Ceramic Injection Molding and Micro Injection Molding Technology

Date：[2023/10/23]

Core Tip: Ceramic Injection Molding (CIM) is a new technology that combines polymer injection molding methods with ceramic preparation processes to prepare ceramic components
Ceramic Injection Molding (CIM) is a new process for preparing ceramic components that combines polymer injection molding methods with ceramic preparation processes. The manufacturing process of ceramic precision injection molding mainly includes four steps: (1) Preparation of injection feed: mixing, drying, and granulating suitable organic carriers with ceramic powder at a certain temperature to obtain injection feed; (2) Injection molding: The mixed injection mixture is heated in the injection molding machine and transformed into a viscous melt. It is high-speed injected into a metal mold at a certain temperature and pressure, cooled and solidified to the desired shape, and then demolded; (3) Degreasing: By heating or other physical and chemical methods, the organic matter in the injection molding body is removed; (4) Sintering: The degreased ceramic blank is densified and sintered at high temperature to obtain the required appearance, dimensional accuracy, and microstructure of the dense ceramic components.
The ceramic injection molding process has a series of outstanding advantages: (1) high mechanization and automation of the molding process, high production efficiency, short molding cycle, high billet strength, and convenient management and control during the production process, making it easy to achieve large-scale production; (2) It can form various small ceramic components with complex geometric shapes and special requirements in a near net manner, so that sintered ceramic products do not require machining or less processing, thereby reducing expensive ceramic processing costs; (3) The formed ceramic products have high dimensional accuracy and surface smoothness. Therefore, this technology has been widely studied and applied both domestically and internationally, especially for the mass production of ceramic products with high dimensional accuracy and complex shapes. The use of ceramic powder injection molding has the most advantages.
In the 1980s, in order to meet the needs of the development of ceramic engines and the preparation of high-temperature ceramic components such as turbine rotors, the focus of ceramic injection molding research was on non oxide high-temperature ceramic components such as silicon nitride and silicon carbide, especially the injection molding preparation of Si3N4, SiC turbine rotors, blades, and sliding bearings for engines. At the same time, many high-performance and complex shaped high-temperature structural ceramic products were successfully prepared, Ceramic turbine rotors have been used in racing and military armored vehicles in Japan and the United States. At present, ceramic injection molding has been widely used for the molding of various ceramic powders and engineering ceramic products. Various precision ceramic components prepared through this process have been used in fields such as aviation, automobiles, machinery, energy, optical communication, and life medicine.
In recent years, new technologies for micro injection molding of ceramics have developed. Due to the excellent mechanical, chemical, and high-temperature resistance properties of structural ceramics, many micro components (ranging from tens of micrometers to 1000 micrometers) in the microelectronics industry and microelectromechanical systems require the use of structural ceramic materials. Compared to other microfabrication technologies, the use of micro injection molding to form ceramic or metal powder into various shapes of billets in one go has become the most promising advanced microfabrication manufacturing technology due to its low manufacturing cost and high efficiency. At present, some micro ceramic components of alumina, zirconia, silicon nitride, lead zirconate titanate, barium titanate, hydroxyapatite, and aluminum nitride have been formed by low-pressure micro injection molding, with a forming temperature of 60-100 ℃ and an injection pressure of 3-5 MPa.
It can be foreseen that with the continuous improvement and development of ceramic injection molding technology, it will inevitably become the most advantageous preparation technology in precision ceramic components.
Keywords: MIM metal injection molding, MIM processing, metal injection molding parts, powder injection molding, metal injection molding, metal injection, metal powder injection molding, ceramic powder injection, CIM powder injection, Yujiaxin