Metal Injection Molding Using Gas-Assisted Technology for Optimizing Density Uniformity and Part Weight Reduction

Abstract

To control the product density uniformity and weight reduction for metal injection molding (MIM), this study investigated the influence of using gas-assisted technology to assess if uniform part density can be achieved. The findings show that gas-assisted molding has great potential for improving density uniformity, particularly for the part density at the position far away from the gate. The green parts and final parts also significantly improve density uniformity and shrinkage. Interestingly, the gas-assisted technology applied to MIM shows similar molding characteristics and advantages over gas-assisted injection molding of polymers. This also enables the design of MIM parts with a non-uniform thickness with a hollowed core in the thick portion.