Micro-Powder Injection Moulding (Micro-PIM) technology is one of the key technologies that permit to fit with the increasing demands for smaller parts associated to miniaturization and functionalization in different application fields. The thesis focuses first on the elaboration and characterization of polymer-powder mixtures based on 316L stainless steel powders, and then on the identification of physical and material parameters related to the sintering stage and to the numerical simulations of the sintering process. Mixtures formulation with new binder systems based on different polymeric components have been developed for 316L stainless steel powders (5 µm and 16 µm). The characterization of the resulting mixtures for each group is carried out using mixing torque tests and viscosity tests. The mixture associated to the formulation comprising polypropylene + paraffin wax + stearic acid is well adapted for both powders and has been retained in the subsequent tests, due to the low value of the mixing torque and shear viscosity. The critical powder volume loading with 316L stainless steel powder (5 µm) according to the retained formulation has been established to 68% using four different methods. Micro mono-material injection (with 316L stainless steel mélange) and bi-material injection (with 316L stainless steel mélange and Cu mélange) are properly investigated. Homogeneity tests are observed for mixtures before and after injection. A physical model well suited for sintering stage is proposed for the simulation of sintering stage. The identification of physical parameters associated to proposed model are defined from the sintering stages in considering 316L stainless steel (5 µm)mixtures with various powder volume loadings (62%, 64% and 66%). Beam-bending tests and free sintering tests and thermo-Mechanical-Analyses (TMA) have also investigated. Three sintering stages corresponding to heating rates at 5 °C/min, 10 °C/min and 15 °C/min are used during both beam-bending tests and free sintering tests. On basis of the results obtained from dilatometry measurements, the shear viscosity module G, the bulk viscosity module K and the sintering stress σs are identified using Matlab® software. Afterwards, the sintering model is implemented in the Abaqus® finite element code, and appropriate finite elements have been used for the support and micro-specimens, respectively. The physical material parameters resulting from the identification experiments are used to establish the proper 316L stainless steel mixture, in combination with G, K and σs parameters. Finally, the sintering stages up to 1200 °C with three heating rates (5 °C/min, 10 °C/min and 15 °C/min) are also simulated corresponding to the four micro-specimen types (powder volume loading of 62%, 64% and 66%). The simulated shrinkages and relative densities of the sintered micro-specimens are compared to the experimental results indicating a proper agreement
Development and characterization of polymer- metallic powder feedstocks for micro-injection molding