Debinding and Sintering Investigations using Optical Dilatometry in Combination with Finite Element Analysis

摘要

Debinding and sintering are critical steps during the production of powder metallurgical components. Well-defined heating cycles are required to minimize debinding and sintering times without the risk of shape distortion or crack formation. In-situ measuring methods and finite element (FE) models, which have been successfully developed for ceramic materials, have been transferred to metal powders and their thermal processes. The aim is to optimize heating profiles in order to make the processes more efficient. The FE simulation of debinding requires precise in-situ measurements of debinding kinetics, gas permeability and thermal diffusivity of the material as experimental input. For sintering, precise experimental data on sintering kinetics, creep and deformation is required. In both cases, the key input data has been obtained by non-contact optical dilatometry and further special measuring techniques with in-house developed thermo-optical measuring devices. Examples of measurements and FE analyses for debinding and sintering are presented.