Effect of Amount of Carbonyl Iron Powders on the Sintering Microstructure, and Mechanical Properties of Fe-4 Cu Alloy Synthesized Using Metal Injection Molding

Abstract

An atomized iron powder used in conventional powder metallurgy, mixed with 4 wt.% Cu powders was injection molded with carbonyl iron powder and a sintering aid. The use of atomized iron powder can reduce cost, but decreases packing density and sintering rate. To improve the densification of atomized powders, 20-40 wt.% carbonyl iron powder was added for increasing packing density and promoting sintering. The sintered alloy was characterized by the bulk density, mechanical properties, and scanning electron microscope observations. The results of sintering for the samples added with 30 wt.% carbonyl powder show that the relative bulk density, hardness, tensile strength and elongation are up to 83.87%. HRF 92.2, 315.5 MPa and 4%, respectively. The proportion of carbonyl iron powders and sintering temperature were found to influence the relative bulk density and the mechanical properties of the specimens significantly.