Preparation of 316L Stainless Steel Powder Suspension Used for Gelcasting

The preparation of 316L stainless steel powder slurry was studied by gelcasting technique using natural agar as gel and appropriate dispersant.The agar gelation characteristics,dispersion and stability of the stainless steel powder were analyzed.The results show that the stable and well dispersed 316L stainless steel powder slurry could be obtained when the agar mass fraction was 0.7%,the mass fraction of dispersant sodium polyacrylate was 0.15% and the pH value was 10.0.316L stainless steel parts with complex shapes could be prepared under the conditions.