Effects of debinding parameters on metal injection molding parts

An investigation on the influence of debinding parameters on carbon level, binder removal and density of debound parts was conducted. The feedstock for the injection molding was produced from a mixture of water-atomized 316L stainless steel powder and PAN-31 binder. The molding was conducted on a Battenfeld BA250 CDC injection molding machine. The green parts were placed on porous alumina substrate and thermal debound in a Lindberg tube furnace. In this study, three different gases were used for the debinding: nitrogen, argon and argon + 5% hydrogen. The effects of different gases on binder removal, residual carbon level and density of debound parts were studied. Experimental results also show that a greater amount of binder is removed but with a reduction in residual carbon level when the gas flow rate increases.