How Did Metal Injection Molding Begin

Parmatech corporation is the first company that has started metal injection molding, and afterward Billiet company joined the research. In 1970s, Parmatech applied for a patent of metal injection molding, and made two parts by MIM in 1979 successfully. One is Φ50.8mm nickel ring with inner discrete threads used in wings of Boeing 707 and 727; Another is L152.4mm part used in guided missiles.

What is MIM?

Metal injection molding is a mixture of two conventional technologies, powdered metal and plastic injection molding. Its basic process is that: mix the metal powders with plastic binders to form the feedstock, when heated, it becomes viscous slurry, which is then injected into a tooling to form a devised geometry. And it’s subjected to debinding and sintering to eliminate the binders, densifies and gives it the final geometry, to get a finished part.

Why Choose MIM?

Metal injection molding has broken the limitation in manufacturing complexity for conventional powder metallurgy. It’s economically and physically available for mass production of complex parts with high accuracy, fewer procedures and other special requirements. Metal injection molding could easily achieve a thickness of 1.25mm and small hols of 0.5mm.