Abstract
Good potential of biocompatibility and excellent mechanical properties, porous Ti-6Al-4V has become a great interest for biomedical applications. In this study, porous Ti-6Al-4V was fabricated by Metal Injection Molding (MIM) using Palm Stearin (PS) and Polyethylene (PE) binder together with sodium chloride (NaCl) as a space holder. Rheological characterization was performed to evaluate the flowability of the feedstocks for injection molding and the feedstocks exhibited a pseudoplastic behavior which is suitable for injection. The as-sintered parts were fabricated as the mixing, injection molding, debinding and sintering were conducted successfully. The mechanical properties of the as-sintered parts were investigated via tensile test and the results obtained were closed with the established range. Shrinkage, density and X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD) of the as-sintered parts were compared with the theoretical values which were found closed to the acceptable ranges. The microstructure of the surface and cross-section were observed under Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) and optical microscope to analyze the specimens before and after sintering. Generally, palm stearin binder system added with space holder to fabricate porous Ti-6Al-4V by MIM is feasible and has shown a good potential for biomedical applications.
Highlights
There is a substantial demand in a market of Metal Injection Molding (MIM) as a new technique to manufacture supplies for biomedical applications (Froes and Froes, 2006)
In comparison with the findings reported by Mohamad Nor (2013), the shrinkage of the as-sintered of dense Ti-6Al-4V was only 12 to 15%
Porous Ti-6Al-4V mix with Palm Stearin (PS) binder system with powder loading of 63, 64 and 65 vol.% was successfully fabricated by MIM technique
Summary
There is a substantial demand in a market of Metal Injection Molding (MIM) as a new technique to manufacture supplies for biomedical applications (Froes and Froes, 2006). There are four consecutive basic steps in MIM: Mixing, injection molding, debinding and sintering. Binder system plays a main role to provide lubrication during injection molding flow by uniformly coating the metal powder and filling all gaps between the powder particles. The homogenous feedstock undergoes injection molding to shape the feedstock known as a green part. Debinding process takes place after the injection molding to eliminate the binders from green part and the debound specimen is called as a brown part. The brown part is sintered to remove the residual binders and bond the metal powder particles together to produce an assintered part (German and Bose, 1997)
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