Powder Injection Moulding Technology: Properties, Possibilities and Starting Activities

 

Jovan Radulović

 

Powder Injection Moulding (shortly PIM) enables a high-volume production of completely metal or ceramic complex geometry parts starting from non-completely metallic and ceramic materials, frequently plastic feedstock.

Four phases of the PIM technology are described (compounding of feedstock, injection moulding of plastic binder/metal powder, debinding of binder component and sintering) based on the material consisting of thermoplastic binder and metal powder. A feedstock polyacetal binder/low alloy steel powder was chosen and by injection moulding technology the injection molded product, called a “green part“, is obtained. By this way, the “green part“ (precisely, test specimen according to the ASTM E8/E8M-11 standard) is produced in Serbia for the first time. A feedstock characteristics (density, semi-quantitative analysis and visual appearance) and “green part “properties (mass, density, semi-quantitative analysis and visual appearance) were tested. It was concluded that satisfactory results were obtained.

Key words: injection moulding, powder moulding, technological improvements, process properties.