Experimental and numerical investigations on properties and quality of parts produced by MIM

This paper concerns the effect of processing conditions in metal injection moulding on the resultant properties of produced parts. A multicavities mould has been designed and manufactured in the laboratory for performing experiments on 316L based feedstock. A set of experiments covering injection moulding, debinding, and sintering stages have been realised, investigating the main role of the process parameters. The properties of the produced parts are analysed through SEM observations, mass measurements, and tensile and bending mechanical tests. The modelling and numerical simulation of the injection moulding stage has been developed based on a biphasic flow approach of the feedstock mixture. The powder volume fraction is considered as a key variable to describe phase segregation during moulding and allows powder contours to be found after the injection stage. Finally the mechanical properties of the parts are measured and identified. An inverse identification procedure combining experiments and simulation permits the results to be checked.