<p>Enhance your automotive designs with OptiMIM’s precision-engineered metal components, supported by metal injection moulding expertise and built to meet the most demanding standards.</p>

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Automotive

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MIM is ideal for producing intricate automotive parts, such as gears and engine components, that require precise tolerances and complex geometries.

Complex geometries

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MIM produces automotive parts with minimal machining requirements, reducing manufacturing time, costs and waste. 

Near-net-shape

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MIM produces small, lightweight metal parts such as fuel injectors, sensors and actuators, contributing to improved fuel efficiency and reduced vehicle emissions.

Compact solutions

MIM is well suited to producing large quantities of identical automotive components for mass-market vehicles. 

High-volume production

Automotive leaders choose OptiMIM to help achieve key goals

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<p>Moulding, the fourth part of this blog series on MIM, focuses on loading compounding pellets into a metal injection moulding machine to produce a “green part”. This part is about 20% larger than the final part, but has the same geometry.  The percentage depends on the type of metal used, which is known before completion of the mould. This allows the tooling to be created correctly, so the final part meets exact specifications.</p><p>When pelletised feedstock is fed into either standard or Multi-Slide MIM machines, it is heated and injected into a mould cavity. This high-pressure injection creates the “green” part. The part cools quickly and is ejected from the mould. Only the binders melt in the moulding phase, and tooling can have multiple cavities for higher production rates. 70% of MIM defects result from tooling and another 15% from moulding, making these steps critical to a correct, defect-free final part.</p><h3>Moulding machines</h3><p>The metal powder is mixed with plastic and paraffin binders at a ratio of approximately 40% binder and 60% metal. This percentage can vary based on the powder size and required tool shrinkage. MIM parts can shrink from their original moulded condition (known as the green state) to a finished sintering condition by 16-21%. This ratio is known as powder loading. There are two common methods for mixing <a href="/materials" target="_self">MIM materials</a>: using a planetary mixer or a tubular mixer. These mixers blend the material, which can be done at room temperature or when heated. When heated, the material is mixed to a temperature that causes the binders to melt. Mixing continues until the metal powder is uniformly coated with the binders. The mass is then cooled and pelletised. Both mixing processes are batch processes, ensuring the metal powder is uniformly coated with the binders. The resulting pelletised mix, known as feedstock, is then ready for the moulding machine.</p><p>The planetary mixer uses a batch process and is slower. It produces inconsistent blends and introduces more variables than other available mixers. The tubular mixer, which is also a batch process, is the preferred method used by OptiMIM. It offers faster throughput and creates consistent blends with fewer variables.</p><h3>Compounding</h3><p>OptiMIM utilises conventional MIM machines that have a typical cycle time of about two shots per minute. It is ideal for larger parts and high-volume, multi-cavity production. Conventional MIM machines require complex tooling, long runner systems, and long material residence times in the machine and mould. Some tooling for conventional MIM machines may have a shorter service life depending on the complexity of the part.</p><p>In part five of this series, you’ll learn how the part goes from “green” to “brown”. The next blog will focus on the debinding portion of the MIM process. </p><p><strong>Other articles in the series:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="/resources/article/mim-series-part-1">MIM Series Part 1</a></li><li><a href="/resources/article/mim-series-part-1"></a><a href="/resources/article/mim-series-part-2-feedstock">MIM Series Part 2 – Feedstock</a></li><li><a href="/resources/article/mim-series-part-3-compounding">MIM Series Part 3 – Compounding</a></li><li><a href="/resources/article/mim-series-part-5-debinding" target="_self">MIM Series Part 5 - Debinding</a></li><li><a href="/resources/article/mim-process-series-part-6-sintering">MIM Series Part 6 - Sintering</a></li></ul>

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Discover how precise injection moulding of fine powders forms complex geometries with tight tolerances before MIM parts undergo sintering and final finishing.

MIM Series Part 4: Moulding | OptiMIM article

The fourth part of the MIM series focuses on the moulding process, where metal powder and binder are injected into a mould to create a "green part" that is slightly larger than the final product. 

MIM Series Part 4: Moulding

<h2>Complexity demands precision</h2><p>When you think of metal injection moulding and powder metallurgy processes, a few key characteristics come to mind. These components usually have high mechanical strength, high density and perform well in corrosive environments. Due to the nature of the MIM process in particular, MIM components are exceptionally dense throughout.</p><p>But what sets the <a href="/about-us/company-overview" target="_self">OptiMIM process</a> apart from the rest? By far, our distinguishing factor is our custom feedstock and enhanced material performance. While many of our competitors import BASF feedstock to mould components, our OptiMIM metallurgists produce specialised, made-to-order feedstock with compositions tailored to each project. Since we produce our own feedstock, we have full control over all ingredients, recipes and, especially, the variables, enabling us to guarantee the precise composition and consistency of each component.</p><h2>Why does material composition matter?</h2><p>Made-to-order feedstock sounds excellent on paper. But how does the difference in quality translate into part performance?</p><p>With MIM, custom feedstock and precise powder composition contribute to an enhanced grain structure and grain boundary condition. This results in reliable, repeatable capabilities, optimal part density, the highest ultimate strength and the best elongation across all final MIM components.</p><p>Since we manufacture our own feedstock, we have the freedom to specify the metal particle size distribution and develop the binder composition for each project. This makes OptiMIM’s process fully customisable to deliver the final mechanical performance and properties your application requires, rather than having to settle for the off-the-shelf properties of wrought metals.  Our technical experts can manipulate these elements to meet different performance requirements. Combined with our ability to optimise furnace recipes, this ensures that OptiMIM parts are more structurally sound and consistent, perform more reliably, and are less prone to embrittlement (cracking) than parts produced with BASF feedstock. Since we can guarantee the structure and exact material composition of each part, we can guarantee industry-leading yield strength and other relevant mechanical properties.</p><h2>MIM metals: a cut above the rest</h2><p>OptiMIM’s precise and uniquely engineered feedstock composition, together with our proprietary grain structure, enables us to deliver both high strength and the highest elongation (ductility) performance in the industry. With other processes, design engineers are often forced to choose between optimising mechanical strength or optimising elongation—with OptiMIM, you can have both.</p><p>For example, with 17-4PH stainless steel, heat treated to H-900, OptiMIM mechanical properties deliver up to 19% better ultimate and yield strength and up to 125% higher elongation than Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF Std 35) industry standards.</p><h2>What are my material options for metal injection moulding?</h2><p>At OptiMIM, we specialise in various ferrous and non-ferrous alloys, including several <a href="/materials/stainless-steels" target="_self">stainless steel grades</a>, copper and copper alloys, and <a href="/materials/low-alloy-steels" target="_self">low-alloy steel</a> components, which account for approximately 70% of our business. We also have experience processing specialist alloys such as Cobalt-Chromium (F-75) and other high-alloy materials. But that is not all we do.</p><p><a href="/materials/metal-selector-tool" target="_self">MIM materials</a> can have their chemistries modified when used in the complex metal injection moulding process. These materials are customisable, available in a wide variety, and generally fall into four categories:</p><h4>Ferrous alloys</h4><p>Steels, stainless steels, tool steels, iron-nickel magnetic alloys, non-magnetic alloys and specialist alloys such as Invar and Kovar make up our ferrous alloy materials. Ferrous alloys are characteristically strong because of their iron-based composition and are often used in medical and automotive applications.</p><h4>Tungsten alloys</h4><p>Our tungsten alloys are characterised by high tensile strength and are naturally corrosion resistant. We often work with a tungsten-copper alloy for parts requiring a material that is heat resistant, ablation resistant, and highly thermally and electrically conductive.</p><h4>Cemented carbide alloys</h4><p>The MIM process is compatible with hard materials such as cemented carbides and cermets. These materials consist of hard, wear-resistant carbide and a tough, ductile metal binder, delivering a unique combination of hardness and toughness.</p><h4>Special material alloys</h4><p><a href="/materials/special-and-custom-materials" target="_self">Specialist materials</a> frequently used in the MIM process include, but are not limited to, precious metals, titanium alloys, cobalt-chromium, nickel, nickel-base superalloys, molybdenum, molybdenum-copper and particulate composites.</p>

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Compare MIM material choices with traditional manufacturing methods to understand the trade-offs in strength, durability, performance and design flexibility.

Material options: how does MIM compare? | OptiMIM article

OptiMIM's unique, customisable feedstock allows greater control over material properties in metal injection moulding, resulting in components with superior strength, ductility and consistency compared with those made using standard feedstocks. 

Material options – how does MIM compare?

<h2>Complexity demands precision</h2><p>Designing more complex geometries into a part is often a necessary and innovative way to solve a problem. However, it cannot come at the cost of reduced performance. After all, performance is non-negotiable. When producing highly complex or intricate components, you need consistently reliable performance during production.</p><p>Choosing the wrong production methods for complex parts could add costly secondary processes—deburring or chamfering on a stamped part, for instance, or assembling two dissimilar parts for one product—and introduce additional variation.</p><p>In the production process, some of the highest cost drivers are associated with secondary operations and manual assembly. Ultimately, both processes require more labour and potentially more manufacturers, and each of these factors adds cost.</p><p>That is where <a href="/metal-injection-molding" target="_self">metal injection moulding</a> comes in. MIM makes it possible to integrate and consolidate several components into a single, net-shape moulded part—reducing the need to work with several manufacturers and decreasing processing and assembly costs. MIM makes this possible without compromising performance.</p><h2>Part consolidation</h2><p>Complexity demands precision, and historically it has gone hand in hand with added cost. However, with MIM, you can achieve the complexity you require without an automatic price increase. The cost of MIM parts remains largely constant regardless of complexity, which translates to a higher upfront tooling cost that leads to savings later.</p><p>Typically, when designing a component with several disparate parts, cost is hidden in the secondary operations, an extended supply chain and tooling maintenance. When several separate parts are tooled, the need for assembly introduces additional providers into the supply chain. When production processes are outsourced, the handover creates greater potential for part variation and defects. The additional stop in the supply chain also adds time, delaying delivery to market.</p><p>In addition to requiring secondary assembly, each individual part would require its own mould cavity, which increases costs both with the initial purchase of several moulds and later when the tooling wears down and needs to be replaced.</p><h3>Consolidation and cost savings without compromising performance</h3><p>While the decision to consolidate parts introduces an array of benefits, it can also mean greater complexity. That is where <a href="/additional-capabilities/engineering" target="_self">design engineers</a> traditionally have to weigh the trade-offs: on one hand, part consolidation can save weight, costs and time; increase strength and performance; and even streamline the supply chain. On the other, when using materials and processes that mismatch critical factors such as thermal expansion, joints and adhesives, the resulting part could be compromised.</p><p>It does not have to be this way. When parts are consolidated with MIM, the component is stronger and more cost-effective. In fact, it is produced even closer to the original design intent than the assembly.</p><p><strong> When parts are consolidated with MIM, the component is stronger and more cost-effective.</strong></p><p> MIM can incorporate many traditionally machined features into one net-shape moulded part from a single mould cavity. Features may include internal and external threads, intersecting diameters, knurling and customer-specific branding—all with the ability to scale economically as demand for your product increases. Since MIM can successfully consolidate into one moulded part, each part can be sourced entirely in-house.</p><p><em>While MIM tooling has a higher initial price than our competitors who machine wrought stock, machine investment castings and machine conventional permanent mouldings, MIM part cost remains constant with additional complexity and moulded features.</em></p><p>This means traditional design limitations are removed, and the number of parts that must be purchased, tracked and managed through inventory is reduced—as are the trade-offs.</p><p>MIM adds value across your entire supply chain. You will not just see ROI on the part itself, but throughout the whole value stream. With increased speed to market, guaranteed precision and high-performing parts, you will see the <a href="/metal-injection-molding/benefits" target="_self">benefits of MIM&nbsp;</a>from the start to the finish of your production process.</p>

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Learn how part consolidation through MIM simplifies assemblies, reduces production costs, and improves overall product durability and performance in industrial use.

Value-added part consolidation with MIM | OptiMIM article

Metal injection moulding (MIM) enables the consolidation of multiple parts into a single, complex component, reducing costs and improving performance without the compromises often associated with traditional assembly methods. 

Automotive

Automotive leaders choose OptiMIM to help achieve key goals

Complex geometries

Near-net-shape

Compact solutions

High-volume production

A look at
automotive applications

Industry-leading certifications

Beyond the basics

Expand your knowledge of metal injection moulding for automotive applications

Article

Article

Article

Global locations, customised solutions

Interested in starting a MIM project?

Automotive

Automotive leaders choose OptiMIM to help achieve key goals

Complex geometries

Near-net-shape

Compact solutions

High-volume production

A look atautomotive applications

Industry-leading certifications

Beyond the basics

Expand your knowledge of metal injection moulding for automotive applications

Article

Article

Article

Global locations, customised solutions

Interested in starting a MIM project?

A look at
automotive applications