Our engineers excel at providing MIM solutions that help you stay ahead in a rapidly evolving consumer electronic market.

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OptiMIM’s technology excels at producing small, lightweight components that enhance portability, design, and functionality in today's consumer electronics.

Miniaturization

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MIM enables the production of intricate and complex shapes that traditional metalworking techniques might find difficult or impossible to achieve, making it especially valuable for components with precise tolerances and detailed features.

Complex Geometries

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MIM delivers highly precise and accurate components, which is crucial for consumer electronics that require reliable performance and durability.

Precision and Accuracy

MIM allows manufacturers to create innovative and distinctive designs for their consumer electronics products.

Design Flexibility

Consumer Electronics Leaders Choose OptiMIM To Help Achieve Key Goals

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OptiMIM is a Metal Injection Molding technology that creates high-performing, precision metal components. The MIM process allows for complex designs that can be produced with a focus on custom alloys and part consistency.

Introduction to OptiMIM

<h1>MIM Series Part 1</h1><p>Let's explore MIM. MIM offers a unique combination of metal strength and durability with the design flexibility of injection molding. At OptiMIM, two different types of MIM are available – standard and multi-slide. Both offer similar advantages, such as creating complex geometries, combining multiple parts, enhancing features, dramatically reducing cycle times, and obtaining greater precision and consistency. More details about each type will be shared in a future blog post. For now, let’s discuss the steps in the MIM process.</p><p><strong>For more information on the  MIM process, contact our engineering team  today!</strong><br /></p><h2>MIM Process</h2><p>The MIM process involves four steps: compounding, molding, debinding, and sintering. These four steps, along with feedstock, will be the focus of the next five parts of this blog series. Here is a brief overview of each process.</p><h3>Feedstock/Compounding</h3><p>MIM utilizes metal powders combined with a plastic and wax binder, known as feedstock, as the foundation for creating parts. By mixing feedstock in-house, a wide range of metals can be offered, including NiFe, 316SS, 420SS, 17-4SS, titanium, and copper. Pre-alloyed metal powders are also available. Once mixed, the feedstock is processed through a twin-screw extruder and pelletized.</p><h3>Molding</h3><p>The pellets are loaded into either a standard MIM machine or a proprietary multi-slide MIM machine. At this point, the component is called a “green part”. The final part will have the same geometry as the green part but will be about 20% smaller. </p><h3>Debinding</h3><p>In this step, some of the binder from the feedstock is removed. Heat, chemicals, or a combination of both are used to remove the binders and prepare the part for sintering. Once the binder is removed, the part is referred to as a “brown part”.</p><h3>Sintering</h3><p>The brown part is placed into a continuous or batch vacuum furnace and subjected to temperatures near the material’s melting point. This removes the remaining binder and densifies the part, resulting in the 20% shrinkage mentioned earlier. Sintering takes approximately 15-20 hours.</p><p>Part Two of this series will focus exclusively on the feedstock aspect of the&nbsp;MIM process. To answer any questions or for further discussion,&nbsp;contact our engineering team today!</p>

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Start your journey into MIM with an overview of powder metallurgy basics, material selection, and the critical phases of the MIM process flow.

Metal Injection Molding Overview Series | OptiMIM Article

Metal injection molding (MIM) combines the strength of metal with the flexibility of injection molding to create complex parts through a four-step process: compounding, molding, debinding, and sintering. 

MIM Series Part 1

<h1>Designing for Metal Injection Molding</h1><p>Metal injection molding (MIM) is a technology that addresses many current manufacturing challenges. OptiMIM utilizes the injection molding process to produce net-shaped parts, ideal for high-performance applications demanding exceptional density, strength, and corrosion resistance. These parts consistently outperform industry standards in mechanical and physical properties. Designing for MIM requires careful consideration of several factors to ensure project success. Continue reading to explore the distinctive variables incorporated into our award-winning components.</p><h2>MIM Molding Variables</h2><p>Designing for metal injection molding requires careful consideration of various factors. The mold can be a two-plate or three-plate design. When designing the part, it's essential to determine the placement of details and features, such as gating and gate location. In some cases, a single gate or multiple gates may be necessary, depending on the part's geometry.</p><h3>Parting Lines</h3><p>It's also crucial to consider the parting line and parting line witness. Every part has a parting line related to the molding process. However, it's important to be mindful of the application and understand how the parting line's location might affect the part's form, fit, or function. Ideally, the parting line should not be on a functional surface.</p><h3>Ejector Marks</h3><p>Another important consideration is ejector marks. All parts must be ejected from the mold, so the ejector location must be carefully evaluated in relation to the part's function. In certain instances, sleeve ejection can be used to minimize or eliminate ejector marks.</p><h3>Wall Features &amp; Wall Thickness</h3><p>Additional factors to consider include thin wall features, especially those measuring 0.020 inches or less in thickness. When injecting thin features into a mold, there is a risk of breakage if the ejection process is not performed correctly. Our engineers carefully evaluate these factors and collaborate with clients prior to developing new programs.</p><p>For the full list of molding variables, download OptiMIM’s MIM Design webinar!</p><h2>MIM Design Considerations</h2><p>After we get past molding variables, we start looking at design considerations. And due to the complexity of the MIM process, there are quite a few design features that need to be addressed at each stage.</p><h3>Drag Effect</h3><p>g effect which is merely the fact that inherent to the MIM process, a part shrinks on the tiles when they’re placed into our sintering ovens. Keep in mind from the MIM 101 webinar, that on average, a MIM part will shrink about 20 percent. Specific shrink rates depend on the grade of the material and our engineering team designs the part with shrinking factored in.</p><h3>Sag Effect</h3><p>The second effect that occurs during the sintering process is the sag effect. During sintering, parts become relatively soft and because of gravity, cantilevered or unsupported features tend to want to run or sag. To design for the sag effect, we create a design that counters the effects of gravity. We can add special centers or ceramics that could be individual blocks, or custom machine ceramics to maintain those unsupported features.</p><p>Another option is working with you to modify your design to accommodate this goal without adding any additional costs. We look to add features like gussets on the part. Again, this would be ideal as long as it doesn’t affect your form, fit, or function of your application.</p><h3>Draft Angles</h3><p>The design characteristics for metal injection molding are very similar to plastic injection molding. However, the one main exception is the requirement of draft angles. In most cases for metal injection molding, we don’t require any draft angles at all. It’s a rare requirement.</p><p>The only time we might require a draft angle is if we have a high aspect ratio feature and we need to pull the mold, such as a thin wall section or a long core pin. We may introduce a half-a-degree draft just for additional relief, but for the most part, we don’t require a draft angle. The reason; we have a paraffin wax in the feedstock and that wax acts as a mold release agent so it allows us to have, for the most part, straight holes in the mold. There’s very little shrinkage that occurs at the molding stage. For that reason, it allows us to not require a draft angle.</p><h3>Wall Thickness</h3><p>Another thing about metal injection molding that’s very similar to that of plastic injection molding is uniform wall thickness. An ideal MIM part has similar wall thickness throughout so that we can control the shrinkage variability.</p><h3>Undercuts</h3><p>At OptiMIM, we design components with a collapsible core, a mold feature that enables us to incorporate undercuts directly into the molding process, thereby reducing the need for secondary operations and costs. Undercuts are often impractical or challenging with other manufacturing methods, but they are achievable with metal injection molding. Consulting with our engineering team prior to designing for undercuts is highly recommended.</p><p>To learn more about mold and design variables for the metal injection molding process, I invite you to download our free webinar. We’ll discuss the above topics in more detail and cover more on:</p><ul><li>Knurling</li><li>Custom feedstock</li><li>Gating</li><li>Secondary operations</li><li>Solving functional or assembly issues</li><li>And more! </li></ul><p>OptiMIM works with many of the world’s most demanding manufacturers—from medical and defense to automotive and consumer electronics. They know we deliver the quality and performance they need to create better products, more consistently, whatever the volume. From the initial design stage all the way through to full production, let our team of experienced engineers help you drive your business forward—contact us today!</p>

Understand critical DFM principles specific to MIM, helping optimize part features, draft angles, and material flow for successful component manufacturing.

Designing for Metal Injection Molding | OptiMIM Article

Metal injection molding (MIM) offers a unique solution for high-performance, high-density, and high-strength applications. 

Consumer Electronics

Consumer Electronics Leaders Choose OptiMIM To Help Achieve Key Goals

Miniaturization

Complex Geometries

Precision and Accuracy

Design Flexibility

A Look At
Consumer Electronics Applications

Industry Leading Certifications

BEYOND THE BASICS

Elevate Your Knowledge About Metal Injection Molding for Consumer Electronics

Global Reach, Custom Solutions

Consumer Electronics

Consumer Electronics Leaders Choose OptiMIM To Help Achieve Key Goals

Miniaturization

Complex Geometries

Precision and Accuracy

Design Flexibility

A Look AtConsumer Electronics Applications

Industry Leading Certifications

BEYOND THE BASICS

Elevate Your Knowledge About Metal Injection Molding for Consumer Electronics

Global Reach, Custom Solutions

A Look At
Consumer Electronics Applications