Rapid Manufacturing of Y-TZP Ceramic Punch Using Powder Injection Moulding Technology

摘要

A new manufacturing method has been developed to produce an Yttria stabilised tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (Y-TZP) punch. The raw material used was a feedstock of new formula mixture of 81.6%wt Y-TZP powder and 18.4%wt Polyacetal. The method consisted of pre-forming of a green part using a standard injection moulding machine, mechanical turning to shape the green part into designated dimensions, thermo-chemical de-binding and sintering processes. Utilisation of the machining saved time and costs on elimination of the post-grinding process that was used to remove the parting line and on the complex mould that was traditionally required to form an accurate green punch. Tests for the punch were carried out with blanking of 0.5mm thickness of cold rolled low carbon steel strip. With 100,000 stroke testing, the experimental results revealed that the Y-TZP punch exhibited higher wear resistance and much longer tooling life over the commercial tungsten carbide/cobalt (WC/Co) punch.