Metal Injection Molding Service
Get Complex Small-Sized Metal Parts in High Volume With Liquitac. Subject to availability.
What is MIM (Metal Injection Molding)?
Metal injection molding (MIM) is a multi-stage manufacturing process used to produce smaller, complex metal parts in high quantities. Polymerized metal powders are injected into molds, de-binded, and sintered, which allows for the production of accurate parts in a range of materials.
Liquitac employs industry experts who have first-hand experience with the MIM process and work closely with our manufacturing partners to deliver high-quality parts to our customers! Liquitac also offers other various high-volume metal manufacturing processes such as die casting and extrusion.
The Metal Injection Molding Process
MIM begins with a polymerized metal feedstock containing tiny metal particles with a plastic binder injected into a mold cavity. After molding, the parts release, and the runners get trimmed. The resulting parts are considered “green parts” at this point. The parts go through a de-binding process, removing the polymers in the part, resulting in porous metal “brown parts.” Lastly, the parts are heated to high temperatures in a furnace to sinter the metal particles, resulting in a non-porous, almost fully dense part. Some shrinkage occurs during the sintering process as the metal particles fuse together.
Metal Injection Molding Advantages and Disadvantages
Metal molding has some distinct advantages compared to other manufacturing processes. Some of them include:
- Complex Shapes: Can produce metal injection molded parts with intricate details, thin walls, sharp internal corners, undercuts, and more, all within a single operation.
- Reduction of Assemblies: Combining what would typically require multiple parts made from other processes into a single component is possible with the MIM process. Consolidating the design simplifies your assemblies and reduces cost.
- Accuracy: Critical tolerances can be achieved with highly repeatable results. Parts can be post-machined for extra tight dimensions and features.
- High-Performance Materials: Get tough, high-performance parts made using materials such as stainless steel. MIM is best suited for high melting temperature materials versus softer materials such as aluminum or zinc that are a better fit for die casting.
- Cost and Speed: Ideal for optimizing production run cost with return on investment for high volumes and rapid production of small, complex parts.
- Broad Industry Support: Due to the ability to mass-produce parts from biocompatible and hardened materials, MIM is used in medical, firearms, aerospace, and other industries.
