Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang

1. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang Contents • Introduction • Development process of PIM • Powder for PIM and its latest advances • Binder for PIM and its latest advances • Feedstock preparation and its basic requirements • Outlines of injection molding • Outlines of debinding • Materials fabricated by PIM and Their Applications • PIM Economics • PIM in China

2. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang Driving forces : P/M improvement 传统粉末冶金技术面临巨大挑 局限： • 无法制备出形状 复杂精细零部件、 • 组织均匀性差、 • 机加工工序多、 • 材料利用率低 • 生产成本高 粉末 压制成形 烧结

3. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 枪 管 套

4. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang

5. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 粉末注射成形面新的机遇 • 优势: • 大批量生产 • 复杂精细件 • 组织均匀性好 • 尺寸一致性好 • 材料利用率高 • 生产成本低 粉末 粘结剂 混炼 喂料制备 注射成形 粘结剂脱除 烧结

6. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang • 1. Introduction Powder injection molding (PIM) is a very attractive near net manufacturing process, in which, a high concentration of powder is mixed with a polymer binder to form a moderate viscosity blend, called feedstock; then, the feedstock is injected into a close die cavity on equipment that is very similar to that used for polymer injection molding to form a green part; then a heat treatment, called debinding, is given to extract the binder from the component. Finally, the debinded component is sintered to form the part.

7. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang The main key features for PIM low production costs, shape complexity, tight tolerances, applicability to various materials, high final properties.

8. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang The applications of the PIM products are very wide , range from computer heat sinks to sport components. The use of PIM for the higher temperature materials is becoming more and more attractive, because there is no competition from casting and other forming technologies .

9. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 2. Development process of PIM • The original traces (up to the 1920's ), used a similar method to produce ceramic spark plug. • At the end of 1950's, a lot of cemented carbides demonstration components were formed . • In the late 1980's ,it was used more and more widely • In the world wide, there are more than 200 companies which are offering PIM services.

10. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 2. Development process of PIM • The typical products are including cemented carbide wear components, computer disk drive magnets, stainless steel watch cases, tungsten heat sink, niobium rocket nozzles, heavy alloy projectiles and radiation shields, zirconia for steel casting, alumina and silica for casting cores, and titanium golf clubs and eyeglasses ..

11. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 3. Powder for PIM and its latest advances. The first thing for PIM is powder selection, which will determine the product quality and process efficiency. The fine powder can aid sintering. Many fine powders that are candidates for PIM are agglomerated, hence they must be deagglomerated before mixing with the binder. The ideal features of PIM powders are outlined in Table 1 , and a few example powders are listed in Table 2 in detail for particle size, packing density, and angle of repose. Several new technologies developed in 1980s and 1990s could produce these powders, like high pressure water atomization , high pressure gas atomization , and NANOVAL processand so on .

12. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang Table 1. Characteristics of an Ideal PIM Powder mean particle size 4--8μm tap density > 50% th compacted angle of repose >55 no agglomeration, dense particles free of internal voids, nearly spherical or equiaxed particle shape, clean surface with minimal segregation, low hazards

13. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang Table 2. Examples PIM Powder powder, size apparent density tap density repose angle μm g/cm3 g/cm3 deg Al2O3 0.5 1.1 1.3 42 Fe 3.97 2.39 3.77 61 316L 11 3.9 4.9 40 Ti-6Al-4V 32 2.1 2.8 44 W 2.91 3.64 6.0 55 WC-15Co 1.3 2.0 3.1 60

14. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 4.Binder for PIM and its latest advances • Another important thing isbinder selection. The most common binders are thermoplastics, such as wax or polyethylene. • They usually consist of two or three components. • An example binder which consists of 65% paraffin wax, 30 % polypropylene , and 5% stearic; binder content is usually near 40 vol.% of the mixture. Other binder systems are used, but this binder has proven effective enough for PIM processing of many powder .

15. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 4.Binder for PIM and its latest advances • In 1990s, many chemical companies have fabricated very new binders or feedstock systems tailored to PIM, and the offerings include the following: acetal-based system from BASF, water-gelation system from Allied-Signal, water-soluble wax from Hoechst, silicate binder from Bayer, acrylic-based system from Rohm-Hass, and wax-polymer systems from several other companies.

16. 1 Was System Paraffin Wax (PW) Bee Wax Stearic acid (SA) 2 Wax-polymer PW PE,PP PA PE,PEVA,PEA Oleic acide Phthalic acido 3 Polymer-Wax PP.HDPE,PS (High MW) PW SA 4 Polymer System PS(high MW) Resin (low MW) Petroleum oil 5 Water-Soluble Polymer System PEGS PMMA additive 6 Catalytical-debinding Polymer System Polyacetal Non-catalytical Polymer additive Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang Table 3 The Important Binder Formula in PIM No System Major binder Minor binder Additives

17. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 5. Feedstock preparation and its basic requirements A successful feedstock should balance several considerations. to be sufficient to fill all voids between particles, to lubricate particle sliding during injection molding too much binder is also undesired since component shape might be lost during binder removal process. the powder loading to be optimized since too high powder loading will result in a high viscosity and insufficient binder to fill all void space between the particles. Consequently, it is hard to mold such a feedstock the viscosity to be similar to that of toothpaste . .

18. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang

19. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 5. Feedstock preparation and its basic requirements homogeneity Many defects in injection molding are resulted from the inhomogeneity of the feedstock , thus, a high shear is required in mixing to force the binder among all particles.

20. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 6.Outlines of injection molding The pelletized feedstock is heated in the molding machine and becomes a viscous fluid with a low enough viscosity. By injecting, the fluid flows into the die cavity and fill it out. Cooling channels in the die extract heat and solidify the polymer to preserve the molded shape.

21. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 6.Outlines of injection molding The equipment is the same as used for plastic injection molding. Most common equipment is a reciprocation screw-molding machine.

22. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 6.Outlines of injection molding Molding pressure is very important parameters, which is determine by several factors. But normally it might be 60 MPa or more. Pressure is kept on the feedstock until the gate freezes to reduce the formation of sink marks and shrinkage voids. After totally freezing in the die, the component is ejected and one cycle of PIM is completed.

23. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 7.Outlines of debinding Usually the binder is removed from the component. The conventional method was thermal debinding. The component is slowly heated to decompose the binder.

24. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 7.Outlines of debinding In the late of 1980's, a more effciently solvent debinding technology was developed in which the component was immersed in a solvent that dissolves part of the binder, leaving some polymer behind to hold the particles in place for subsequent handling. The remaining binder is thermally extracted as part of the sintering cycle.

25. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 7.Outlines of debinding Newer binders are water soluble, so the debinding solvent is water. A more popular alternative option involve catalytic phase erosion of the binder with very high speed, which was developed in 1990's in Germany (BASF). Most of the binder is attacked by a catalytic vapor, with the residual binder removed during sintering.

26. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 8.Materials fabricated by PIM and Their Applications. In general, most of the classic engineering materials are available except aluminum, glass, lead, and tin. Typically ferrous alloys and alumina-based ceramics are used most often. For the stainless steels, the 316L composition is used frequently, because of its combined strength and corrosion resistance.

27. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 8.Materials fabricated by PIM and Their Applications. Other compositions that have high levels of molybdenum (up to 6%), chromium (up to 22%), or silicon (up to 3%) are also preferred. Stainless steels, iron-nickel compositions, and alumna represent the largest materials. Much of the growth in the recent years is in higher temperature materials or in very hard materials that cannot be fabricated by casting.

28. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 8.Materials fabricated by PIM and Their Applications. As a brief summary , Table 4 listed the common PIM materials attached their nominal mechanical properties .

29. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang materials composition wt.% density % ultimate Mpa hardness cemented carbide WC-10Co 100 1410 78HRC cemented carbide WC-7Co-1TaC 100 2200 1700HV cemented carbide WC-7Ni 100 2000 2000HV niobium super alloy Nb-10W-10Ta 98 440 20HRC Titanium Ti 95 1300 titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V 98 880 35HRC tungsten heavy alloy W-8Mo-8Ni-2Fe 100 1115 tungsten heavy alloy W-5Ni-2Cu 98 1050 35HRC tungsten heavy alloy W-4Ni-1Fe 99 1000 50HRA tungsten heavy alloy W-5Ni-2Fe 100 930 25HRC Alumina Al2O3 99 380 silicom carbide SiC 98 400 silicon nitride Si3N4-8%Y2O3 98 350 composite of the silicon nitride Si3N4-10% SiC 98 900

30. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang From the table, it can been seen that the mechanical properties attainable with PIM are generally equivalent to those possible via other powder production routes. In some specific cases, the corrosion resistance of the PIM products, like the stainless steel is much more concerned. If without contamination, the PIM products are with good corrosion resistance, and often superior to the wrought products. With the developments of PIM, the PIM products got more and more wildly applications. Table 5 listed the existed applications and new possible applications .

31. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang component key properties material computer heat sink thermal conductivity and expansion W-Cu, AlN drills or cutter hardness, strength WC-Co,Si3N4 eyeglass frame toughness, strength Ti, NiTi,stainless Firearm strength, toughness steel, stainless, Ti golf club (driver) elasticity, toughness stainless, Ti, Ti-TiC, W jet engine rivet heat and oxidation resistance Nb-alloy, superalloy Jewelry surface finish zirconia, Au, Ag microwave package electrical conductivity invar, steel, W-Cu orthodontic bracket strength, corrosion resistance stainless, alumina, Ti penetrator projectile density, strength, toughness W-Ni-Fe, steel radio-isotope container atomic number, density W-Ni-Fe rock drill bit hardness, wear resistance WC-Co, zirconia rocket nozzle temperature and erosion resistance Nb-alloy sand blast nozzle wear resistance zirconia, WC-Co shape charge liner ductility, density W-Ni-Cu, Mo,Ta sporting cleat weight, wear resistance steel, Ti-Fe transistor mount thermal expansion and conductivity invar, W-Cu, Mo-Cu wristwatch case corrosion resistance, aesthetics stainless, Ti, WC-Ni Cutter wear resistance, hot toughness Al­2O3 Rotor high temperature strength and oxidiation resistance Si3N4

32. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang From the table, it can been seen thatthe recent interest has been diverted to PIM with a high aesthetic value, like running shoe cleats, golf clubs, eyeglasses, handguns and also including wrist watches. Wristwatch production via PIM is widespread, with stainless injection molded and nitrided as part of the sintering cycle to form a gold color. A significant trend in the PIM industry is developing sporting equipment. This will be a large application area and has been the basis for creation several new companies with much current research emphasis on titanium.

33. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang Another growth area is in microelectronic applications. Components range from computer and printer parts to semiconductor packages. The materials for these applications include Mo-Cu, AlN, invar, and W-Cu. Potential applications are in future telecommunications and avionic systems. Cemented cutting tools are another application field. One early example was specialty wood cutting routers. Other applications include cutting blades, strainers, router bits, drills, and so on. Now days, tool steels are just emerging and will be one of the next major application areas for PIM.

34. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 9. PIM Economics In principle, most products produced by conventional metallurgy method can be fabricated by PIM process. In spite of these, there are several key factors in determining the feasibility of PIM product.The critical factors are part complexity and production cost, especially the cost of the PIM product, which is determined by the tool cost, powder cost, labor rates et al. Now days, the PIM market was located in the high production quantities for complex parts where the typical cost can be reduced 20-30% as compared with other alternative production process.

35. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 9. PIM Economics For PIM economics, another topics discussed frequently is the size of the market. The investigation showed that the total world wide sales for PIM was about 45 million during the late 1980's, $230 million by1993 and $378 million in 1996, out of which 60% were from metals, 35% from ceramics, and 5% from carbides. By geographic partitioning the guess is that two- thirds of the world wide sales were in USA, 20% in Asia (especially in Japan), 12%in Europe, According to the estimation, the current growth rate in sales are at 22% per year.

36. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 9. PIM Economics Basically speaking, the PIM market has come of age during 1980's. Now days, most of the current interest stems from the success of metal injection molding (MIM). However, the largest production operations are focused on ceramics, largely for casting cores, automotive sparkplugs and oxygen sensors, industrial ceramics, steel melting refractories, and high performance ceramics. On the other hand, the number of companies practicing MIM is larger, but they are smaller operations. Today, PIM is an accepted material shaping technique. The process currently has many applications and is making inroads against investment casting, especially for small products.

37. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 10.PIM in China In China, universities, Institutes and companies started their PIM researches and production during 1950's. At that time, a few ceramic PIM products, like alumina spark plugs, were produced. The fundamental researches were focused on the powder selection, binder design and rheological evaluation, and dimensional accuracy control.

38. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 10.PIM in China In 1980's, the advanced research project for the use of high performance ceramics in heat engine was conducted in a few key universities (like Qing hua University) and key Labs(like…). The PIM production of dense silicon nitride, silicon carbide and toughened zirconia components was being extensively investigated. The complex-shaped components included radial rotors, vanes, turbocharging rotors, were produced by PIM methods. Beside the further fundamental researches, the in situ studies, injection molding controlling and flow stimulation have been developed.

39. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 10.PIM in China In 1990's, more and more universities and institutes were involved in metal injection molding. Several MIM Lab were established, such as MIM Lab in the National Key Lab of Powder Metallurgy of Central South University(CSU) . Under the finical support of Nature Science Foundation of China, 863 High-tech Agency of China, a lot fundamental and applied researches have been conducted. Many applied are associated with specific application such as wristwatches, tungsten penetrators, gun parts. Materials included tool steel, tungsten alloys, cemented carbide, stainless steel, titanium, The developing technologies include new powder production techniques, new binder system design. On the basis of these ten years research achievement, one PIM production line with $5million annual outputs has been constructed in 1999 at National Key Lab for Powder Metallurgy of CSU.

40. Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang the end thank you!

41. 粉 末 粘结剂 分散系结构 流变学 注射成形 添加剂 Advances in Powder Injection Molding Dr.liang 6.Outlines of injection molding—processing control • 材料结构均匀性和理想的组织结构的获得 • 工艺优化与控制 • 产品设计