| Summary: | This paper describes an optimising sintering process in metal injection molding (MIM) of 316L SS employing a binder system consisting of palm stearin (PS), stearic acid (SA), polyethylene (PE) and thermoplastic rice starch (TPRS). The Design of Experiment (DOE) for this study used the Taguchi method with orthogonal array 9 (33) for optimization of sintered parts. The outcomes were observed in achieving the maximum sintered density yield. The part was injection moulded with a pressure of 7 bars, an injection temperature of 160°C, an injection time of 10 seconds and a holding time of 25 seconds. Subsequently, the part was solvent debinded by immersing in n-heptane at 60°C for 6 hours and thermal debinding was performed at 450°C with a heating rate of 1°C/min and one-hour soaking time. Sintering parameters optimized were sintering temperature ranging from 1300°C to 1380°C, heating rate range of 1°C/min to 5°C/min and holding time range of 45 minutes to 90 minutes. The optimum sintered density was achieved with a sintering temperature of 1340°C, a heating rate of 3°C/min and a holding time of 60 minutes. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the heating rate (60.29%) was the most influential parameter that contributed to sintered density followed by holding time (32.87%) and sintering temperature (6.84%). © 2019 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
|
|---|