Porous alumina (Al2O3) ceramics were fabricated by powder injection moulding process. The feedstocks, composed of 44 50 vol% of Al2O3 powder, could be prepared using a composite binder, consisting of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyvinyl butyral (PVB). Debindings were carried out using a combination of water leaching of the PEG and thermal debinding of the PVB. It was observed that the removal of the PEG was fast at the initial stage and more than 90 wt% of the PEG could be removed within 4 hours. Sintering was performed in argon atmosphere at 1600 °C. The sintered specimens had apparent porosity in range of 26-32 %, depending on the feedstock compositions. The flexural strength values were in range of 90-140 MPa while the hardness values were in range of 5-9 GPa. It was found that both the strength and hardness of the specimens were increased with increasing powder loading.
Thermal Debinding and Sintering of water atomised SS316L Metal Injection Moulding Process
