Citation:
Polymer Degradation and Stability, 98(12), pp. 2546-2555
ISSN:
0141-3910 (print) 1873-2321 (online)
DOI:
10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2013.09.015
Sponsor:
The authors a wish to thank GUZMÁN GLOBAL S.L. and MIM
TECH ALFA for their collaboration on the ECOPIM project (ref. IPT
2011 0931 20000) that was funded by the Spanish Ministry of
the Economy and Competitiveness. Furthermore, the authors
would like to acknowledge the strong support from the ESTRUMAT
projects (ref. S2009/MAT 1585), which were funded by the CAM
Consejería Educación Dir. Gral. Universidades e Investigación, and
from the COMETAS project (ref. MAT2009/14448 C02 02), which
was funded by the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Compet
itiveness. J.P.F. B. acknowledges support from “Marie Curie”
Amarout Europe Program.
Degradation kinetics and the thermal stability of Invar 36 powder injection moulding feedstocks (PIM) based on cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) binders were investigated using simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis (STA) and diffDegradation kinetics and the thermal stability of Invar 36 powder injection moulding feedstocks (PIM) based on cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) binders were investigated using simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis (STA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The initial decomposition temperature (IDT) and the integral procedure decomposition temperature (IPDT) were used to analyse the thermal stability of the binder system as a function of the solid loading content and powder particle size. The degradation kinetics was studied, and the process apparent activation energies were assessed using isoconversional methods. All the methodologies revealed changes in the thermal degradation behaviours of the feedstocks for solid loadings that were previously determined to correspond to optimal solid loadings using other experimental procedures. The studies also contrast previous similar findings with a ceramic powder. Therefore these results strengthen the proposal of thermodynamic degradation studies of feedstocks as an alternative or complementary technique to determine optimal solid loading contents in metal injection moulding (MIM).[+][-]