Benefits of μ-MIM

What is μ-MIM?

With our μ-MIM technology we are producing parts that are impossible to manufacture by conventional MIM methods. We can produce parts with a partial wall thickness of 0.045mm available more for more than 30 materials in large quantities with high precision and high quality.

With over 50 years of experience in the industry and more than 25 years of research and development, Micro MIM Europe GmbH is your trusted partner for medical components including parts for the semiconductor and precision industries.

The 4 best reasons to manufacture high-precision components with μ-MIM

High tolerance

The precision level of our μ-MIM technology is almost identical to machining.

With over 25 years of developing our original μ-MIM technology, we achieved unprecedented tolerance satisfaction in an as-sintered state. In conventional MIM, the tightest tolerance is +/- 30 μm, while μ-MIM achieves tolerances of +/- 10 μm.

μ-MIM is a net-shape production technology with minimal post-processing, reducing the risk of tolerance deviations in 3D locations. Mass production and precision are μ-MIM technology's unique strengths, helping your ideal metal part to be realized.

Material varieties

μ-MIM offers you a broad range of materials tailored to your needs.

Based upon our knowledge and experience in plastic injection moulding we developed our original feedstock processing, complimented by our original binder.

Our R&D department developes new feedstock together with our customers, optimizing it for each part to stabilize its production. If the necessary materials are available its immediate usage for production is possible.

Please feel free to contact us if your needed material is not included.

μ-MIM experienced material (Trial included)

Stainless steel

304L, 316L, 17-4PH (630), 410L, 420J2, 440C

Titanium

Ti, Ti-6Al-4V

Copper

Cu, Cu-Ni

Nickel

Ni, Invar, Inconel

Magnetic

410L, Fe-3%Si, PB permalloy, Permendur

Tungsten

W-Ni-Cu, W-Cu, W-Co, W-Ni-Fe

Molybdenum

Mo-Ni

Precious metal

Au alloy, Ag alloy, Pt alloy, Ir alloy, Pd alloy

Other alloy

Kovar, SKD11, SCM440

Design freedom

Our 3D-μMIM technology supports the freedom of design you have been enjoying by traditional MIM.

Developed with a focus on small and complex designs our μ-MIM technology realises your products with minimal additional processing. Thus enabling us to produce complex features that would normally be impossible to demold.

Realizing an improved freedom of design exceeding by far that of traditional MIM.

With our μ-MIM and 3D-μMIM technologies we will help you to realise your parts that you thought were impossible to produce.

Stable mass production

While our quality control ensures dimensional and mechanical stability, the complexity of small metal parts requires an even stricter control of each production step as any early deviation can amplify in later stages.

The uniformity in our feedstock pellets is of the essence for small and complex metal parts as they might even be smaller than our feedstock.

Our tightly controlled production process – from feedstock preparation to sintering and final dimensional measurement – is carried out under the certified ISO 13485 quality assurance system.

Differences between MIM and μ-MIM

Comparison table showing specifications of Conventional MIM and µ-MIM including material length and thickness, minimum wall thickness, smallest hole size, tolerance values for different size ranges, relative density, surface roughness, and product weight. µ-MIM has smaller length (approx. 10 mm max 30 mm), thickness (approx. 0.05 mm), minimum wall thickness (0.045 mm), smallest hole size (0.03 mm), tighter tolerances (+/- 0.01 to 0.015 mm), higher relative density (> 98%), finer surface roughness (0.3 µm with ultra-fine powder), and lighter product weight (≤ 5 g) compared to Conventional MIM which has larger size ranges, lower density (95-98%), rougher surface (< 3 µm), and heavier weight (< 50 g).

Here you can see the differences between conventional MIM and micro MIM.

3D-μMIM Technology

3D-µMIM is our unique lost-core process that enables the mass production of components featuring complex geometries with hollow structures and undercuts that are difficult to fabricate when using conventional MIM or machining.

First, a sacrificial plastic mould (SP mould) is produced. Its product is placed into the mould that is requiering an undercut or a hollow structure. The SP will disintegrate during the sintering process resulting in your metal component being completed.