Origin and Development of MIM Process for Metal Injection Molding

Origin and Development of MIM Process for Metal Injection Molding

Metal injection molding can be traced back to the powder injection molding preparation of ceramic spark plugs starting in the 1920s. In the following decades, powder injection molding mainly focused on ceramic injection molding.

It was not until 1979 that the metal injection molding products of Parmatech, founded by Wiech and others, won two awards, and Wiech and Rivers successively obtained patents at that time that powder injection molding began to focus on metal injection molding.

In the past, its development and application were relatively slow due to the lack of appropriate powder and raw material, the high price, the imperfect knowledge platform, the immature technology, the short time for people to understand and accept the market, the long production (including mold manufacturing) cycle, and the insufficient investment.

In order to solve the difficulties of the MIM technology and promote the application of the MIM technology, the United States formulated an advanced powder worker plan in the mid-1980s, which included 18 topics related to injection molding. Subsequently, Japan and Germany also actively carried out the development and research of MIM.

In 1980, Wiech established Witec. In 1982, Brunswick entered the MIM industry and acquired Witec. Later, it gradually registered Omark Industries, Remington Military Products, Rocky Dental and other subsidiaries. In 1986, Nippon Seison of Japan introduced the Wiech process. In 1990, Israel metal2000 introduced Wiech technology from Parmatech and established a MIM production line.

With the continuous deepening of MIM research, the development of new binders, the continuous progress of milling technology and degreasing process, industrialization has been realized by the early 1990s. After more than 20 years of efforts, at present, MIM has become a new near-net forming technology with rapid development and the most promising prospect in the international powder metallurgy field, known as“ The most popular metal parts forming technology in the world” one of.