Disclosure of Invention
In order to improve the condition that black lines are formed on a product in the MIM injection process, the application provides a method for improving the black lines of the product in the MIM injection process, which enhances the wettability and the cohesiveness between the metal powder and the binder by modifying the surface state of the metal powder, so that the binder is not easy to separate and accumulate, and the black line defect of the appearance of the metal product is relieved.
In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for improving black marks in a MIM injection process, the method comprising:
placing the metal powder into an aqueous solution containing acrylic resin, and heating and dehydrating to obtain dry modified metal powder;
mixing the modified metal powder with a binder, and extruding to prepare injection feed;
and (3) injecting the injection feed into a die to perform degreasing, sintering and heat treatment in sequence, and then obtaining the metal product.
Further, the mass ratio of the metal powder to the acrylic resin is 100 (0.1-0.3).
Preferably, the mass ratio of the metal powder to the acrylic resin is 100:0.2.
Further, the mass ratio of the modified metal powder to the binder during mixing is (52-95) to (5-48).
Further, the metal powder is stainless steel metal powder.
Further, the stainless steel metal powder is 17-4PH stainless steel powder or 316L stainless steel powder.
Further, the temperature during mixing is 190-200 ℃, and the mixing time is 1-3 hours;
The binder is a plastic-based binder.
Further, when the injection feed is injected into the blank, the injection temperature is 170-210 ℃, the injection speed is 35-85cm 3/s, and the injection pressure P is more than 60MPa.
Further, the degreasing temperature is 500-650 ℃.
Further, the sintering includes primary sintering and secondary sintering, wherein the primary sintering temperature is the same as the degreasing temperature;
The temperature of the secondary sintering is 1050-1360 ℃, the time of the secondary sintering is 1-3h, and the secondary sintering is carried out under a protective atmosphere.
Further, the heat treatment comprises solution treatment and aging treatment, wherein the temperature during the solution treatment is 950-1050 ℃ and the time is 0.5-1.5h;
The aging temperature is 400-550 ℃ and the aging time is 0.5-6h.
In summary, the present application includes at least one of the following beneficial technical effects:
1. The application adopts the acrylic resin to modify and treat the surface of the metal powder, the acrylic resin can form a layer of lubricating film on the surface of the metal powder, and reduce the friction force among powder particles, thereby improving the wettability and the fluidity of the metal powder and realizing better filling property and formability;
2. The method for modifying the metal powder only needs to heat and stir the metal powder and the acrylic resin, has less reaction conditions, less operation steps, high fault tolerance rate of the modified metal powder and stronger operability.
Detailed Description
The present application will be described in further detail with reference to examples. The following examples are given by way of general reference to conventional conditions or conditions recommended by the manufacturer, unless otherwise indicated.
The application provides a method for improving black marks of a product in an MIM injection process, which is used for metal injection molding, namely MIM (metal injection molding) for short, and is a method for mixing metal powder and an adhesive for injection molding. The process is carried out by mixing the selected powder with a binder, granulating the mixture and injection molding the mixture into a desired shape, degreasing and sintering to remove the binder, thereby obtaining the desired metal product. However, in the MIM injection process, there is a black stripe, which indicates that the black stripe is present on the surface of the plastic part, and when the injection speed is too high, the mold temperature is too high or the product structure is too complex, the adhesive is accumulated in the position during the injection process, so that gravure appears after catalytic sintering at the corresponding position. When the serious black pattern defect of the injection blank is sintered, the sintered part can show obvious marks, pits and other bad appearances, and the black pattern is a large appearance difficulty in the process of MIM injection molding of parts with complex structures.
In the prior art, the method for improving the black patterns is mainly designed and the structure of the mold is changed, or the method for locally drying the patterns of the mold is adopted. The method for locally drying the grains of the mold comprises the steps of preparing the mold, adhering the adhesive tape to the surface without the grains, immersing the adhered mold in chemical agents, enabling the grain-drying area to be dark, uniformly waxing, adhering waxed paper to the area with the grains on the mold, and the like. However, the improvement method is complicated in steps, poor in operability, high in improvement cost, and long in verification period, and various reagents are required to be consumed, and the black streak problem of all products cannot be fundamentally improved.
Based on this, the application turns out that, from the raw materials themselves, the two most important raw materials in the MIM injection process are metal powder and binder, while the quality of the product is mainly dependent on the interaction between the metal powder and binder. Therefore, the application adopts the acrylic resin to modify and treat the state of the metal surface, enhances the interaction between the metal powder and the binder, and the interaction specifically refers to wettability, fluidity and surface binding force. After the fluidity of the feed is improved, the feed is easier to disperse uniformly during injection, the black grain defect of the appearance of an injection blank can be obviously improved, the appearance of a corresponding sintered product is also well improved, and the improvement method is easy to operate, low in cost, shorter in verification period and higher in efficiency, and can be suitable for metal products and plastic products. Meanwhile, the acrylic resin has the characteristics of better light resistance, stability, small volume shrinkage, low volatilization, no color change and no deformation, and the mechanical properties of the metal powder modified by the acrylic resin are at least the same as those of the metal powder before modification, and are kept consistent and even higher.
A method for improving black marks of a product in a MIM injection process comprising:
And S1, placing the metal powder into an aqueous solution containing acrylic resin, and heating and dehydrating to obtain the dried modified metal powder.
The metal powder may be stainless steel metal powder, nickel alloy metal powder, aluminum alloy metal powder, copper alloy metal powder, etc., preferably the metal powder is stainless steel metal powder, further preferably the stainless steel metal powder is 17-4PH stainless steel powder or 316L stainless steel powder.
Wherein the stainless steel powder with 17-4PH comprises the following components, by weight, 15.5-17.5% of chromium, 3-5% of copper, 3-5% of nickel, 0.15-0.45% of niobium plus tantalum, less than or equal to 1.0% of manganese, less than or equal to 1.0% of silicon, less than or equal to 0.07% of carbon, and the balance of iron, wherein the purity of the stainless steel powder with 17-4PH is more than or equal to 99.5%;
The 316L stainless steel powder comprises the following components, by weight, 16.0-18.0% of chromium, 10.0-14.0% of nickel, 2.0-3.0% of molybdenum, less than or equal to 2.0% of manganese, less than or equal to 1.0% of silicon, less than or equal to 0.03% of carbon, and the balance of iron, wherein the purity of the 316L stainless steel powder is more than or equal to 99.5%.
The 17-4PH stainless steel powder and the 316L stainless steel powder have better corrosion resistance, mechanical property and heat treatment capacity, and are more suitable for metal injection technology.
Further preferably, the stainless steel metal powder is 17-4PH stainless steel powder, the mass ratio of the acrylic resin to 17-4PH stainless steel powder is (0.1-0.3): 100, and the mass ratio of the specific acrylic resin to 17-4PH stainless steel powder is 0.1:100, 0.2:100, 0.3:100.
Before modifying 17-4PH stainless steel powder, preparing aqueous solution of acrylic resin, adding tough acrylic resin into purified water, stirring for more than 30min until uniformity, obtaining uniform aqueous solution of acrylic resin, adding 17-4PH stainless steel metal powder, heating while stirring until water is evaporated, and drying to obtain dry modified metal powder.
And S2, pouring the dried modified metal powder and the binder into a sigma-type kneader according to the mass ratio of (52-95) (5-48), mixing for 1-3h at the mixing temperature of 190-200, and pouring the feed into a mixing extruder for extrusion to prepare injection feed after the mixing is finished. The mixing time can be specifically 1h, 1.1h, 1.2h, 1.4h, 1.6h, 1.8h, 2h, 2.2h, 2.4h, 2.6h, 2.8h and 3h, and the mixing temperature is 190 ℃, 191 ℃, 192 ℃, 193 ℃, 194 ℃, 195 ℃, 196 ℃, 197 ℃, 198 ℃, 199 ℃ and 200 ℃.
The binder is a plastic-based binder, which is an organic binder used in metal powder injection molding (MIM) process, and is made of high molecular polymer, and has good plasticity and binding performance. It can be bonded with the modified metal powder to form an injection blank. In the subsequent thermal degreasing and sintering processes, the plastic-based binder is subjected to catalytic acid removal and thermal evaporation, so that the plastic-based binder is removed from the modified metal powder, and the combination among the modified metal powder particles is further enhanced to form a compact metal part. The main components of the plastic-based adhesive comprise Polyoxymethylene (POM), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS) and the like. Different plastic-based adhesives have different properties and thermal characteristics and therefore need to be evaluated and selected for selection according to specific material and process requirements.
In the embodiment of the application, the plastic-based adhesive is preferably a plastic-based adhesive containing POM, because the plastic-based adhesive containing POM has the advantages of high strength of injection blank and convenience for large-scale continuous production in the acid catalysis process.
And S3, injecting the injection feed to a mould at the injection temperature of 170-210 ℃, the injection speed of 35-85cm 3/S and the injection pressure P of more than 60MPa, and injecting to obtain injection blanks for injection molding. Specifically, the injection temperature is 170 ℃, 180 ℃, 190, 200 ℃ and 210 ℃, and the injection speed is 35cm3/s、40cm3/s、45cm3/s、50cm3/s、55cm3/s、60cm3/s、65cm3/s、70cm3/s、75cm3/s、80cm3/s、85cm3/s.
And S4, acid stripping is carried out on the injection embryo formed by injection, and the acid solution used in the acid stripping can be any one of oxalic acid and nitric acid. And (3) placing the injection blank subjected to acid removal in an environment of 500-650 ℃ for thermal degreasing and sintering, wherein the sintering comprises primary sintering and secondary sintering, and the primary sintering is performed after the thermal degreasing to obtain the pre-sintered blank. The specific thermal degreasing and primary sintering temperatures are the same and can be 500 ℃, 510 ℃, 520 ℃, 530 ℃, 540 ℃, 550 ℃, 560, 570 ℃, 580 ℃, 590 ℃, 600 ℃, 610 ℃, 620 ℃, 630 ℃, 640 ℃ and 650 ℃.
And S4, placing the presintered blanks in order, and then placing the presintered blanks into a sintering furnace for secondary sintering at 1050-1360 ℃ for 1-3h. The secondary sintering is performed under a protective atmosphere, specifically vacuum sintering or protection by introducing a reducing gas or an inert gas, wherein the gas can be nitrogen, argon, helium and the like. The specific secondary sintering temperature is 1050 ℃, 1100 ℃, 1150 ℃, 1200 ℃, 1250 ℃, 1270 ℃, 1290 ℃, 1310 ℃, 1330 ℃, 1350 ℃ and 1360 ℃, and the secondary sintering time is 1h, 1.5h, 2h, 2.5h and 3h.
The temperature of the secondary sintering is different according to the selected stainless steel metal powder, if the stainless steel powder with the pH of 17-4 is selected, the temperature of the secondary sintering is 1050-1270 ℃, and if the stainless steel powder with the pH of 316L is selected, the temperature of the secondary sintering is 1050-1360 ℃.
And S5, placing the sintered product into a heat treatment furnace for solution treatment and aging treatment, wherein the temperature and the time of the solution treatment are 950-1050 ℃ and 0.5-1.5h. The temperature at the time of solution treatment was 950 ℃, 1000 ℃, 1050 ℃, 0.5h, 0.8h, 1h, 1.2h, 1.5h, and the temperature at the time of aging treatment was 400 ℃, 450 ℃, 500 ℃, 550 ℃, 0.5h, 1h, 1.5h, 2h, 2.5h, 3h, 3.5h, 4h, 4.5h, 5h, 5.5h, 6h.
Examples
Example 1
Preparing a metal injection molded product:
1. Weighing 17-4PH stainless steel powder and tough acrylic resin with the mass ratio of 100:0.2, firstly placing the tough acrylic resin into purified water, and stirring for 40min until an aqueous solution of the acrylic resin with the concentration of 0.2% is obtained;
2. Placing 17-4PH stainless steel powder into an aqueous solution of acrylic resin, heating and stirring until the water is completely evaporated, and obtaining dry modified metal powder;
3. Mixing the dried modified metal powder and the plastic-based binder in a sigma-type kneader according to a mass ratio of 60:40 for 2 hours, wherein the mixing temperature is 200 ℃, and pouring the feed into a mixing extruder for extrusion after the mixing is finished to prepare injection feed;
4. Injecting the injection feed into the blank at the injection speed of 60cm 3/s under the conditions of 190 ℃ and 70MPa to obtain an injection blank;
5. performing acid removal on the injection embryo, and performing thermal degreasing and primary sintering at 600 ℃ to obtain a pre-sintered embryo;
6. placing the pre-sintered blanks in order, placing the pre-sintered blanks in a sintering furnace, performing secondary sintering at 1160 ℃ under the protection atmosphere, placing the products after secondary sintering for 2 hours in a heat treatment furnace, performing solution treatment at 1000 ℃ for 1 hour, performing aging treatment at 500 ℃ for 3.5 hours, and obtaining the metal products after the treatment is finished.
Comparative example 1
A set of comparative example 1 was set according to example 1, and the comparative example 1 was different from example 1 in that comparative example 1 was directly used with 17-4PH stainless steel powder in combination with a binder, and was not subjected to modification treatment, as in steps 3-6 in example 1.
The black streak condition of the metal injection molded products prepared in example 1 and comparative example 1 was examined, and the results were shown in fig. 1,2 and 3.
Referring first to fig. 1, it can be seen that the grains of the modified metal powder are finer, the strength and hardness of the modified metal powder are higher, and the plasticity and toughness are also better.
Referring to fig. 2, in case that the physical properties of the injection molded product are high, the black streak defect of the product injected by the modified metal powder is significantly reduced compared with that of the unmodified product, the appearance of the product is neat and beautiful, and the appearance of the unmodified product is rough and the black streak is obvious. Referring again to fig. 3, the left view in fig. 3 shows a modified metal powder injection molded product, the right side shows an unmodified metal powder injection molded product, the left side is shallower than the right side in gravure, and the lower position is one less in gravure than the right side (the injection black pattern improved in the embodiment of the present application appears as gravure on the sintered compact). Therefore, the method of the embodiment 1 can better solve the black streak generation condition, has shorter verification period and higher efficiency, and is easy to operate and low in cost.
Comparative example 2
According to example 1, a set of comparative example 2 was provided, and the comparative example 2 was different from example 1 in that the comparative example 2 modified 17-4PH stainless steel powder with a silane coupling agent instead of acrylic resin, and the influence of modified metal powder prepared with different modifiers on black streaks of the product was examined.
The metal powder modification procedure was as follows, the remaining steps being identical to example 1:
1. Weighing 17-4PH stainless steel powder and a silane coupling agent according to the mass ratio of 100:0.2, firstly placing the silane coupling agent in purified water, and stirring for 40min to obtain an aqueous solution of the silane coupling agent with the concentration of 0.2%;
2. Placing 17-4PH stainless steel powder into an aqueous solution of a silane coupling agent, heating and stirring until the water is completely evaporated, and obtaining dry modified metal powder;
The modified metal powders prepared in example 1 and comparative example 2 were examined for black streak on the products after injection, and the examination results are shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1 Metal product black lines (quantity)
| |
Black pattern (quantity) |
| Example 1 |
No obvious black lines |
| Example 2 |
With a small amount of black lines |
According to the inspection result, the effect of modifying the metal powder by adopting the silane coupling agent is poor, and the metal product obtained by injection still has black lines. Therefore, the acrylic resin-modified metal powder is preferable.
Example 2
1. Weighing 316L stainless steel powder and tough acrylic resin with the mass ratio of 100:0.2, firstly placing the tough acrylic resin into purified water, and stirring for 40min to obtain an aqueous solution of the acrylic resin with the concentration of 0.2%;
2. Placing 17-4PH stainless steel powder into an aqueous solution of acrylic resin, heating and stirring until the water is completely evaporated, and obtaining dry modified metal powder;
3. Adding the dried modified metal powder and the plastic-based binder into a sigma-type kneader according to the mass ratio of 70:30, mixing for 2 hours at the temperature of 195 ℃, pouring the feed into a mixing extruder after mixing is finished, and extruding to obtain injection feed;
4. Injecting the injection feed into the blank at the injection speed of 75cm 3/s under the conditions of 180 ℃ and 70MPa to obtain an injection blank;
5. Performing acid removal on the injection embryo, and performing thermal degreasing and primary sintering at 650 ℃ to obtain a pre-sintered embryo;
6. And (3) placing the pre-sintered blanks in order, placing the blanks into a sintering furnace, performing secondary sintering at 1320 ℃ under the protection atmosphere, placing the products after the secondary sintering for 2 hours into a heat treatment furnace, performing solution treatment at 1000 ℃ for 1 hour, performing aging treatment at 500 ℃ for 3.5 hours, and obtaining the metal product after the treatment is finished.
Examples 3 to 4
Examples 3 to 4 differ from example 1 in the mass ratio of 17 to 4PH stainless steel powder to acrylic resin, see in particular Table 2 below.
TABLE 2 mass ratio of stainless steel powder of 17-4PH to acrylic resin
| |
Mass ratio |
| Example 1 |
100:0.2 |
| Example 3 |
100:0.1 |
| Example 4 |
100:0.3 |
| Comparative example 2 |
100:0.01 |
| Comparative example 3 |
100:1.0 |
The mass ratio of the stainless steel powder to the acrylic resin has a certain influence on the modification degree of the prepared modified metal powder, and the modification degree of the modified metal powder further influences the black streak generation after the product injection, and the examination results are shown in the table 3 below.
TABLE 3 black streak degree
It was concluded that the addition amount of the acrylic resin was controlled to 0.1 to 0.3 according to Table 3, and that the metal product obtained by injection hardly produced black streaks. If the amount of the acrylic resin added is too small, the modification effect is poor, the black streak is not sufficiently improved, and if the amount of the acrylic resin added is too large, new impurities are introduced, so that the flow rate of the metal powder is uneven, and the black streak is easily generated. Therefore, the mass of the acrylic resin and the mass of the metal powder are more preferably 0.2:100.
The above embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the application, so that the equivalent changes of the structure, shape and principle of the application are covered by the scope of the application.