Rheological Properties of Mg-SiC Feedstock for the Powder Injection Molding

Introduction
Discontinuously reinforced magnesium matrix composites (DRMMCs) have been receiving great attention in weight critical structure applications such as automotive and aerospace equipments because of their high specific properties, good damping capacities, high wear-resistance, and relative ease of fabrication. In medical science, magnesium alloys are very promising candidates for degradable implants. Within the current study, it is tried to apply the powder injection molding (PIM) to the magnesium and magnesium alloys, as a method of mass

Majid Alimadadi*; Sareh Mohammad Taheri* Masoud Alizadeh*; Ebrahim Ghasemi** *Ceramic Department of Iran Materials & Energy Research Center (MERC) **Iran Institute of Color Science and Technology (ICST)

By

MERC

production which gives the ability of producing complex and more accurate components. The PIM process involves mixing either metal or ceramic powder with a binder to produce a feedstock. During molding, the feedstock flows into and fills a mold under pressure to form a green part with the desired shape. The resulting part is then debinded and sintered to full or near full density. The molding stage is a critical step for the fabrication of sound parts without cracks and distortions. It requires specific rheological behavior, so that the rheological characteristics of feedstocks

are of crucial importance. Viscosity is the single most important predictor of feedstock quality that influences the success of molding stage. It is known that a sound molded part would be obtained when the viscosity is controlled within a narrow range. In this literature the rheological characteristics of Mg-SiC composite feedstocks and the influence of different parameters i.e. SiC concentration, shear rate and temperature are considered.

Experimental
Starting materials: - Magnesium powder with d50 of 53 m and purity of ~97% - SiC powder with d50 of 8 m and purity of ~95% - Binder ingredients: - Paraffin wax (PW) - Refined bees wax (BW) - Granulated stearic acid (SA) Characteristics of binder components
Component Parraffin Wax (PW) Bees Wax (BW) Stearic Acid (SA) Tm (C) 55 63 71 D (g/cm3) 0.896 0.960 0.941

Preparing the composite feedstocks: - Four different compositions were considered: Mg-5wt%SiC, Mg-10wt%SiC, Mg-15wt%SiC and Mg-20wt%SiC. o - All powders were dried in 110 C for one hour. - The mixture of powders were ball milled for one hour under Argon inert gas with the speed of 200 rpm and ball/powder weight ratio of 15/1. - Binder composition: 84wt% PW, 10wt% BW and 6wt% SA. - Powder/Binder ratio: 67/33 wt%. - Mixing operation: rotating speed of 100-1500 o rpm at 85 C for 1 hr. - Rheological investigations carried out using Physica MCR 301 rotary rheometer at shear rate -1 o range of 0.1-1000 s at 85 C.

Mathematical model for non-Newtonian uids: - Relation between viscosity ( ), shear rate ( ) and flow behavior index (n): - n>1: Dilatant fluids; increase of viscosity on meeting ascended shear rate. - n<1: Pseudoplastic substances; decrease of viscosity with increase of shear rate. - The lower value of n, the more shear rate dependency of viscosity. - Temperature dependency of viscosity:

- E: ow activation energy, R: universal gas constant, T: temperature. - The lower value of E, the less temperature sensitivity of viscosity.

Results & Discussion

Rheological behavior of feedstocks at 85C Effect of shear rate on feedstock shear stress Influence of temperature on feedstock viscosity

- The viscosity of all feedstocks even in very low values of shear rate, are relatively small in comparison with many other studied binder systems and consequently they can be injection molded with low pressure equipments which means reducing the production cost. - The first two feedstocks reveal a continuous decrease in viscosity by increasing the shear rate from 0.1 to over -1 1000 s , while Mg-15SiC and Mg-20SiC demonstrate a slight slope of viscosity drop. - For these two feedstocks increasing the shear rate -1 -1 from 100 s up to 1000 s , were not accompanied with more decrease of viscosity. - It can be concluded that increasing the SiC content of feedstocks led to change of rheological behavior from pseudoplastic or shear thinning to Newtonian. - The data from shear rate - shear stress diagram can be used to calculate the flow behavior index (n).

- Flow activation energy (E) can be assessed by means of data obtained from temperature - viscosity diagram. - Mg-5SiC and Mg-10SiC feedstocks show an increase in viscosity by reducing the temerature, while feedstocks Mg-15SiC and Mg-20SiC represent relatively constant values. This means that the two latter feedstocks, can stay the same for a longer period of time. - To describe this phenomenon, due to initial utilized powders, it is suggested that higher SiC content decreases the particle size gap and makes the particle size distribution wider. This can affect the powder-binder interaction and prevent its sudden fluctuations due to change of shear rate. - Mg-5SiC shows the least flow behavior index. From the viewpoint of flow activation energy, Mg-20SiC reveals the minimum amount of E. - Mg-15SiC and Mg-20SiC feedstocks behavior are

very close to the Newtonian fluids and the risk of not decreasing the viscosity during injection molding may arise. - As an overall, it is suggested that Mg-5SiC feedstock is the best choice for the following steps of injection molding. Flow behavior index (n) and activation energy (E) for all feedstocks
Sample code Mg-5SiC Mg-10SiC Mg-15SiC Mg-20SiC n 0.509 0.6082 0.8646 0.8368 E (kj/mole) 27.78 33.38 20.40 4.23