Abstract
A novel production method for the metal components with micro-sized porous structures has been developed by applying powder space holder (PSH) method to metal powder injection molding (MIM) process. This method is capable of manufacturing with high dimensional accuracy the micro-porous metal components with complicated shapes using most kinds of metal powder. The size of metal powder and space holding particle in addition to sintered temperature are main factors affecting significantly for the pore size, porosity, surface area and shrinkage of sintered porous metals. The method proposed is useful in producing the graded porous structure for high functionally.
