Thermal debinding study of powder injection moulded Fe+12% Cu using TG/MS

Thermogravimetry (TG) combined with mass spectrometry (MS) has been employed to study the thermal decomposition of the 'backbone' binder component of bodies prepared from premixed Fe+12% Cu with 50 vol.-% binder and fabricated by powder injection moulding technique. The investigation of solvent dewaxed Fe+12% Cu parts was made at different heating rates. The TG/MS technique allows evaluating the chemical pathway of the degradation reaction by determining the decomposition products evolving during thermal process. The majority of gaseous products obtained in the experimental set-up used were less than C8. Kinetics analysis was made using chemical reactions proposed through thermokinetics package. The temperature profile was calculated for smooth thermal debinding and was verified by an experimental run in a production furnace. Good agreement showed the reliability of the model.