How has the global Metal Injection Molding industry weathered the most turbulent years in recent history, and what has the impact been on MIM’s key markets worldwide? In this overview, PIM International’s Nick Williams reports on market data presented at World PM2022, the first Powder Metallurgy World Congress since the COVID pandemic, held in Lyon, France from October 9-13. This is supplemented by other available data sources and insight from conversations with industry leaders at the event.
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Metal Injection Moulding is one of the most capable manufacturing processes for small precision components, yet it is also one of the least known. MIM parts are everywhere, from smartphones to watches, cars to aircraft – but these examples are rarely noticed by those outside of the industry. Here, we present the fourteen award-winning MIM parts from the Metal Powder Industries Federation’s 2022 Powder Metallurgy Design Excellence Awards. These examples offer an insight into the technology, as well as the opportunity for product designers and engineers to consider how they might use MIM in their own projects.
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The hardmetals industry is well used to making high-performance components from metallic powders. Today it is an industry with global sales in excess of $15 billion and applications that range from cutting tool inserts to components for oil & gas, construction and beyond. The processing of hardmetals, otherwise known as cemented carbides, by Additive Manufacturing has inevitably become an area of intense activity, building, in part, on expertise from the industry’s use of MIM to deliver greater design complexity. Bernard North reports on innovations in the sinter-based AM of hardmetals presented at this year’s Plansee Seminar.
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After a four-year interruption due to COVID-19, Ceramitec, the leading trade
fair for the ceramics industry, reopened its doors at Messe München, Germany,
from June 21–24, 2022. Whilst noticeably smaller than in previous years, and
with significant gaps in the floor plan from the industrial ceramics sector, the
event appears to have been positive for the technical ceramics community.
Dr Georg Schlieper visited the exhibition for PIM International and reports
on activities of interest to users of Ceramic Injection Moulding and ceramic
Additive Manufacturing technologies.
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There can be few people in Europe’s MIM industry, if not further afield, who are unaware of Prof Dr Frank Petzoldt’s contribution to the development and promotion of the technology over more than three decades. Following his recent retirement from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM, Bremen, Germany, Dr Petzoldt spoke with Dr Georg Schlieper about the past, present and future of MIM technology and shares his insight into the industry in both Europe and worldwide.
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In the programme of the 2022 International Conference on Injection Molding of Metals, Ceramics and Carbides (MIM2022), organised by the Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF) and held in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, a number of presentations reported on innovations in both Metal Injection Moulding and the closely related sinter-based Additive Manufacturing process. In this report, Dr Satya Banerjee, Bishoi Consulting Co. LLC, reviews his highlights from the conference programme.
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Metal Injection Moulding is a technology that, in addition to its industrial application, is widely used for the manufacture of luxury goods, from watch cases to the decorative logos for exclusive handbags. For many such applications, the value of technologies for counterfeit prevention, quality control or identification for recycling purposes is very high. Here, Erik Dietrich, Applied Research Engineer at Demcon Metal Injection Moulding, Enschede, the Netherlands, reports on an innovative solution developed with Germany’s Tailorlux GmbH that enables the integration of unique optical fingerprint technology into MIM feedstocks.
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In March 2007, the very first issue of PIM International featured a review of Metal Injection Molding in Asia. China’s MIM industry was estimated as having around twenty MIM firms, many modest in size and of limited capability, with Taiwan accounting for another fifteen. Fast forward less than fifteen years, and Greater China now accounts for half of global Metal Injection Molding production, is a leader in MIM-grade powder production, and is home to a host of production equipment manufacturers. Industry consultant Dr Chiou Yau Hung (Dr Q) assesses just what happened to drive this success: good fortune, good strategy, or a slice of both?
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