Company visit: PIM International, Vol.3 No. 4 December 2009, pages 21-37, 1553 words

Author: Nick Williams, PIM International, Shrewsbury, UK

During a busy autumn season of major exhibitions for the European PIM industry, PIM International met up with Michael Bayer, Managing Director of German feedstock and binder supplier eMBe Products & Service GmbH at both the Euro PM and Ceramitec events. We took the opportunity to gain an insight into eMBe, the company’s offering for the PIM industry and to make the case for using ready-to-mould feedstock systems.

PIMI: eMBe is a relative newcomer to the binder and feedstock market. What is the history of the company, its technology and your involvement?

MB: As many of our customers know I was in charge of the moulding additive business in my former position with Clariant. There, during the 1990’s, I started the first project on powder injection moulding technology.

The result was the Clariant product Licomont® which is today widely used in ceramic injection moulding. I now continue the business I started with Clariant through a new company, eMBe Products & Service GmbH, based in Bavaria, Southern Germany.

PIMI: eMBe appears to be unique in that the company is willing to supply both ready to mould feedstock as well as binder systems. What was the motivation behind your decision to focus on both of these markets?

MB: eMBe does provide metal feedstocks, but not ceramic feedstocks. To provide both products a separate production line would be required. In addition to standard metal feedstocks, we work in close cooperation with our customers and focus on special, customised products. As our expertise is in binder technologies, we are happy to work with clients by providing either binder systems or finished feedstocks.

With regards to ceramic injection moulding, we support our customers with binders and moulding additives, offering new products and updates of existing ones.

PIMI: What do you believe are the key advantages of ready-to-use feedstock for PIM, and what are the unique characteristics of eMBe’s products?.....

Figures and Tables:

Fig. 1  Michael Bayer, Managing Director of eMBe, at the company’s laboratory in Thierhaupten

Fig. 2  Samples of CIM products manufactured using eMBe’s binder systems for CIM

Fig. 3  Feedstock ingredients

Fig. 4  Embemould® feedstock for metal injection moulding

Fig. 5  Inspection of sintered components from a laboratory furnace