• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.219-220
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• 2006

To understand the effect of powder characteristics on the thermal debinding behavior, PIM parts produced with powders with different particle sizes and particle shapes were examined to determine their weight losses during thermal debinding. The results show that the average diameter of the pore channel in the compact increased when the temperature increased and when coarse powders were used. However, the weight loss rates did not increase proportionally with the pore size. This suggests that the different powders that are frequently used in PIM parts do not affect the thermal debinding rate significantly. This is because the pore size is much larger than the mean free path of the decomposed gas molecules. Thus, the diffusion rates of the gases are not rate-controlling in thermal debinding. The controlling mechanism of the thermal debinding rate is the decomposition of the backbone binder in the PIM parts.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.343-347
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• 2012

In this study, an oxygen plasma treatment was used as a low temperature debinding method to form a conductive copper feature on a flexible substrate using a direct printing process. To demonstrate this concept, conductive copper patterns were formed on polyimide films using a copper nanoparticle-based paste with polymeric binders and dispersing agents and a screen printing method. Thermal and oxygen plasma treatments were utilized to remove the polymeric vehicle before a sintering of copper nanoparticles. The effect of the debinding methods on the phase, microstructure and electrical conductivity of the screen-printed patterns was systematically investigated by FE-SEM, TGA, XRD and four-point probe analysis. The patterns formed using oxygen plasma debinding showed the well-developed microstructure and the superior electrical conductivity compared with those of using thermal debinding.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.559-566
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• 1995

Alumina powder was coated with stearic acid and then mixed with isotactic polypropylene, atactic polypropylene as binders at 15$0^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours. The mixture was then injection molded at various mold temperatures using injection molding machine to investigate the effect of the molding temperature and debinding parameters on the formation of the defects. The molded specimens were debinded in both air and nitrogen atmospheres. Wicking and solvent methods were also used to enhance debinding efficiency. The specimens were prefired at 120$0^{\circ}C$ and then sintered at 150$0^{\circ}C$ for 3 hours. Various defects were formed at mold temoperature of 3$0^{\circ}C$, 6$0^{\circ}C$ and 10$0^{\circ}C$ and any noticeable defect was not formed at 85$^{\circ}C$. The density of green body increased with mold temperature. Debinding in air atmosphere was more effective than in nitrogen atmosphere. Results also proved that wicking and solvent treatments helped minimize the number of defects.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.6-14
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• 2003

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the method decreasing debinding time as well as lowering operation condition than pure supercritical $CO_2$ debinding by using cosolvent or binary mixture of propane + $CO_2$. First method is to add cosolvent, such as n-hexane, DCM, methanol, 1-butanol, in supercritical $CO_2$. In case of adding cosolvent, we were found the addition of non-polar cosolvent (n-hexane) improves dramatically the binder removal rate (more than 2 times) compared with pure supercritical $CO_2$ debinding, second method is to use mixture of supercritical propane + $CO_2$, as solvent. In case of using mixture of supercritical propane + $CO_2$, the rate of debinding speeded up with increasing of pressure and concentration of propane at 348.15 K. It was found that addition of cosolvent (e.g., n-hexane, DCM) and binary mixture propane + $CO_2$ for supercritical solvent remarkably improved binder removal rate for the paraffin wax-based binder system, in comparison with using pure supercritical $CO_2$.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.622-627
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• 2016

The effects of the debinding atmosphere on the properties of sintered reaction-bonded $Si_3N_4$ (SRBSN) ceramics prepared by tape casting method were investigated. Si green tape was produced from Si slurry of Si powder, using 11.5 wt% polyvinyl butyral as the organic binder and 35 wt% dioctyl phthalate as the plasticizer. The debinding process was conducted in air and $N_2$ atmospheres at $400^{\circ}C$ for 4 h. The nitridation process of the debinded Si specimens was performed at $1450^{\circ}C$, followed by sintering at $1850^{\circ}C$ and 20 MPa. The results revealed that the debinding atmosphere had a significant effect on $Si_3N_4$ densification and thermal conductivity. Owing to the higher sintered density and larger grain size, the thermal conductivity of $Si_3N_4$ specimens debinded in air was higher than that of the samples debinded in $N_2$. Thus, debinding in air could be suitable for the manufacture of high-performance SRBSN substrates by tape casting.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2001

The conventional debinding process in metal injection molding is very long time-consuming and unfriendly environmental method. Especially, in such a case of injection molded parts from hard and fine metal powder, such as WC-Co, an extremely long period of time is necessary in the conventional slow binder removal process. On the other hand, supercritical debinding is thought to be the effective method which is appropriate to eliminate the aforementioned inconvenience in the prior art. The supercritical fluid has high diffusivity and density, it can penetrate quickly into the inside of the green metal bodies, and extract the binder. In this paper, super-critical debinding is compared with wicking debinding process. Wax-based binder system is used in this study. The binder removal rate in supercritical $CO_2$ have been measured at $65^{\circ}C$, 75$^{\circ}C$ in the pressure range from 20 MPa to 28 MPa. Pores and cracks in silver bodies after sintering were observed using SEM When the super-critical $CO_2$ debinding was carried out at 75$^{\circ}C$, almost all the wax (about 70 wt% of binder) was removed in 2 hours under 28 MPa and 2.5 hours under 25 MPa.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.407-414
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• 2014

The powder injection molding process having advantages in manufacturing three-dimensional precision parts essentially requires a debinding process before sintering to remove the binders used for preparing feedstock. In this study, powder injection molding of translucent alumina was performed, and carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) is used as a supercritical fluid that makes it possible to remove a large amount of binder, which is paraffin wax. The relationship between the optical property of translucent alumina and the debinding condition (temperature and pressure) of supercritical $CO_2$ was investigated. As temperature and pressure increased, extraction rate of the binder showed rising tendency and average grain size after sintering process was relatively fine. On the other hand, optical transmittance was reduced. As a result, the debinding condition at $50^{\circ}C$ and 20 MPa that represents the lowest extraction rate, $8.19{\times}10^{-3}m^2/sec$, corresponds to the largest grain size of $14.7{\mu}m$ and the highest optical transmittance of 45.2%.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.218-226
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• 2002

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the influence of thermal debinding and sintering conditions on the sintering behavior and mechanical properties of PIMed 316L stainless steel. The water atomized powders were mixed with multi-component wax-base binder system, injection molded into flat tensile specimens. Binder was removed by solvent immersion method followed by thermal debinding, which was carried out in air and hydrogen atmospheres. Sintering was done in hydrogen for 1 hour at temperatures ranging from 1000℃ to 1350℃ The weight loss, residual carbon and oxygen contents were monitored at each stage of debinding and sintering processes. Tensile properties of the sintered specimen varied depending on the densification and the characteristics of the grain boundaries, which includes the pore morphology and residual oxides at the boundaries. The sinter density, tensile strength (UTS), and elongation to fracture of the optimized specimen were 95%, 540 MPa, and 53%, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.221-222
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• 2006

This paper describes a Plasma Assisted Debinding and Sintering (PADS) equipment, which has been designed to process Metal Injection Molded (MIM) components. The use of a hybrid system combining a glow discharge with a conventional heating system makes debinding and sintering of MIM components, in the same heating cycle, a feasible industrial process. Characteristics as density, carbon content and mechanical properties are similar to traditionally processed MIM materials. The reduction of energy and gas consumption and shorter lead-times are economic advantages of PADS system. The clean environment of PADS is also an ecological advantage.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.490-497
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• 2020

The 3D printing process provides a higher degree of freedom when designing ceramic parts than the conventional press forming process. However, the generation and growth of the microcracks induced during heat treatment is thought to be due to the occurrence of local tensile stress caused by the thermal decomposition of the binder inside the green body. In this study, an alumina columnar specimen, which is a representative ceramic material, is fabricated using the digital light process (DLP) 3D printing method. DTG analysis is performed to investigate the cause of the occurrence of microcracks by analyzing the debinding process in which microcracks are mainly generated. HDDA of epoxy acrylates, which is the main binder, rapidly debinded in the range of 200 to 500℃, and microcracks are observed because of real-time microscopic image observation. For mitigating the rapid debinding process of HDDA, other types of acrylates PETA, PUA, and MMA are added, and the effect of these additives on the debinding rate is investigated. By analyzing the DTG in the 25 to 300℃ region, it is confirmed that the PETA monomer and the PUA monomer can suppress the rapid decomposition rate of HDDA in this temperature range.