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The 104-page December 2018 issue of Powder Injection Moulding International (Vol. 12 No. 4) features 54 pages of industry news, plus the following articles and technical reviews:

Threat or opportunity? The MIM industry as a partner, a target and a market for metal AM

In September, HP announced its entry into the world of metal Additive Manufacturing with the launch of a new binder-based AM system, the HP Metal Jet. The fact that HP’s launch partners, Parmatech and GKN Powder Metallurgy, are well-known MIM producers serves to highlight just how close the worlds of AM and MIM have become; a fact evidenced by multiple launches and developments over the past few years.

In this report, PIM International’s Nick Williams reviews the attraction of AM for MIM producers, and the equally strong attraction of MIM for AM machine builders.

WORLDPM2018 Congress: Global MIM markets show healthy growth

The WORLDPM2018 Congress & Exhibition, Beijing, China, highlighted not only the rapid industrial growth that has been achieved in the country over the past two decades, but also the many advances made in PM materials and production technology. This applies equally to Metal Injection Moulding, which has been enjoying high growth in China as well as in other regions around the world.

In this report, Bernard Williams summarises the global status of MIM as well as production and technology trends based on key presentations given during WORLDPM2018’s Plenary and Special Interest Sessions.

Ceramic Injection Moulding and Ceramic Additive Manufacturing side by side: Opportunities and challenges

The arrival of production-ready ‘MIM-like’ metal Additive Manufacturing technologies is today opening up a new world of opportunities for MIM producers. As Tassilo Moritz and colleagues from the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS) explain, the same opportunities will soon also be open to CIM producers.

In this article, two ceramic AM processes, both based on CIM-like thermoplastic feedstocks, are reviewed and the opportunities and challenges of the processes examined.

Euro PM2018: Innovations in Metal Injection Moulding highlighted in Bilbao

A number of technical papers presented at Euro PM2018, organised by the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) and held in Bilbao, Spain, October 14-18, 2018, addressed processing and compositional developments in Metal Injection Moulding.

In this report, Dr David Whittaker reviews four papers that cover Lost-Form PIM, an innovative debinding and sintering process, the MIM of Ti-6Al-4V HDH powder with the addition of yttrium, and the use of iron as a low-cost sintering aid for Ti-6Al-7Nb.