The green body of WC-Co cemented carbides containing polymeric binders such as paraffin, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and polyvinyl acetate (PVA) are prepared. The green density of the WC-Co cemented carbides increases with the addition of binders, with the exception of PVA, which is known to be a polar polymeric substance. The green strength of the WC-Co cemented carbides improves with the addition of paraffin and a mixture of PEG400 and PEG4000. In contrast, the green strength of the WC-Co does not increase when PEG400 and PEG4000 is added individually. The compressive strength of the green body increases to 14 MPa, and the machinability of the green body improves when more than 4–6 wt% paraffin and a mixture of PEG400 and PEG4000 is used. Simultaneously, the sintered density of WC-Co is as high as 99% relative density, similar to a low binder addition of 1–2 wt%.

The 3D printing process provides a higher degree of freedom when designing ceramic parts than the conventional press forming process. However, the generation and growth of the microcracks induced during heat treatment is thought to be due to the occurrence of local tensile stress caused by the thermal decomposition of the binder inside the green body. In this study, an alumina columnar specimen, which is a representative ceramic material, is fabricated using the digital light process (DLP) 3D printing method. DTG analysis is performed to investigate the cause of the occurrence of microcracks by analyzing the debinding process in which microcracks are mainly generated. HDDA of epoxy acrylates, which is the main binder, rapidly debinded in the range of 200 to 500°C, and microcracks are observed because of real-time microscopic image observation. For mitigating the rapid debinding process of HDDA, other types of acrylates PETA, PUA, and MMA are added, and the effect of these additives on the debinding rate is investigated. By analyzing the DTG in the 25 to 300°C region, it is confirmed that the PETA monomer and the PUA monomer can suppress the rapid decomposition rate of HDDA in this temperature range.

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are classified into two groups according to the consolidation mechanisms and densification degrees of the as-built parts. Densified parts are obtained via a single-step process such as powder bed fusion, directed energy deposition, and sheet lamination AM technologies. Conversely, green bodies are consolidated with the aid of binder phases in multi-step processes such as binder jetting and material extrusion AM. Green-body part shapes are sustained by binder phases, which are removed for the debinding process. Chemical and/or thermal debinding processes are usually devised to enhance debinding kinetics. The pathways to final densification of the green parts are sintering and/or molten metal infiltration. With respect to innovation types, the multistep metal AM process allows conventional powder metallurgy manufacturing to be innovated continuously. Eliminating cost/time-consuming molds, enlarged 3D design freedom, and wide material selectivity create opportunities for the industrial adoption of multi-step AM technologies. In addition, knowledge of powders and powder metallurgy fuel advances of multi-step AM technologies. In the present study, multi-step AM technologies are briefly introduced from the viewpoint of the entire manufacturing lifecycle.

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• Potential and challenges for Powder Bed Fusion – Laser Beam (PBF-LB) in industrial ceramic additive manufacturing
  Christian Berger, Gabriela Schimo-Aichhorn, Stefan Gronau, Franziska Saft, Sarah Seiringer, Uwe Scheithauer
  Open Ceramics.2024; 18: 100614.     CrossRef
• SiC-Si composite part fabrication via SiC powder binder jetting additive manufacturing and molten-Si infiltration
  Ji-Won Oh, Jinsu Park, Sahn Nahm, Hanshin Choi
  International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials.2021; 101: 105686.     CrossRef

TiO₂-particles containing Co grains are fabricated via thermal hydrogenation and selective oxidation of Ti-Co alloy. For comparison, TiO₂-Co composite powders are prepared by two kinds of methods which were the mechanical carbonization and oxidation process, and the conventional mixing process. The microstructural characteristics of the prepared composites are analyzed by X-ray diffraction, field-emission scattering electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. In addition, the composite powders are sintered at 800°C by spark plasma sintering. The flexural strength and fracture toughness of the sintered samples prepared by thermal hydrogenation and mechanical carbonization are found to be higher than those of the samples prepared by the conventional mixing process. Moreover, the microstructures of sintered samples prepared by thermal hydrogenation and mechanical carbonization processes are found to be similar. The difference in the mechanical properties of sintered samples prepared by thermal hydrogenation and mechanical carbonization processes is attributed to the different sizes of metallic Co particles in the samples.

This study investigates the viability of using a Na-ion battery with a tin(Sn) anode to mitigate the vulnerability caused by volume changes during discharge and charge cycling. In general, the volume changes of carbon material do not cause any instability during intercalation into its layer structure. Sn has a high theoretical capacity of 847 mAh g⁻¹. However, it expands dramatically in the discharge process by alloying Na-Sn, placing the electrode under massive internal stress, and particularly straining the binder over the elastic limit. The repeating strain results in loss of active material and its electric contact, as well as capacity decrease. This paper expands the scope of fabrication of Na-ion batteries with Sn by fabricating the binder as an auxetic structure with a unique feature: a negative Poisson ratio (NPR), which increases the resistance to internal stress in the Na-Sn alloying/de-alloying processes. Electrochemical tests and micrograph images of auxetic and common binders are used to compare dimensional and structural differences. Results show that the capacity of an auxetic-structured Sn electrode is much larger than that of a Sn electrode with a common-structured binder. Furthermore, using an auxetic structured Sn electrode, stability in discharge and charge cycling is obtained.

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• Highly Flexible and Conductive Electrodes through Combining Honeycomb and Butterfly Pattern Bio‐Inspired Structure for ECG Signal Recording
  Qi Hou, Min Wang, Chunyang Han, Kuiyang Gao, Ruiyao Liu, Guofeng Yao
  Advanced Materials Interfaces.2022;[Epub]     CrossRef

The present work reports a systematic study of using carboxymethylated cellulose (CMC) as water-borne binder to produce Li₄Ti₅O₁₂-based anodes for manufacture of high rate performance lithium ion batteries. When the LTO-to-CB-to-CMC mass ratio is carefully optimized to be 8:1:0.57, the special capacity of the resulting electrodes is 144 mAh·g⁻¹ at 10 C and their capacity retention was 97.7% after 1000 cycles at 1 C and 98.5% after 500 cycles at 5 C, respectively. This rate performance is comparable or even better than that of the electrolytes produced using conventional, organic, polyvinylidene fluoride binder.

FeS₂ has been widely used for cathode materials in thermal battery because of its high stability and current capability at high operation temperature. Salts such as a LiCl-KCl were added as a binder for improving electrical performance and formability of FeS₂ cathode powder. In this study, the effects of the addition of Li₂O in LiCl-KCl binder on the formability of FeS₂ powder compact were investigated. With the increasing amount of Li₂O addition to LiCl-KCl binder salts, the strength of the pressed compacts increased considerably when the powder mixture were pre-heat-treated above 350°C. The heat-treatment resulted in promoting the coating coverage of FeS₂ particles by the salts as Li₂O was added. The observed coating as Li₂O addition might be attributed to the enhanced wettability of the salt rather than its reduced melting temperature. The high strength of compacts by the Li₂O addition and pre-heat-treatment could improve the formability of FeS₂ raw materials.

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• Effects of Particle Size and Binder Phase Addition on Formability of Li-Si Alloy Powder for Thermal Battery Anode
  Sung-Soo Ryu, Hui-Sik Kim, Seongwon Kim, Hyung-Tae Kim, Hae-Won Cheong, Sung-Min Lee
  Journal of Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute.2014; 21(5): 331.     CrossRef