Mixing and characterisation of stainless steel 316L feedstock for waste polystyrene binder system in metal injection molding (MIM)

This paper describes the mixing process and homogeneity analysis of a newly developed binder system based on waste polystyrene (PS) and palm kernel oil (PKO) to produce feedstock for metal injection molding (MIM). Since mixing is a critical step in MIM process, hence the mixture of powder and binder...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Asmawi, Rosli, Ibrahim, Mohd Halim Irwan, Mohd Amin, Azriszul
Format: Article
Published: Trans Tech Publications Inc 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.607.83
http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.607.83
http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/6499/1/rosli_asmawi_U.pdf
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Summary:This paper describes the mixing process and homogeneity analysis of a newly developed binder system based on waste polystyrene (PS) and palm kernel oil (PKO) to produce feedstock for metal injection molding (MIM). Since mixing is a critical step in MIM process, hence the mixture of powder and binder should be homogeneous and injectable. In this study, water atomised Stainless Steel powder was mixed with a new binder system consisting of waste polystyrene and palm kernel oil in a Brabender Plastograph EC rotary mixer. Several tests were performed to assess the homogeneity of the feedstock that was produced at 60 vol.% powder loadings. The 60 vol.% was chosen because the Critical Powder Volume Concentration (CPVC) of the SS316L powder was found to be 64.8 vol.%. The tests conducted were density, binder burn-out and SEM morphology observation. It was found that the feedstock shows good homogeneity and suitable for further processing in MIM.