Micro Powder Injection Molding (µPIM): Review

Micro powder injection molding (µPIM) is the combination of micro injection molding and powder injection molding (PIM) technology. The increasing demands on market of microparts further intensify the development of this technology. µPIM process enables the use of a wide range of materials and broadens the applications of micro components. This process is well suitable for large volume production of micro-components at low costs. Requirement of powder and binder is more stringent since product fabricate in micron scale, therefore criterion of the powder and binder has been reviewed in this paper. In addition, the process parameter and development in the computer aid plays an important due to the narrow process window requires even tighter as the quality of the micro-component is sensitive to the parameter. This paper outlines recent development in µPIM. Challenges and further explore for µPIM is concluded in the last part of this paper.

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Holding Pressure and Its Influence on Quality in PIM Technology

Acta Polytechnica ◽

10.14311/1608 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 52 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Pavel Petera

Keyword(s):

Phase Separation ◽

Injection Molding ◽

Density Measurement ◽

Powder Injection Molding ◽

New Method ◽

Powder Injection ◽

Injection Molding Process ◽

Molding Process

The PIM (powder injection molding) process consists of several steps in which faults can occur. The quality of the part that is produced usually cannot be seen until the end of the process. It is therefore necessary to find a way to discover the fault earlier in the process. The cause of defects is very often “phase separation” (inhomogeneity in powder distribution), which can also be influenced by the holding pressure. This paper evaluates the powder distribution with a new method based on density measurement. Measurements were made using various holding pressure values.

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The Optimal Structure Design of Mold in Powder Injection Molding Based on the Numerical Simulation

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.16-19.55 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 16-19 ◽

pp. 55-59

Author(s):

Zhen Xing Zheng ◽

Wei Xia ◽

Yuan Biao Wu

Keyword(s):

Numerical Simulation ◽

Optimal Design ◽

Injection Molding ◽

Mathematic Model ◽

Structure Design ◽

Powder Injection Molding ◽

Powder Injection ◽

Green Is ◽

Clamp Force

The quality of the green and the shaping efficiency are affected by the mold structure during the course of powder injection molding (PIM). Based on the numerical simulation, the mathematic model for the optimal design of the gating and runner system in PIM mould is constructed. The method is testified by the Moldflow software and the experiment. From the result, it is suggested that the clamp force and the shape cycle are clearly decreased, the green is densified and the samples’ density error of the green is decreased after the optimal design of the mold structure. Furthermore, the number of trial mold is reduced and the shape efficiency is improved.

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Process Development and Product Quality of Micro-Metal Powder Injection Molding

Materials and Manufacturing Processes ◽

10.1080/10426914.2015.1025977 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 30 (11) ◽

pp. 1377-1390 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

A. A. Abdullahi ◽

I. A. Choudhury ◽

M. Azuddin

Keyword(s):

Injection Molding ◽

Product Quality ◽

Metal Powder ◽

Process Development ◽

Powder Injection Molding ◽

Powder Injection ◽

Metal Powder Injection Molding

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The Effect of Nanoparticles on the Processing and Properties of Aluminum Nitride by Powder Injection Molding

ASME 2011 International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference, Volume 1 ◽

10.1115/msec2011-50249 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Valmikanathan P. Onbattuvelli ◽

Sundar V. Atre ◽

Timothy McCabe ◽

Sachin Laddha

Keyword(s):

Injection Molding ◽

Aluminum Nitride ◽

Powder Processing ◽

Powder Injection Molding ◽

Powder Injection ◽

Injection Molding Process ◽

Polymer Mixtures ◽

Molding Process ◽

Dimensional Precision ◽

Wide Range

Aluminum nitride (AlN) exhibits many functional properties that are relevant to applications in electronics, aerospace, defense and automotive industries. However, the successful translation of these properties into final applications lies in the net-shaping of ceramics into fully dense microstructures. Increasing the packing density of the starting powders is one effective route to achieve high sintered density and dimensional precision. The present paper presents an in-depth study on the effects of nanoparticle addition on the powder injection molding process (PIM) of AlN powder-polymer mixtures. In particular, bimodal mixtures of nanoscale and sub-micrometer particles were found to have significantly increased powder packing characteristics (solids loading) in the powder-polymer mixtures. The influence of nanoparticle addition on the multi-step PIM process was examined. The above results provide new perspectives which could impact a wide range of materials, powder processing techniques and applications.

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Sequential and global optimization in powder injection molding processing

European Journal of Computational Mechanics ◽

10.13052/remn.17.843-855 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 843-855

Author(s):

Ghassane Ayad ◽

Thierry Barriere ◽

Jean-Claude Gelin ◽

Jiupeng Song ◽

Baosheng Liu

Keyword(s):

Injection Molding ◽

Process Design ◽

Powder Injection Molding ◽

Creep Model ◽

Powder Injection ◽

Simulation Tools ◽

Mechanical Creep ◽

Response Method ◽

Optimization Loop

The work is focused on the overall optimization associated to powder injection molding (PIM). The PIM process includes four main stages, from the mixture of the powders and binders to the final sintering stage. Injection and sintering stages are considered to be the most important for optimization, as they mostly affect the final quality of the produced components. The injection stage shapes the green parts but initiates powders segregation that will be inherited and amplified by the sintering stage to finally appear in the resulting products. One first introduces an optimization loop based on the surfaces response method to minimize the powder segregation. Then the results are transferred to a sintering optimization loop applied through an experimentally calibrated thermo-mechanical creep model to predict the shrinkage and density contours on the final parts. The overall optimization combines both optimizers based on the developed simulation tools to provide a realistic way to improve the PIM process design accounting the different processing stages.

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