INDO-MIM and NON-Ferrous Metal for MIM production

Metal Injection Molding, a technology where the metal powders are fused together to form a strong, rigid and complicated design with ease. For so long the technology was limited to ferrous materials like stainless steel, Mild steel, case-hardened steel, tempered steel, etc… However, at INDO-MIM, due to continuous development trials from our dedicated R&D team, the barrier is broken.

Metal Injection Molding is no longer limited to supporting ferrous materials and has expanded to include non-ferrous materials as well. Technological advancements have allowed INDO-MIM to produce MIM suitable for a variety of materials.

Following are the major non-ferrous material processed at INDO-MIM

  1. Tungsten heavy alloys
  2. Titanium and titanium alloys
  3. Copper & Copper alloys
  4. Cobalt base alloys
  5. Nickel alloy alloys

TUNGSTEN (W) Heavy alloys

Tungsten heavy alloy (WHA) offers high density in addition to other useful engineering properties, making it the material of choice for a variety of mass property, radiation shielding, and high stiffness tooling applications

They are used in industries like Aviation, Aerospace, Electrical and Electronics engineering. With a melting point of 3,410°C and the ability for its high modulus of elasticity and tensile strength, tungsten carbide is used in the making of cutting tools, wear-resistant abrasives, surgical instruments, and in the firearm industry. Tungsten-Copper materials are used in thermal management components.

Tungsten

Image Credit: https://alloysintl.com/tungsten/what-is-tungsten-used-for/

Properties of Tungsten

  1. Melting point:3,410°C
  2. Lowest vapor pressure
  3. Density:19.25g/cm3
  4. Corrosion resistance
  5. Appearance: Grayish to white
  6. Atomic Number: 74

TITANIUM AND TITANIUM ALLOYS (Ti)

Titanium, a material famous for its high strength, lightweight, corrosion resistant, and low density is a favorite in the aerospace industry. Pure titanium is ductile in nature, with a density half that of iron. It has properties such as low electrical conductivity, low thermal conductivity, and paramagnetic nature. It is widely utilized in industries such as aerospace, marine, military, industrial, automotive, medical devices, and more. Titanium alloys like Ti-6Al-4V is very widely used in Medical, Aerospace and other Engineering Industries.

Titanium

Image Credit: https://www.britannica.com/science/titanium

Properties of Titanium

  1. Melting point:1660°C
  2. High strength-to-weight ratio
  3. Density:4.5g/cm3
  4. Corrosion resistance
  5. Appearance: Silver
  6. Atomic Number: 32

COPPER (Cu)

This reddish-brown, extremely ductile chemical element is a great conductor of electricity and thermal conductivity, and thus copper is highly utilized in applications like electrical wiring, plumbing and industrial machinery. Being the third most used metal in the world with the help of advanced technologies and with extended knowledge in Metal Injection Molding INDO-MIM helps to build the complex shaped design with ease for industries like Electrical and telecommunications, Construction, Transportation industries, Industrial machinery, Automotive, Medical, Jewelry and Railing industries. Copper alloys likeCu-Ni9-Sn are being used for high strength requirement applications.

Image credit: https://www.thoughtco.com/copper-facts-chemical-and-physical-properties-606521

Properties of Copper

  1. Melting point:1083°C
  2. Conductivity to heat and electricity
  3. Density:8.96/cm3
  4. Malleable and Ductile
  5. Appearance: Reddish-brown
  6. Atomic Number: 29

COBALT ALLOY

Industries anticipate in Enhancing properties of materials to elevate their product. Cobalt alloy, a metal that contains cobalt as the primary element along with different other alloying elements, is a strong, durable, and corrosion & wear-resistant material. Cobalt alloys like ASTM F75 (Co-Cr-Mo alloy) used implant parts in medical application. Co-28Mo-8Cr-2Si alloys used for automotive application like Turbocharger parts where high temperature resistance, good corrosion resistance and non-magnetic properties are required. Products made out of cobalt alloy using Metal injection molding technology are now used in industries like Aerospace, medical, Machine parts, Internal combustion engine, and so on.

Image Credit: https://blog.thepipingmart.com/metals/cobalt-alloys-and-their-uses/

Properties of Cobalt alloy

  1. Corrosion resistance
  2. Thermal stability
  3. Biocompatibility
  4. sulfidation resistance
  5. Wear Resistance
  6. Melting point: 1495°C

Cobalt-Base Wear-Resistant Alloys

Element Composition
C 0.25-3.3%
Mo 1% max
Ni 3% max
Cr 25-30%
W 2-15%
Mn 1% max
Fe 3% max
Si 2% max
Co Rest of balance

NICKEL ALLOY

For those extreme working conditions encountered in petroleum industries and chemical processing, Nickel alloys are the best-opted material. Nickel alloy refers to a metal where Nickel is one of its primary elements. Due to the processing difficulties of Nickel alloy, the utilization of superior oxidation-capable and creep-resistant superalloy metal was limited. The majority of metals that’s come under the banner of super alloy are nickel-based. The composition of nickel alloy with very high levels of nickel has soft magnetic properties thus making the material a low coercivity one. The nickel alloys like Nimonic90,80A, Inconel 625,718,713 are being used in Automotive and Aerospace industries for high temperature wear and oxidation resistance. The allots like Fe-50%Ni, 80Ni-15Fe-5Mo are used for soft magnetic parts application.

Nickel

Image copyright: https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=916

Properties of Nickel alloy

  1. Corrosion resistance
  2. Thermal and electrical conductivity
  3. Low thermal expansion coefficient
  4. Corrosion resistance
  5. Low coercivity