Micro fabrication process of powder compact with semi-solid mold

New powder compaction process, in which a Bingham semi-solid/fluid mold is utilized, is developed to fabricate micro parts. In the present process, a powder material is filled as slurry in a solid wax mold, dried and compressed by either of conventional pressing methods, such as isostatic pressing or die compaction. It is important to use slurry for filling because dry powder is hard to fill in the micro cavity. It is also essential to control process temperature to treat micro parts. The wax mold is heated during compaction and becomes semi-solid state, which can acts as a pressurized medium for isostatic compaction. Since the compacted micro parts are very fragile, the mold's temperature is controlled to higher than its melting point during unloading, to avoid breakage of the compacts. To demonstrate effectiveness of this process, some micro compacts of alumina are shown as examples.