The Mould in Mould Technology: A New Rapid Tooling Technique Based on MIM

摘要

This paper describes a new application of the MIM process. MIM Systems Ltd has developed a technology to produce plastic injection mold inserts based in the Metal Injection Molding (MIM). It is a rapid tooling method allowing to cut tooling production time by a factor 5 to 10 and tool price by half compared to traditional ways. The molds produced by this technology, called Mold in Mold, are made out of steel hence they have mechanical characteristics similar to the production tools used today. Moreover, the mold in mold technology also speeds up the tuning of the mold required to optimize parts production. It is especially efficient at the production of parts with unmachinable geometrical features. By reducing the tooling price they make the production of small to limited series of parts by injection molding economically feasible.