Tolerances in the field of micro metal injection moulding

Micro injection moulding is an upcoming and strongly growing field for the production of micro components and microstructured surfaces of different materials in various application areas. Especially micro metal injection moulding (Micro-MIM) of different metallic materials and composites enables the implementation of this manufacturing technology in e. g. the automotive industry for the gear wheel production, in the medical industry for implant manufacturing or in the laser industry as efficient heat sink. In all cases the tolerances of the Micro-MIM components are key issues for the specific application. As example the series production of a Ti-stapes (replication of the smallest human bone) is presented here. This work was performed by applying a micro injection moulding machine with automated process control, an automated handling as well as optical quality assurance. Different series runs were processed in order to obtain statistical results of the accuracy and reproducibility of the resulting components after the sintering process. The enormous progress in the field of Micro-MIM and the tight tolerances will enable this technology to become more and more important for the cost effective series production of miniaturised and micro components in a variety of industrial applications