Metal injection moulding (MIM) as an alternative fabrication process for the production of TWIP steel

ABSTRACT

Twinning Induced Plasticity (TWIP) steels are high manganese austenitic steels that have caused growing interest over the last decade due to their unique combination of strength and elongation. Nevertheless, the problems presented during their current fabrication process (continuous casting) complicate their production and commercialisation. Powder metallurgy may be an attractive alternative route of solving these problems in certain components. In this work, Metal Injection Moulding (MIM) is explored as an alternative fabrication method for TWIP steels, having the additional benefit of reaching a near-theoretical densification. The feedstock of this study is composed of a metallic prealloyed Fe–Mn–C–Al–Si powder and a binder system based on wax-HDPE. The feedstock was optimised by examining different metallic loads. A suitable powder–binder ratio was determined based on mixing torque and melt flow index measurements. It was optimised a two-stage debinding process and a sintering process in an argon atmosphere to obtain the correct microstructure.

KEYWORDS:

• Metal injection moulding
• TWIP steels
• melt flow index MFI
• melt volume-flow rate MVR
• metallic loading

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Karen Adriana García-Aguirre received the B.Sc. degree in Materials engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Chihuahua in 2013. She aproved the M.Sc in science and engineering materials at Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, where currently she is persuing her PhD degree. Her research interest include processing metals by powder injection moulding, mechanical alloying and mechanical milling.

Juan-Luis Felguera-Jiménez is student of the Master of Industrial Engineering at the University of Castilla-La Mancha. Since 2016, he has been collaborating at the UCLM PIM Research Laboratory / DYPAM Research Group, where his research activity has been focused on the development of feedstocks of high-performance alloys, such as TWIP steels or IN-718, for metal injection molding technology.

Gemma Herranz received his PhD in University Carlos III of Madrid in 2004 in Science and Engineering Materials Program where she specialized as a researcher in the powder metallurgical processing and, in particular, in the processing by powder injection moulding (PIM). She joined the University of Castilla La Mancha (UCLM) in 2004 as a Doctor Assistant obtaining the position of Tenured Associate Professor in 2015 at the Higher School of Industrial Engineering in Ciudad Real. She is the leader of the Design and Processing of Advanced Materials Research Group (DYPAM-UCLM). Her main research themes are related to Powder Injection Moulding (PIM) and Additive Manufacturing (AM-FFF) technologies.

Jessica Calvo-Muñoz received her PhD by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC, in Barcelona) in 2006 and followed with a postdoctorate fellowship at McGill University until 2008. Her main research interests are related to the development of new processing routes for the production of metallic components and she has recently started working on additive manufacturing routes based on MIM feedstock and thixotropic alloys. She is currently an associated professor at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain.

José-Antonio Benito-Páramo received the PhD degree in Metallic Materials Science from the University of Barcelona, Spain in 2001. Currently he is an associate professor at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain. His research interest includes powder metallurgy, cold forming of metallic parts and developing of nanostructured metals by severe plastic deformation.

Prof. José-María Cabrera-Marrero received his PhD in Metallurgical Engineering in 1995 by Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya (Barcelona), where he is currently full professor at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering. His main research lines concern the hot flow behaviour of metals and processing routes to develop nanostructured microstructures by severe plastic deformation, including Equal Channel Angular Pressing and Mechanical Milling, among others.

ORCID

Karen Adriana García-Aguirre http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9166-7123

Gemma Herranz http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3867-1419

Jessica Calvo-Muñoz http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5786-207X

José-Antonio Benito-Páramo http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5445-6749

José-María Cabrera-Marrero http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8417-1736

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología [Grant Number 290796 conacyt – gobierno del Estado de Chihuahua 2013]; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad [Grant Number MAT2014-59419-C3-1-R].