What are the key steps of metal injection molding communication accessories?
Feb 15, 2023
What are the key steps of metal injection molding communication accessories?
Metal injection molding communication accessories process is a simple concept and a complex process. With the help of thermoplastic additives of plasticized powder raw materials and subsequent use of metal injection molding, complex components formed were first developed as ceramic components.
The industrial MIM process can include:
Produce uniform powder mixed with adhesive with high metal powder loading and sufficient viscosity for injection molding;
Remove the shape retention provided in the development process of economic binder;
Sintered to high density and dimensional accuracy.
Key steps of metal injection molding communication accessories:
Prepare raw materials
The main raw materials are metal powder and thermoplastic adhesive. The adhesive is an intermediate processing aid and is removed from the product after injection molding. The properties of powder determine the final properties of MIM products.
The mixed powder mixture is processed into plasticizing adhesive by kneading machine or shear roller extruder at elevated temperature. The intermediate product is the so-called raw material. It is usually granulated with a particle size of several millimeters, as is common in the plastic injection molding industry.
Raw materials can be purchased from multiple international suppliers "ready for mold", or a MIM can be manufactured inside the company, if necessary skills and knowledge are provided.
Injection molding
"Green" MIM parts are formed in the injection molding process equivalent to the molding of plastic parts. This method can be used to manufacture a wide variety of plastic parts with similar geometric shapes.
Remove adhesive
The subsequent debonding process is used to obtain part and one interconnected pore network without damaging the shape of the part. The type of adhesive removal process is further explained later in this introduction. At the end of the adhesive removal process, there are often some adhesives that still exist in the parts that remain together with the metal powder particles, but the pore network allows the residual adhesive that evaporates rapidly at the initial stage of sintering, and at the same time, it starts to grow between the metal particles as a sintering neck.
sinter
The sintering process results in the elimination of most of the pore volume previously occupied by the adhesive. Therefore, MIM components show significant shrinkage during sintering. Linear shrinkage is usually as high as 15% to 20%. If necessary, sintered MIM parts can be further processed by conventional metal processing methods such as heat treatment or surface treatment of cast or forged parts in the same way.
For some applications, such as automotive, medical and aerospace fields, hot isostatic pressing (HIP) can be used to completely remove any residual porosity. As a MIM component, it is usually small, which can be a relatively cost-effective key component.
