Metal Powder Injection Molding (MIM) technology is a new type of near-net-shape forming technology formed by introducing modern plastic injection molding technology into the field of powder metallurgy. Its basic process is to mix solid powder with organic binder uniformly, then inject it into the mold cavity by injection molding machine in the state of heating and plasticizing, and finally remove the binder from the formed blank by chemical or thermal decomposition, and finally sinter and densify to obtain the final product.
Compared with traditional processes, metal powder injection molding technology has the characteristics of high precision, uniform structure, excellent performance, and low production cost. Its products are widely used in industrial fields such as electronic information engineering, biomedicine, office equipment, automobile, machinery, hardware, sports equipment, clock and watch industry, weapons, and aerospace. Therefore, it is widely believed internationally that the development of this technology will lead to a revolution in part forming and processing technology, and is known as "the hottest part forming technology today" and "the forming technology of the 21st century." The MIM process of metal powder injection molding technology uses micron-grade fine powder, which can accelerate sintering shrinkage, improve the mechanical properties of materials, extend the fatigue life of materials, and improve corrosion resistance, stress resistance, and magnetic properties.
The development of metal powder injection molding (MIM) has become more mature and stable under the driving force of the powder metallurgy industry. The metal powder metallurgy injection molding technology mainly includes the preparation of feedstock, injection molding, computer simulation of the injection molding process, debinding, sintering, application of MIM, design and specification of MIM products.
The earliest traces of metal injection molding can be traced back to the preparation of ceramic spark plugs by powder injection molding in the 1920s. In the following decades, powder injection molding mainly focused on ceramic injection molding. It was not until 1979 that a company's metal injection molding products won two major awards, and patents were successively obtained at that time, and powder injection molding began to shift to metal injection molding.
With the continuous in-depth study of MIM and the development of new binders, powder preparation technology, and debinding processes, it has been industrialized by the early 1990s. After more than 20 years of hard work, MIM has become a rapidly developing and most promising new type of near-net-shape forming technology in the international powder metallurgy field, and is known as one of the "most popular metal part forming technologies internationally."
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