Field assisted hot pressing of sintering Inconel 718 MIM samples

International audienceIn this investigation on samples obtained by Metal Injection Molding (MIM), the conventional way of sintering in a furnace will be compared to Field Assisted Hot pressing (FAHP) sintering. The difficulty of this method is to be able to control the shrinkage of the sample and so its shape. It has yet not been investigated with a super alloy powder and so, the effects of a high sintering rate. By accelerating the sintering kinetics, the thermal behavior may be modified. Hence, the behavior of the Inconel 718 sintered by FAHP has been investigated. The sintered samples were all injected from a feedstock composed of a fine particle Inconel powder and a binder principally composed of Cellulose Acetate Butyrate CAB and Poly-Ethylene Glycol PEG. The effects of the two methods on the microstructure and the mechanical properties are then compared. There was no difference in distribution of pores between the conventional sintering and the FAHP sintering but a finer grain size showed better hardness