• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.88-95
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to investigate the manufacturing feasibility of WC-Co milling inserts via Powder Injection Molding (PIM) process. WC-Co is used in a wide variety of cutting tools due to its high hardness, stiffness, compressive strength and wear resistance properties. WC-Co parts for a high stress application were conventionally produced by the press and sinter method, which were Iimited to 2 dimensional shapes. Manufacturing WC-Co parts for a high stress application by PIM implies that tool efficiency can be highly improved due to increased freedom is design. P30 grade WC powder (WC-Co-TiC-TaC system) was mixed with RIST-5B133 binder and injection molded into milling inserts (Taegu Tech. Model WCMX 06T 308). The mean grain size of the powder was about 0.8$\mu$m. Injection molded specimens were debound by solvent extraction and thermal degradation method at various conditions. The specimens were sintered at 140$0^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr in vacuum. Carbon content, weight loss, dimensional change, and macro defects of the specimen were carefully monitored at each stage of the PIM process. PIMed WC-Co milling inserts reached 100% full density after sinteing. Its mechanical properties and micro-structures were comparable with the press and sintered milling insert. Carbon content of the sintered WC-Co insert was mainly determained by the atmosphere of thermal debinding. By controlling powder loading and injection molding condition, dimensional accuracy could be obtained within 0.4%. We confirm that PIM can not only be an alternative manufacturing method for WC-Co parts economically but also provide a design freedom for more effieient cutting tools.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2002.04b
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• pp.13-13
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• 2002

분말사출성형(PIM, Powder Injection Molding) 기술은 금속, 초경 또는 세라믹 등과 같은 소결 가능한 분말을 유기결합체와 혼압하고 이를 기존의 사출성형법을 이용하여 일정한 형상으로 성형한 다음 결합제 제거정 공정을 거처 최종 고온 소결함으로써 3차원의 복잡한 형상의 부품을 후가공 없이 정밀하게 대량 생산 할 수 있는 신분말 성형 기술이다.기계 , 항공,전자정보,반도체,의료 등의 제반 분야에서 산업 및 생활기기들이 초소형화, 초정밀, 및 고기능호 되어 감에 따라 부품 또한 일반 공정에서 제조하기 힘든 크기로 초소형화 되고, 형상이 더욱 복잡화 되며 우수한 기계적 특성 또한 요구되고 있다. 세계 분말 사출성 ; 산업은 이러한 산업적 요구에 맞춰 급격히 발전함과 동싱에 시장 또한 급격히 성장되고 있다. 그러나 국내의 PIM 산업은 88년 기술이 도입된 이후 세계 PIM 산업의 성장 속도를 따라가지 못하고 있는 실정이다. 이번 발표에서 국내의 PIM 산업 현황을 조사하여 국내 시장 규모. 성장 속도, 주요 PIM업체의 소개할 예정이다. 그리고 국내 PIM 산업의 상대적인 저성장 요인을 분석하고 향후 국내 PIM 업계의 발전 방안을 제시할 예정이다. 예정이다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.375-378
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• 2003

In the present study, a new approach to predict the strength of sintered materials has been carried out and a new framework combining neck growth model and ideal pore model has been established based on the results of tensile tests on powder injection molded specimens with the various porosity. Powder injection molding (PIM) uses the shaping advantage of injection molding but is applicable to metals and ceramics. PIM delivers structural materials in a shaping technology previously restricted to polymers. 17-4 PH stainless steel powders with average diameters of 10 $\mu\textrm{m}$ were injection-molded into flat tensile specimens sintered at the various temperatures ranging from 900 to 1350$^{\circ}C$ for 1h. The relationships between strength and porosity were applied to the experimental results and verified.

• 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.9 no.4
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• pp.261-266
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• 2002

CAE technology is an integrated tool including all aspects such as powder, binder system, mixing, injection molding, debinding and sintering. Therefore, CAE technology is considered as one of core technologies for PIM industry in the future. Recently many researchers are developing not only CAE software itself but also application procedures of CAE software. In this study, the applications for CAE technology in PIM industry are presented including feedstock mixing effect, several cases of troubleshooting and optimization procedure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.211-212
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• 2006

Production components fabricated by metal powder injection molding are analyzed for features to identify the design window for this powder technology. This reverse approach lets the designer see where PIM has a high probability to succeed. The findings show that the most suitable components tend to be less than 25 mm in size and less than 10 g in mass, are slender, and have high complexity.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.32-39
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• 2011

The present investigation was performed on the die compaction and sintering behavior of Fe micro-nano mixed powder with a mixed binder for powder injection molding. Warm die compaction of the feedstock for simulation of the static injection molding process was conducted using a cylindrical mold of 10 mm diameter at $100^{\circ}C$ under 4MPa. The die compaction of the micro-nanopowder feedstock underwent a uniform molding behavior showing a homogeneous distribution of nanopowders among the micropowders without porosity and distortion. After debinding, the powder compact maintained a uniform structure without crack and distortion, leading to a high green density of 64.2% corresponding to the initial powder loading of 65%. The sintering experiment showed that the micro-nanopowder compact underwent a near full and isotropic densification process during sintering. It was observed that the nanopowders effectively suppressed the growth of micropowder grains during densification process. Conclusively, the use of nanopowder for PIM feedstock might provide a new concept for processing a full density PIM parts with fine microstructure.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.1-7
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• 2017

The fabrication process of micro pattern structure with high precision and high aspect ratio using powder injection molding (PIM) is developed. In the PIM process, the metal powder is mixed with the binder systems and the mixture is injected into the metal mold. The injection molded green parts are debinded and sintered to reach final shape and properties. In this method, the optimization of physical properties such as fluidity and strength of the binder system is essential for perfect filling the high aspect ratio micro-pattern. For this purpose, the correlation between the properties of the binder system and feedstock and ${\mu}-PIM$ process was investigated, and a binder system with low viscosity at low temperature(about $110^{\circ}C$) and high strength after cooling was investigated and applied. Employing this process, high precision parts with line type micro pattern structure which has pattern size $160{\mu}m$ and aspect ratio more than 2 can be manufactured.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2016

Powder injection molding (PIM), which combines the advantages of powder metallurgy and plastic injection molding technologies, has become one of the most efficient methods for the net-shape production of both metal and ceramic components. In this work, plasma display panel glass bodies are prepared by the PIM process. After sintering, the hot isostatic pressing (HIP) process is adopted for improving the density and mechanical properties of the PIMed glass bodies. The mechanical and thermal behaviors of the prepared specimens are analyzed through bending tests and dilatometric analysis, respectively. After HIPing, the flexural strength of the prepared glass body reaches up to 92.17 MPa, which is 1.273 and 2.178 times that of the fused glass body and PIMed bodies, respectively. Moreover, a thermal expansion coefficient of $7.816{\times}10^{-6}/^{\circ}C$ is obtained, which coincides with that of the raw glass powder ($7.5-8.0{\times}10^{-6}/^{\circ}C$), indicating that the glass body is fully densified after the HIP process.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.211-217
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• 2002

It is well known that the powder injection molding(PIM) process can overcome the shape limitations of traditional powder compaction, the costs of machining, the productivity limits of isostatic pressing and slip casting, and the defect and tolerance limitations of conventional casting. Increasing demands from industry for not only the dimensional accuracy nut mechanical strength in PIMed parts have had much effort focused on the investigation of mechanical properties of mechanical strength in PIMed parts have had much effort focused on the investigation of mechanical properties of sintered parts formed with high-strength metallic powders. The 17_4 PH $10\mu{m}$ were injection-molded into flat tensile specimens. Sintering of the compacts was carried out at the various temperatures ranging from 900 to $1350^{\circ}C$. Sintering behavior of the compacts and tensile properties of sintered specimens were investigated.