Company visit: PIM International, Vol.2 No. 3 September 2008, pages 53-56, 1522 words

Author: Nick Williams, PIM International, Shrewsbury, UK

Egide UK is a producer of metal and ceramic injection moulded components for a diverse array of end-user sectors. Based in the UK, but with customers throughout the world, their success in recent years clearly suggests a bright future for the niche production of PIM components. Nick Williams, Editor of PIM International, reports on a recent visit.

Introduction

Egide UK Ltd is a producer of metal and ceramic injection moulded components located close to the town of Ipswich, on the east coast of England. Formerly known as Europlus, the company originally specialised in precision machining and the production of plastic injection moulded products.

An interest in PIM manufacturing developed in the late 1990’s in response to requests from customers for components that were ideally suited to PIM processing in terms of size, design and production volume. Initially PIM component production was outsourced to third-party suppliers, however with the market visibly expanding, the decision was taken to establish the production of PIM components in-house.

With 25 years of precision machining, plastic injection moulding and tool making experience behind it, the company was confident that it could also succeed in the developing PIM technology. Significant technological expertise and experience was brought to the company when Dr. Phil Marsh and Martin Scripps joined Europlus from Manganese Bronze around the time when Manganese Bronze was withdrawing from the MIM and PM component production arena....

Further sections of this article include:

- Materials and feedstock

- PIM manufacturing

- Markets and sales

- Meeting future challenges

Figures and Tables:

Fig. 1 A view of Egide’s PIM production facility showing three rows of injection moulding machines, ranging from 15-75 tonne clamping force

Fig. 2 PIM components stacked for debinding

Fig. 3 Debinding ovens at Egide

Fig. 4 Sintering furnaces at Egide

Fig. 5 Medical graspers produced from stainless steel 17-4PH. Overall length of 29mm with the finest tooth pitch being 0.86mm

Fig. 6 Medical components used for keyhole surgery devices with cored out sections to aid ease of production and to reduce component costs

Fig. 7 With a diameter of 40mm, this component clearly demonstrates the advantage of the PIM process

Fig. 8 Telecommunications component made from stainless steel 316L with a nickel baked finish. The knurl and thread are moulded in and the thinnest wall section is 0.2mm

Fig. 9 Breakdown of Egide’s PIM sales by sector, 2008

Fig. 10 Breakdown of Egide’s PIM sales by region, 2008

Fig. 11 Wire insulation component used in the gas analysis sector. Made from aluminium oxide with a moulded location keyway and a diameter of 10mm

Fig. 12 A part used within an airborne radar application. Parts are produced to flatness tolerances of 75µm over a length of 93mm