Characterization Of Metal Injection Molding (MIM) Feedstock Based On Water Soluble Binder System

Metal Injection Molding (MIM) is a new manufacturing technique especially to produce small and complex precision parts. Characterization of feedstock is one of the important tasks in order to evaluate the homogeneity level of the feedstock prepared and to control the quality of the parts during injection molding process. This paper attempts to investigate the characteristics of the MIM feedstock by performing rheological test using the feedstock consisted of 316L stainless steel powder with a mean particle size of 12 micrometer and a major fraction of water soluble binder system known as polyethylene glycol (PEG). Three different weight percentage of PEG at 65, 75, and 85 respectively were used during the investigation. The viscosity of MIM feedstock at different temperatures and shear rates were measured and evaluated. Results show that increasing the PEG content would decrease the viscosity of the feedstock. The rheological properties of the feedstock showed that the proposed method of mixing is adequate to produce a homogeneous feedstock that is favorable for injection molding process.