The Effect of Insert Surface Roughness in Part Production with Inserted Powder Injection Molding Method

Abstract

The Powder Injection Molding (PIM) method is widely used in the production of parts with complex geometries and small volumes. To solve the volume limitation in PIM, the Inserted Powder Injection Molding (IPIM) method was developed. In this study, the effect of insert surface roughness on shear strength was investigated using the IPIM method in the production of WC-9%Co parts. Firstly, inserts with five different surface roughness (Ra, μm), 1.5 - 2.1 - 3.3 - 4 - 4.6, were prepared from 4340 steel for the research. WC feedstock was injected onto the prepared inserts. Following the injection process, the samples were subjected to debinding and sintering processes. Compression tests were performed on sintered specimens, and the effect of surface roughness on diffusion bonding strength was investigated. As a result of the experiments, it was determined that the shear strength increases with the increase of the insert surface roughness. The maximum shear strength (118.4 MPa) was obtained in samples with an insert surface roughness of 4.6 μm.