Metal Injection Molding and Injection Molding Processes

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3DM™ Technology

MIM is known for producing complex geometries, but parts were limited to 20 grams. What if you could leverage only the best parts of the process? Now you can.

The Metal Injection Molding process has a successful track record of manufacturing strong, complex metal parts for demanding applications in a high volume. With the combination of a state-of-the-art automated molding cell, extensive high temperature sintering capacity and advanced feedstock options, customers can produce strong, highly complex 3D components in Metal Injection Molding with total design freedom.

Our approach to metal injection molding capitalizes on the technology’s best attributes while introducing non-traditional solutions the process’s biggest shortcomings. Metal injection molding requires a manufacturing partner with the equipment, expertise and drive to reinvent the status quo.

Understanding Injection Molding

Injection Molding Products - Not Just for Plastics

Injection molding is a prime manufacturing process that involves injecting molten material into a mold cavity under high pressure, empowering the rapid production of different parts. While primarily associated with plastics, injection molding can also be applied to metal products through the process of metal injection molding (MIM).

What is Metal Injection Molding?

Metal injection molding is a metalworking process/technique using finely-powdered metal to manufacture both simple and complex metal parts. The fine powder is combined with binder material to create what's called a feedstock. This feedstock is what eventually gets shaped into the final product.

MIM produces complicated shapes while delivering a highly repeatable process. They also come out near fully dense which allows tertiary tasks like plating and heat treating to be performed more easily. That is part of what makes metal injection molding less time-consuming and more cost-efficient.

Nontraditional MIM Part Production

Our partnership with Tundra Companies makes high volume production of large, complex metal injection molding components economically possible.

DSB Technologies is your preferred production partner of parts made with Tundra’s Dynamik® materials platform, including metal composite feedstocks and powders. With our metallurgical production expertise and Tundra’s successful track record in coating materials, you can produce larger and more complex parts previously not possible in MIM.

With traditional MIM materials, the uncertainty of isotropic shrinkage significantly increases with larger parts, often creating high part variability, low dimensional stability and expensive material processing. These obstacles have kept most MIM components around the size of 25 grams or less. Dynamik® offers high particle concentration materials that can be processed on established equipment which enables large, complex part production in MIM – including part sizes greater than 100 grams.