Complex shaped micro components produced by powder injection molding

摘要

Micro powder injection molding is a process suitable for the production of medium and large scale series for metal or ceramic microstructures. Manufacturing of near-net-shape parts without further processing is one of the big advantages of this technique. Current research focuses on the miniaturisation of the produced micro parts but also on increasing the degree of complexity of the manufactured micro-parts. Increasing the complexity is one possibility to make the injection molding process of metallic/ceramic materials even more interesting for industrial applications. In this work a dispenser screw produced by the untwisting technique is shown to demonstrate the possible increase of complexity. This technique, which is adapted from plastic injection molding, allows demolding of the complex-shaped green part in spite of undercuts of the screw design.