Production components fabricated by metal powder injection molding are analyzed for features to identify the design window for this powder technology. This reverse approach lets the designer see where PIM has a high probability to succeed. The findings show that the most suitable components tend to be less than 25 mm in size and less than 10 g in mass, are slender, and have high complexity.

A novel production method for porous metal components has been developed by applying powder space holder (PSH) method to metal powder injection molding (MIM) process. The PSH-MIM method has an industrial competitive advantage that is capable of net-shape manufacturing the micro-sized porous metal products with complicated shapes and controlled porosity and pore size. In this study, the small impeller with homogeneous micro-porous structure was manufactured by the PSH-MIM method. The effects of combinations in size and fraction of PMMA particle on dimensional tolerance and variation of sintered porous specimens were investigated. It was concluded that the PSH-MIM method could manufacture commercially microporous metal components with high dimensional accuracy.

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.

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.

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.