As our name might suggest, we were the first manufacturer of Metal Injection Mouldings (MIM) in the UK. Our engineers have been involved with the MIM process since its inception and unlike most others, we operate our own metal injection moulding process from start to finish, not working under any licence.

Metal injection mouldings can offer incredible advantages, with the ability to produce small parts with complex shapes, intricate details and accurate tolerances. All of these attributes, combined with excellent material properties, enable metal injection mouldings to be made with features which may be impractical to produce by other means, often resulting in incredible cost savings.

The experienced staff at Metal Injection Mouldings Ltd, will give advice on design and technical matters to enable the most cost effective production of your metal components.

THE ADVANTAGES OF METAL INJECTION MOULDINGS

Metal Injection Mouldings combines the technologies of powder metallurgy and injection moulding to produce small metal parts in complex shapes, with finely reproduced detail, close tolerances and a smooth surface finish.



The attributes of metal injection mouldings are all combined with excellent mechanical properties in alloy steels, stainless and tool steels, nickel and cobalt alloys, Kovar Invar and magnetic alloys.

The metal injection moulding process can virtually eliminate machining and is ideal for medium to high quantities of small components.



WHAT CAN METAL INJECTION MOULDINGS OFFER?

Size Range

Generally from 2mm to an envelope size of approximately 50mm, but lengths up to 150mm are possible with MIM. Maximum weight - approximately 100 grams.

Quantities

Typically 20,000 or more per year, but smaller quantities can be economically viable, depending on size, complexity etc.

MIM Materials

Metal injection mouldings have excellent strength, ductility, magnetic response and can be bent, welded, hardened and treated like any other metal.

• Low Alloy Steels

• Stainless Steels

• Magnetic Alloys

• Invar & Kovar

• Tool Steels

Aluminium and Zinc are not suitable for metal injection mouldings.

Dimensional Tolerances

Typical tolerances for MIM are shown in the accompanying table. Where closer tolerances are required, additional operations such as coining and setting can be carried out. Even non-toleranced dimensions will have excellent repeatability.

Surface Finish

Generally 1.6 microns (63CLA, N7). Metal injection mouldings parts are ideal for vibratory polishing, chemical blacking, electroplating etc.

Tooling

Hardened steel dies are used, similar in design to injection dies for plastics.
It is often possible to combine different parts in one tool.

Design Principles for MIM

These follow similar guidelines to plastic injection mouldings. Square holes, threads, lettering, teeth and serrations can all be produced with metal injection mouldings.

Quality - Accredited to BS EN ISO 9001:2000

Although production facilities at Metal Injection Mouldings Ltd are completely autonomous, we share the extensive testing capabilities of our associated company P.I. Castings Ltd, including mechanical test, analysis, x-ray and dye penetrant.

ALTERNATIVE PROCESSES

If your requirements are not suitable for metal injection mouldings, our associated company P.I. Castings Ltd, may be able to produce your parts as investment castings.

P.I. Castings Ltd is an associated company to Metal Injection Mouldings Ltd within the ATR Group.

The investment casting process operated by P.I. Castings Ltd complements the metal injection moulding process by its capability in producing much larger parts than MIM (typically up to 600 mm) and also in its ability to produce investment castings in a wider range of materials including aluminium, brass, bronze and zinc, as well as investment castings in low alloy steels, stainless and tool steels.

Investment castings are also ideal for low quantities as well as medium to high quantities and P.I. Castings have their own rapid prototyping facilities to produce investment castings in the above materials without tooling.

ATR GROUP LTD

Metal Injection Mouldings Ltd is part of the privately owned ATR Group which also includes:-

P.I. Castings Ltd - Manufacturers of high integrity investment castings in steels, aluminium and copper based alloys, using the “lost-wax” process. This complements the MIM process if larger parts are required.

www.pi-castings.co.uk


 

Turbotech Precision Products Ltd - Specialists in the manufacture of aluminium compressor wheels for automotive diesel turbochargers. Turbotech manufacture compressor wheels, mainly for trucks and heavy vehicles for customers world-wide.