You can cast, machine, or use an injection mold to create a complex metal object. Do you inject-mold it? Yes. by combining plastic and metal powder, shaping it, removing the plastic, and then sintering the item.
A wide variety of metals, including steel, stainless steel, and even high-temperature alloys, can be used in the technique known as metal injection molding (MIM), or occasionally powder injection molding (PIM). MIM has been around for a while, but it has only recently gained extensive commercial use. The aerospace, medical, electronics, guns, and consumer product industries now use MIM components.
Powdered metal, or PM, components may be known to you, particularly in the form of bearings, bushings, and tiny gears. Metal powder is squeezed in a die and sintered to create PM components. Metal particles are used in a number of related procedures. MIM has a completely different production method and considerably finer powder than PM.
According to James Dale, vice president of member and industry relations of the Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF), Princeton, New Jersey, the market for customized MIM parts is worth more than $500 million globally. This excludes components that businesses produce for internal use.
MIM can result in significant cost savings for the astute manufacturer because it can be utilized to fabricate complex parts in structural metals cost effectively. In many instances, MIM can lower part costs. A single MIM part may be used to replace an assembly of two or more other parts, saving on the cost of labor-intensive assembly.