FABRICATION OF POROUS Ti BY THERMAL DECOMPOSITION AND SINTERING OF PMMA/TiH2 POWDER COMPACT

Abstract

Porous Ti with controlled pore structure was fabricated by thermal decomposition and sintering process using TiH2 powders and Polymethylmethacrylates (PMMA) beads as pore forming agent. The beads sizes of 8 and 50 mu m were used as a template for fabricating the porous Ti. The TiH2 powder compacts with 20 and 70 vol% PMMA were prepared by uniaxial pressing and sintered for 2 h at 1100 degrees C. TGA analysis revealed that the PMMA and TiH2 were thermally decomposed at about 400 degrees C forming pores and at about 600 degrees C into metallic Ti phase. The porosity increased with increase in the amount of PMMA addition. Also, the microstructure observation showed that the pore size and shape were strongly dependent on the PMMA shapes.