A Study on the Optimization of Solvent Debinding Process for Powder Injection Molded 316L Stainless Steel Parts

Optimization of solvent debinding process parameters for powder injection molded 316L stainless steel (SS) has been reported in this research work. Powder gas atomized (PGA) 316L SS was blended with a multicomponent binder in Z-blade mixer at 170°C ± 5°C for 90 minutes. Feedstock was successfully injected at temperature 170 ± 5°C. Injection molded samples were immersed in n-heptane for 2h, 4h, 6h and 8h at temperatures 50°C ,55°C and 60°C to extract the soluble binder components. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) results attested that soluble binder components were completely extracted from injection molded samples at temperature 55°C after 6h.