An Investigation on the Metal Injection through the Producing of MIM-ed Low-Alloy Steel
Subject Areas : Journal of Environmental Friendly Materials
1 - Department of Materials Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nazarabad Centre, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
Keywords: Metal Injection Molding, Low Alloy Steel 4605, Feedstock, Density, Response Surface Methodology.,
Abstract :
In this study, we demonstrate the injection stage of Metal Injection Molding (MIM) process to fabricate a small bend-type component. This non-standard but critical engine part is made of a feedstock from the low alloy steel 4605. To optimize various injection parameters, the five-variable Box-Behnken Design (BBD) is used with the assumption of a quadratic model, together with the statistical method of Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Samples are then fabricated, and their densities are measured. Hence, the significance of these factors as well as the mutual coupling between each two parameters are investigated using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). Finally, this paper reveals that injection temperature of 155 ◦C, the injection speed of 80 mm/s, holding pressure of 83 bar, holding time of 9 s and the injection pressure of 132 bar led to an optimum density of the green part, which becomes 4.892 g/cm3. Then, a new sample is produced using these optimized settings, and the green component density is measured, which is extremely near to the predicted value. After sintering, the optimized sample’s density and hardness are compared to the MIM-4605 standard criteria.
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