Rheological Study of a Copper Feedstock

MIM technique is described in which allows for the production of highly porous metallic foams with porosity levels up to 90%. It makes use of the pressure built up by the decomposition of a foaming agent which is incorporated in a foamable precursor copper material obtained by powder compaction. A suitable behaviors feedstock that refers to its rheological is one of the key factors to ensure the successful of MIM technique and to predict failure, whether due to the binder component and compositions, powder loading or unsuitable process parameters. Potassium carbonate and polyethylene is added and were mixed homogeneously to form a copper feedstock. The rheological results in term of shear rate, shear stress, viscosity, melting rate and softening temperature which related to pseduoplastic behaviors have been conducted using a capillary rheometer (CFT-500D, Shimadzu) at various temperature and loads. The result has indicated that the viscosity of the feedstock is decreased with increasing shear rate thus proved the feedstock to be pseudoplastic.