Experiments and Numerical Simulations on Sintering Process of Metal Injection Molded Components

To establish the constitutive model of sintering process, visco-plastic theory is adopted. The 316L stainless steel powder injection molded components are investigated as an example. The gravitational bending tests during sintering process and the free sintering experiments in dilatometer are realized to identify respectively the viscosity modulus and sintering stress in the constitutive model. The numerical simulations are realized via the finite element solver Abaqus by user subroutines for the prediction of shrinkage and deformation of product in the sintering process. The gravity, friction and powder-binder segregation resulted by injection process are taken into account for their effects on sintering process. The results obtained by simulations are consistent with the experimental ones.