Manufacturing of ceramic-metal composites by combining tape casting and injection molding

In industry, material composites are of great interest if new applications can be developed by combining their physical properties. In two-component powder injection molding materials are required that can be co-fired, and that are characterized by an adjusted, stress-defined expansion behavior in the manufacturing process and application area. Additionally, powder packing concepts for the different materials of the feedstock are a crucial factor, as the green densities correlate with the expected sintering shrinkage and thus, the expansion behavior of the two different materials during the manufacturing process is influenced. The possible geometries are defined by both, the die design and the different possibilities of process control. The particular problems and their solutions are described at the example of steel-ceramic composites. This paper deals with new manufacturing concepts for composites with functional layers. The combination of tape casting and injection molding provides a number of interesting process-relevant advantages: Extremely thin functional layers can be realized; intermediate layers improve the composite properties and facilitate transitions in thermal expansion behavior. The injection molding process which is very complex with regard to die costs will be simplified by transferring both, the design and the manufacturing of functional layers into the preceding tape casting process.