Micro Powder Hot Embossing of Aluminum Feedstock

The current research focuses on the shaping of aluminum feedstock by micro powder hot embossing. This method includes a mixture of powder with binder material for feedstock preparation. Then, shaping is accomplished by embossing, debinding and sintering. Micro powder hot embossing can be interested in the fabrication of parts when small series production is intended. The embossing step, to provide the designed configuration, is challenging and carried out using an elastomer die and uniaxial compaction. We evaluated the shaping process using aluminum feedstock and two geometries with similar aspect ratios (micro-channel half-flanges and micro-wall half-reservoirs). The micro-channel, half-flanges and half-reservoirs configurations were shaped using elastomer die; the micro-wall configuration was attained by the application of metallic die. For each die, the processing conditions (temperature, compaction and holding time) and shaping steps were selected to ensure the replicability and homogeneity of the green parts. The green parts were thermally debound and successfully sintered at a relatively high sintering temperature in a low-pressure atmosphere. The sintered parts retained their shapes and showed shrinkage.