Production of Precise and Resistive Micro Components by Powder Injection Molding

摘要

Although many precision micro components made of polymeric materials have successfully entered the market, there is still a lack of industrially viable shaping methods for the processing of stronger materials. A further crucial demand is the reduction of manufacturing costs. Concerning the first gap, development of the so-called MicroPIM process for the fabrication of metal and ceramic micro components was started. Presently, the smallest dimensions achievable are 20-50μm of part thickness or minimum structural details of less than 10μm. Theoretical densities of up to 99% were achieved depending on the particular powders applied. The interdependencies between molding tool, injection parameters on one side and the resulting dimensions of the green and sintered bodies on the other side have been investigated comprehensively. On the materials side, latest progress concerns the application of tungsten and tungsten alloys for complex shaped parts e.g. in fusion technology have been investigated.For the reduction of mounting costs Micro-Two-component Injection Molding is under development. Here, the main technical challenges are the process parameters which have to be suitable for both materials and the question of adhesion/diffusion in micro areas. As an interesting example 2-component u-shaped heater prototypes made of Alumina/TiN mixture ceramics with different mixing ratios, thus different electrical conductivities, have been investigated.