Application of a wax-based binder in PIM of WC-TiC-Co cemented carbides

A wax-based binder was developed for powder injection molding of WC-TiC-Co cemented carbides. The critical powder loading and the rheologic behavior of the feedstock were determined. It was found that the critical powder loading could achieve up to 62.5 vol% and the feedstock exhibited a pseudo-plastic flow behavior. The injection molding, debinding and sintering processes were studied. The dimensional deviation of the sintered samples could be controlled in the range of ±0.2% with the optimized processing parameters. The mechanical properties were better than or equivalent to those of the same alloy made by the conventional press-sintering process.