This is a component of automatic sewing machine, made from Metal Injection Molding (MIM) process 304L stainless steel. And the component only did grinding surface treatment with natural color. We can see that the component have a very complicated shape. And the component also have good ductility and corrosion resistance.
• Application Filed: Textile Fittings
• Molded material: 304L
• Post-sintering operations: CNC machining, and Grinding.
• Machining accuracy: ±0.1% to ±0.3%
• Surface Roughness: 0.8μm
• Salt spray test: ≥24hrs
• Post-sintering density: ≥7.80g/cm3
• Post-sintering yield strength: ≥180MPa
• Post-sintering ultimate tensile strength: ≥500MPa
• Post-sintering specific elongation: ≥50%
• Post-sintering hardness: 110-160HV
Metal injection molding (MIM) offers a manufacturing capability for producing complex shapes in large quantities. The process utilizes fine metal powders (typically less than 20 micrometers) which are custom formulated with a binder (various thermoplastics, waxes, and other materials) into a feedstock which is granulated and then fed into a cavity (or multiple cavities) of a conventional injection molding machine. After the “green” component is removed, most of the binder is extracted by thermal or solvent processing and the rest is removed as the component is sintered (solid-state diffused) in a controlled-atmosphere furnace.
The advantages of the metal injection molding process lie in its capability to produce mechanical properties nearly equivalent to wrought materials, while being a net-shape process technology with good dimensional tolerance control. Metal injection molded parts offer a nearly unlimited shape and geometric-feature capability, with high production rates possible through the use of multi-cavity tooling.
Here are the advantages of Metal Injection Molding(MIM):
• Repeatability
• Less material waste
• Lower overall product cost
• Excellent mechanical properties
• High complexity shape capability
• Tailored solutions using unique materials
• More efficient use of material and processes
• Materials can be brazed/joined to a variety of components for complete assembly solutions.