials, it is demanded to reduce carbon residue which deteriorates their magnetic properties. The binder system developed is composed of polyethylene glycols (PEGs) and polypropylene (PP). PEG was selected as a major binder is component to be extracted in a molecular state by solvent extraction in ethanol, which step would leave no residue. PP was selected as a minor binder component to be subsequently removed by thermolysis which step would leave carbon residue. The behaviors of solvent extraction with the variations of PEG molecular weight, temperature, and time were examined. The dependency of residual carbon content on thermolysis atmosphere was also studied. Opened pore channels introduced in a green body by the solvent extraction and microstructures of the sintered magnets were observed using SEM.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the manufacturing feasibility of WC-Co milling inserts via Powder Injection Molding (PIM) process. WC-Co is used in a wide variety of cutting tools due to its high hardness, stiffness, compressive strength and wear resistance properties. WC-Co parts for a high stress application were conventionally produced by the press and sinter method, which were Iimited to 2 dimensional shapes. Manufacturing WC-Co parts for a high stress application by PIM implies that tool efficiency can be highly improved due to increased freedom is design. P30 grade WC powder (WC-Co-TiC-TaC system) was mixed with RIST-5B133 binder and injection molded into milling inserts (Taegu Tech. Model WCMX 06T 308). The mean grain size of the powder was about 0.8m. Injection molded specimens were debound by solvent extraction and thermal degradation method at various conditions. The specimens were sintered at 140 for 1 hr in vacuum. Carbon content, weight loss, dimensional change, and macro defects of the specimen were carefully monitored at each stage of the PIM process. PIMed WC-Co milling inserts reached 100% full density after sinteing. Its mechanical properties and micro-structures were comparable with the press and sintered milling insert. Carbon content of the sintered WC-Co insert was mainly determained by the atmosphere of thermal debinding. By controlling powder loading and injection molding condition, dimensional accuracy could be obtained within 0.4%. We confirm that PIM can not only be an alternative manufacturing method for WC-Co parts economically but also provide a design freedom for more effieient cutting tools.