CHARACTERIZATION OF 316L STAINLESS STEEL POWDER INJECTION MOLDING

This report presents the research that had been conducted during current semester and progress on the project so far based on this chosen topic, which is Characterization Of 316L Stainless Steel Powder Injection Molding. The objective of the project is to find the optimum parameters for powder injection molding of 316L Stainless Steel.
In this project, metal powder and the binder characterization were carried out. The suitable binder system proportion, formulation of mixture of powder and binder were determined and the powder and the binder were mixed. The feedstocks then were characterized by using rheometer and Thermal Gravimetrical Analyzer (TGA). The results shows that the rheological behavior of both formulations of the feedstocks are suitable for injection molding. The samples were injection molded without physical defects. Molded sample will go through debinding process to remove the binder and keep its shape. The debinding process consists of two sub-processes; solvent extraction and thermal debinding. For solvent extraction, the optimum temperature and time is 60oC for 5 hours respectively. For thermal debinding process, the samples are successfully debond with the best heating rate, 7oC/min, to temperature of 450oC for 1 hour dwell time.