Polymeric binders for metal injection molding: simulation studies

Resumen

Metal Injection Molding is a manufacturing process that allows the production of small and complexmetal parts in large quantities. The metallic powder used in this process must be blended with apolymeric binder to make it more fluid inside the injector barrel and hold its particles together untilsintering. There are several types of polymeric binders, among which are wax/polymer compounds.Waxes provide fluidity, while part dimensional stability is given by polymers. In the present work,molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to study the compatibility of a binder made ofpolyethylene (PE) and octadecane. Figure 1 shows some of the models used to analyze the miscibilityof these two compounds. Figure 1. Models of small oligomers of PE (left) and PE/octadecane blends(right). The compatibility of both components, which is crucial to formulate an efficient binder, wasstudied as a function of PE structure and binder composition at two different temperatures, below andabove the melting points of PE and octadecane. Flory−Huggins theory was applied to analyze theresults, which show a strong dependence on temperature and polymer structure. Short Biography:Isabel Lado-Touriño holds a PhD in Chemistry and currently works as an Associate Professor at theIndustrial Engineering Department of Universidad Europea de Madrid (Spain). Her research interestsinclude molecular simulations of organic and inorganic nanomaterials and polymers using molecularmechanics, molecular dynamics and density functional theory methods.