Fabrication of nano-grained T[lc]iC/T[lc]i5S[lc]i3 micro-molds by the liga-ma process

Abstract

The importance of metals and ceramics are increasing to microsystem in reproduction and molding techniques because of the mechanical and physical properties. In this study, a new process has been developed using LIGA mold which is able to cast a microstructure of alloys or ceramics using Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) machine. Concretely, the mechanical alloying (MA) process as well as a pseudo-superplasticity is applied to produce micro-mold made of these composites. Powders of elements Ti and SiC whose composition was Ti-20 mass-percent SiC were blended for MA, and the MA powder whose average particle size is less than 1 micrometer, i.e., nanoparticle, has an amorphous structure. The MA powder is filled into a micro-mold produced by LIGA process, and cast together by SPS in order to fabricate a new micro-mold as a transcription of the micro-mold by LIGA process. As the result this process proved successful for making the micro mold made by the TiC/Ti5SiC3 ceramic composites, whose Vickers hardness is extremely superior to Ni mold produced by general LIGA process.