Papers by Author: Shigeo Tanaka

Abstract: In this study, gas nitriding was processed for various sizes of Ti specimens which were produced by metal injection molding (MIM) process, for the sake of enabling the high functionality at low processing cost. It was shown by the nitriding treatment that the hardness of the surface increased extremely and the microstructure changed to the TiN and acicular α-Ti phase. With respect to the effect of the nitriding on the size of parts, micro dumbbell specimen had around five times higher content of nitrogen than the block ones. It was suggested that the size of μ-MIM products is so small that the surface treatment can contribute significantly to improve the properties, and then gas nitriding process may be one of effective surface treatment methods for high functionality of μ-MIM Ti products.

Abstract: One of the authors proposed a non-equilibrium powder metallurgy process, which enables the fabrication of a near net-shape product using TiC and TiN/Silicide ceramic composites. The PM process in combination with mechanical alloying (MA) and Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) are applied to produce nano-grain composite, TiC/Ti5Si3. Powders of elements Ti and SiC whose composition is Ti-20 mass%SiC are blended for MA. After the alloying, the MA powder whose average particle size is 20~30 μm, has amorphous-like structures, and then the MA powder is compacted by SPS. Results of compression-tests indicate the occurrence of unusual hightemperature deformation behaviors such as low flow stress at the lower deformation temperature or at the high initial strain rates were observed in the SPS compacts. TEM observations of the deformed compacts after the compression-tests indicate the microstructure has no-strain equiaxial - grains and clear boundaries. This serves as proof of a superplasticity deformation. In addtion, the results of the XRD analysis of the compressed-compacts show that new phases are formed during the compression-test. Therefore, the above deformation is attributed to a "pseudo" superplasticity in which the phase transition of metastable microstructure occurs during the deformation.

Abstract: A novel production method for porous metal components has been developed by applying powder space holder (PSH) method to metal powder injection molding (MIM) process. The PSH-MIM method has an industrial competitive advantage that is capable of net-shape manufacturing the micro-sized porous metal products with complicated shapes and controlled porosity and pore size. In this study, the small impeller with homogeneous micro-porous structure was manufactured by the PSH-MIM method using porous compounds composed of fine stainless steel 316L powder and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) particle. The effects of combinations in size and fraction of PMMA particle on dimensional tolerance and variation of sintered porous specimens were investigated. It was concluded that the PSH-MIM method could manufacture commercially micro-porous metal components with high dimensional accuracy.

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the effects of hybrid micro/nano powders in a micro metal injection molding (μ-MIM) process. A novel type of mixing-injection molding machine was used to produce tiny specimens (<1mm in size) with high trial efficiency using a small amount of feedstock (<0.05cm3 in volume). Small dumbbell specimens were produced using various feedstocks prepared by changing binder content and fraction of nano-scale Cu powder (130nm in particle size). The effects of adding the fraction of nano-scale Cu powder on the melt viscosity of the feedstock, microstructure, density and tensile strength of sintered parts were discussed.

Abstract: The production method of micro sacrificial plastic mold insert metal injection molding, namely μ-SPiMIM process has been proposed to solve specific problems involving the miniaturization of MIM. The sacrificial plastic mold (SP-mold) with fine structures was prepared by injection-molding polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) into Ni-electroform, which is a typical LIGA (Lithographie-Galvanoformung-Abformung) process. Stainless steel 316L feedstock was injectionmolded into the SP-mold which had micro structures with multi-pillars. The green compact was demolded as one component with the SP-mold, which was decomposed along with binder constituent of feedstock in debinding process. This study focused on the effects of metal particle size and processing conditions on the shrinkage, transcription and surface roughness of sintered parts, which were evaluated by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) observation.

Abstract: Gas surface treatment is considered to be especially effective for Titanium because of its high reactivity. In this study, we investigated the gas nitriding mechanism in titanium sintered parts produced by metal powder injection molding (MIM) process. In MIM process, gas nitriding can be surface-treated subsequently after debinding and sintering process. Then, the microstructure and nitrogen content of sintered MIM parts are considered to be greatly influenced by not only nitriding conditions but also sintered conditions. In this study, the effects of sintering time on microstructure such as nitrided layer thickness and hardness was investigated. Focus was given to the effects of specimen size on nitriding process, because the size of micro metal injection molding (μ-MIM) product is so small and the specific surface of that product is so large that the mechanical and functional properties can be subject to change by nitriding.

Abstract: The production method for metal components with micro sized porous structure has been developed by applying “powder space holder method” to metal powder injection molding process. In this study, a co-sintering process was utilized to make a plate of sintered metal with micro porous graded structure. The green compact sheets with various contents of space hold particles were prepared by hot press molding for simplification. The five layers of metal with symmetric structure, which the skin layer was formed with high density metal and the core was formed with open or closed porous structure, or with inverse symmetry, was obtained by changing stacking sequence in co-sintering process. Mechanical properties of the materials with plain homogeneous porous structure and porous graded structure were compared. The usefulness of proposed method for producing the metal components with micro porous graded structure and the effective of graded structure to compensate the deficiencies on the mechanical property of porous metals was shown.