• Demers, Vincent
• Majdi, Seyed Mohammad
• Brailovski, Vladimir
• Vachon, Guillem
• Ayatollahi Tafti, Atefeh

Abstract

<jats:p>Low-pressure powder injection molding (LPIM) is a cost-effective technology for producing intricate small metal parts at high, medium, and low production volumes in applications which, to date, have involved ceramics or spherical metal powders. Since the use of irregular metal powders represents a promising way to reduce overall production costs, this study aims to investigate the potential of manufacturing powder injection molded parts from irregular commercial iron powders using the LPIM approach. To this end, a low viscosity feedstock was injected into a rectangular mold cavity, thermally wick-debound using three different pre-sintering temperatures, and finally sintered using an identical sintering cycle. During debinding, an increase in pre-sintering temperature from 600 to 850 °C decreased the number of fine particles. This decreased the sintered density from 6.2 to 5.1 g/cm3, increased the average pore size from 9 to 14 μm, and decreased pore circularity from 67 to 59%.</jats:p>

Topics

• density
• impedance spectroscopy
• pore
• viscosity
• iron
• ceramic
• injection molding
• sintering
• iron powder