Investigations of different stainless steel MIM feedstocks with a novel binder system

A newly developed binder system based on special functional polymers and lubricants is applied for metal injection molding (MIM) of 316L steel powders. The rheological properties of the binder and feedstocks are investigated by capillary rheometry. Water and gas atomized stainless steel powders are compared. The influence of particle morphology and the variation of the powder to binder ratio are outlined. Thermoanalysis is used to examine mixing and molding behaviour as well as the characteristics of the debinding process.