In order to obtain specific magnetic properties, it is of paramount importance to increase the alloy density of components fabricated by powder metallurgy. An alternative to increase the density of alloys such as Fe-49Co-2V would be the use of elemental Fe and Co instead of the pre-alloyed powder. Trying to give some insight on the industrial application of this strategy, this paper investigates the replacement of more conventional pre-alloyed Fe-49Co-2V powders with elemental Fe and Co. A previous analysis shows that it is possible to achieve higher densities and leads to a noticeable improvement in some important magnetic properties.

Ceramic Injection Moulding (CIM) technology has been successfully used for the fabrication of Mn-Zn Ferrite part. The binder was composed by polypropylene and paraffin wax. The optimal powder loading (58% vol.) was determined by means of rheological measurements. Threedifferent parts, toroids, bending and tensile probes were injected. Thermal and solvent-thermal debinding was designed based on DSC and TGA studies of the binder. The time of the debinding cycle was reduced using n-heptane to dissolve previously the paraffin wax. Final properties have been determined and compared with uniaxial pressure parts values. The densities obtained were slightly higher than those of uniaxial pressure parts and the magnetic properties presented similar values.

M390 microclean(R) of Edelstahl is a powder metallurgical plastic mould steel with a high level of corrosion and wear resistance and therefore often used in the plastics processing industry. But as a consequence of rapidly advancing developments in the plastics processing industry the required level of wear resistance of tool steels in this field is constantly rising. For that reason a new PM tool steel with higher hardness values and an increased amount of primary carbides has been developed to improve the resistance against abrasive and adhesive wear. The wear resistance of both steels against adhesive situations for components of the plastification unit of injection moulding machines has been tested with a novel method. In case of processing polyolefins with an injection moulding machine it was found that there is adhesive wear between the check-ring and the flights of the screw tip of the non-return valve under certain circumstances. The temperature in that region was measured with an infrared temperature sensor. The existence of significant peaks of that signal was used as an indicator for an adhesive wear situation.

The results of investigations in screw design for metall injection molding (MIM) will be presented. The consistency of cavity pressure, metering time and MFQ (monitoring of feedstock quality; parameter measured during metering) was chosen to compare different screws. A simulation program was used to optimize the conveying and melting mechanisms in the plastification unit. The theoretical background of this simulation programm will be explained.