Effect of lubricants on microstructure and properties of metal abrasive tools via wet molding

Abstract

To study the microstructure and the thermodynamic properties of lubricants, as well as their effects on the structure and mechanical property of wet-forming or sintered materials, different lubrication release agents are added into metal abrasive tools which are fabricated with wet forming and degreasing sintering process. Synchronous thermal analyzer, scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffractometer are used to analyze the performance of the samples. The results indicate that the the residual degreasing amount of zinc stearate is about 20.00% while that of HV1 lubricant is only 3.00%. The residue of zinc stearate is the aggregate of nanometer particles and the counterpart of HV1 is ～10 μm interlocking irregular particles. Both HV1 and zinc stearate lubricant have better release effect on wet molding. However, adding HV1 or zinc stearate lubricant reduces the density of the compact by 0.5% or 5%, the density of sintered samples by 1.5% or 3.4%, and the bending strength by 4.4% or 9.1%, respectively. Compared with zinc stearate lubricant, HV1 has good demoulding effect and less influence on the properties of the compact and the sample, which is more suitable for metal abrasives of wet forming applications.

Keywords

• lubricant
• metal abrasives
• microstructure and properties
• wet molding