Metal Injection Molding (MIM)

Metal injection molding (MIM) is a manufacturing process that combines the most useful characteristics of powdered metallurgy and plastic injection molding to facilitate the production of small, complex-shaped metal components with outstanding mechanical properties

MIM resides within the general realm of powdered metals. Not to be confused with powdered metal press processes, MIM is unique in providing highly structured and complex parts incorporating plastic injection molding equipment but with several additional steps including sintering.  The easiest analogy is to think about CNC machining an extraordinarily complex metallic part but molding it rather machining it. MIM and machining would both yield parts almost identical in terms of physical strength properties but MIM excels in part uniformity and economies of scale – some complexity practically impossible to achieve via machining or even competing powder processing techniques.