Basic permeability concepts related to wick debinding in metal injection moulding

Wick debinding is influenced most by the permeability of the compact and/or wick material and capillary pressure of the binder in metal injection moulding. An apparatus is designed to measure the permeability and capillary pressure of the simulated porous samples (compact and/or wick) simultaneously. Experimental results show that the penetrating depth squared depends Imearly on time as the porosity of the compact/wick is constant. A newly numerical method, called body fitted FEM, is used to simulate the debinding process. The numerical predictions of total wick debinding time versus compact thickness squared agrees well with the present experimental results and those issued theoretically by German. Furthermore, a correlation among the capillary force and other parameters is proposed by Buckingham pi theorem to investigate the relative influence of the parameters.