A Study of Ceramic Injection Molding of Watch Case Composed of ZrO2 Powder

Abstract

This study is focused on the manufacturing technique of powder injection molding of watch case made from zirconia powder. A series of computer simulation processes were applied to the prediction of the flow pattern in the inside of the mould and defects as weld-line. The material properties of melted feedstock, including the PVT graph and thermal viscosity flowage properties were measured to obtain the input data to be used in a computer simulation. Also, a molding experiment was conducted and the results of the experiment showed a good agreement with the simulation results for flow pattern and weld line location. On the other hand, gravity and inertia effects have an influence on the velocity of the melt front because of the high density of ceramic powder particles during powder injection molding in comparison with polymer’s injection molding process. In the experiment, the position of the melt front was compared with the upper gate and lower gate positions. The gravity and inertia effect could be confirmed in the experimental results.