Small-hole arrays of ceramic material manufactured by micro powder injection molding

Ceramic substrate with three kinds of small-hole arrays (the minimum diameter is 400?μm) was manufactured by micro powder injection molding. The homogeneity, thermal, and rheological properties of the feedstock was characterized by means of SEM, Archimedes method, TGA, DSC, and capillary rheometer, respectively. The feedstock has good uniformity and the viscosity of feedstock accords with the pseudo-plastic behavior which is suitable for micro powder injection molding. The test results also show that the linear shrinkage of small holes is lower than the substrate which is important to mold design and size contraction of the sample. Moreover, the porosity of the sintered substrate is lower than that of the thin wall between two neighborhood small holes. Good surface roughness of the sintered samples is obtained by using sub-micron ZrO₂ powder which is even lower than molded surface. The relative density and hardness of the ceramic substrate with small-hole arrays sintered under 1,500°C for 2?h is 98.3% and 13.68?GPa, respectively.