Introduction to the characteristics of metal injection molding,

Introduction to the characteristics of metal injection molding,

What are the basic technologies and advantages of metal injection molding? Now let's introduce a new rapid injection molding technology - simple metal injection molding, which uses metal powder as raw material to manufacture metal parts by injection molding. Metal injection molding starts from the use of oxide powder to manufacture ceramic parts, so it is also called CIM (ceramic injection molding). CIM and MIM are collectively referred to as powder injection molding, because they are all made of metal powder.

The basic process of metal injection molding is as follows: first, select metal powder and binder that meet the requirements of MIM process. Then, at a certain temperature, the powder and binder are mixed into a uniform powder injection molding raw material. After granulation, the injection molding is carried out on the injection molding machine. The preform is degreased and sintered to obtain the finished product. Metal injection molding has unique advantages in preparing high-precision near-net shaped products with complex geometry, uniform structure and high performance. Any metal or alloy that can be made into powder can be produced by this method. In addition, metal injection molding can achieve fully automatic and continuous operation, so the production efficiency of injection molding enterprises has been very high.

As a new near-net forming technology of metal parts, metal injection molding has developed rapidly in recent years. The characteristics of metal injection molding are: on the one hand, new milling methods, new binder systems and new processes are emerging; On the other hand, the industrialization process of metal injection molding is extremely rapid, and the global sales growth rate of MIM products has been maintained at 20% to 40%. With its huge advantages and characteristics, the automobile industry now uses metal injection molding technology on complex metal parts. Like other technologies, metal injection molding not only has many advantages, but also has many limitations. What are the specific limitations of metal injection molding?

The following are some disadvantages of metal injection molding (MIM):

1. Compared with powder metallurgy, the material cost of metal injection molding is higher, and the requirements of MIM on raw materials are higher, which means that the diameter of metal powder is smaller. In order to obtain better performance, we need to add adhesive, but powder metallurgy does not, which makes the cost of MIM higher.

2. Due to the space of MIM furnace, the parts manufactured by this process are usually very small, and the size suitable for MIM is 10-15mm, which is a huge limitation of MIM. Capacity, because the mold cost is not cheap, MIM is more suitable for mass production, so for some metal parts with small size, complex shape, but few requirements, it may be more economical to choose CNC.

Through the understanding of metal injection molding technology, we can know that MIM is a complementary technology to traditional methods, and 3D printing is emerging. We don't know what will happen in the future, but it is worth looking forward to.