Eurobalt: Metal Injection Molding solutions.

Metal injection moulding includes the use of two primary raw materials, which are metal powders and a binder. At Eurobalt, we use a thermoplastic binder. These materials are purchased from our long-time trusted suppliers with obligatory incoming raw material control. We mix the raw material at our facilities to get feedstock. The thermoplastic binder stands as an intermediate processing aid which will be removed from the products. The final properties of the moulded metal parts are determined by powder characteristics. The blended powder mixture is processed into plasticized binder by a kneader or a shear roll extruder at high temperatures.

MIM parts go through a moulding injection process which is similar to the forming of plastic parts. The variety of geometric forms that can be produced by the MIM technology is equivalent to the great variety of the forms of plastic components.

The binder removal process is used to obtain metal parts with a network of interconnected pores without breaking the component’s structure. The process of binder extraction still leaves behind some binder in the parts holding the metal powder particles together, however, the pore network allows the residual binder to evaporate quickly in the initial stage of sintering.

Sintering process results in the complete removal of the pore volume initially occupied by the binder. As a result, MIM parts experience shrinkage during sintering. Sintered MIM parts can further be processed using different metalworking processes, such as machining or heat treatment, in the same way as wrought or cast parts.