metal injection molding MIM has entered our life

metal injection molding MIM has entered our life

Powder metallurgy metal injection molding (MIM) has entered your life. You may not be aware of it, but it is happening in some way and exists in our daily life.

Medical and dental applications

Orthodontic bracket parts, surgical instruments, implantable MIM parts, knee implant parts

Application in automobile industry

Rocker arm of engine, gear lever, turbocharger blade

Application in IT, electronic instrument and communication

Optical waveguide parts, cold dish and radiator, mobile phone parts

Application in shipbuilding and aerospace industry

Seat belt parts, oil outlet valve compression seat, passenger aircraft flap spiral seal, rocket burner device

Application in consumer goods

Watch case and related parts, glasses parts, camera tripod body, MIM guitar tuner cover

Application in military products and defense

The trigger of the gun, the rotor of "safety and opening safety", and the safety parts of the pistol are clamped by bending upward

 

Applications in other fields

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The MIM process mainly includes 8 important links, including product design, mold design, quality inspection, mixing, molding, degreasing, sintering, and secondary processing, among which whether surface treatment is required depends on the product characteristics.

MIM Process Flow Diagram

The production process of parts is analyzed from four unique processing steps (mixing, molding, degreasing and sintering) of MIM.

1、 Mix

Fine metal powder is mixed with thermoplastic and paraffin binder in precise proportion.

2、 Forming

The equipment and technology of injection molding are similar to injection molding. Granular raw materials are fed into the machine for heating and injected into the mold cavity under high pressure to form a blank.

3、 Degrease

Degreasing is the process of removing the binder from the molded parts, which is usually completed in several steps. After solvent extraction of some binders, the remaining binders shall be removed through thermal debonding. During debonding, the carbon content in the approval documents shall be controlled and the oxygen content shall be reduced.

4、 Sintering

Sintering is carried out in a sintering furnace with controlled atmosphere. The high density of MIM parts is achieved through high sintering temperature and long sintering time, thus greatly improving and improving the mechanical properties of part materials.