Investigation of processing, microstructure and mechanical behaviour of 304L TRIP steel foams produced by injection moulding

304L stainless steel syntactic foam test specimens were produced by means of injection moulding of feedstock made from pre-alloyed 304L powder, binder and additions of S60HS micro hollow glass spheres and Fillite 106 cenospheres. After de-binding and sintering the foam pore structure and matrix micro-structure were analysed. Mechanical characterisation was done using tensile and compression tests. The results of the mechanical tests are discussed in terms of the observed foam and matrix microstructures.