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stry growth figures and trends in low-cost 3D g


ly 60 co-authors worldwide with expert analysis : Sections on China, Africa, metals, and the future


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itself hasn’t melted. The mixture is then injected into a mold, resulting in what we term a green part: the mixture has been shaped by the mold but the metal content is still solid—it’s just held in place by the binder. The green part is then put into a sin- tering furnace and the binder bakes off, while the metal particles are heated just enough to touch and adhere directly to each other. If the furnace gets too hot, the metal would melt and the part would lose its shape, but with precise heating, the particles touch and sinter together to create a net-shape part. “There’s a shrinkage factor because of the binder removal—the part will be 15–25% smaller than when it went into the furnace. Maximizing the metal-to- binder ratio, controlling fl ow and fi ness- ing the amount of shrinkage are areas that call for expertise. The benefi ts over machining a part include saving time and saving raw material because you’re creating a net-shape part. In the sweet- spot of using MIM, the process is 50% of the cost of creating the same part through machining raw metal. “MIM is playing a role in keeping some medical devices relevant in the current trend toward disposables. Our MIM technology is a runaway train right now, in terms of demand, because the whole industry is looking to MIM to try to wring cost out of the system. Both health care reform in the US and Europe and the need to compete on cost in the developing world are forcing the OEMs to fi nd ways to dramatically reduce costs. They know they’ve got to start looking at more innovative tech- nologies, and MIM is on the list.”





The Advance of Additive “Additive manufacturing is another innovative technology that has been interesting to see being developed.


They’ve come a long way—I think they initially had strength issues—a laser-sintered part would be less strong than its machined counterpart—but I understand that they’ve come a long way. A process such as direct metal sintering could be


Trends. Analysis. Forecasts. Your source for everything additive manufacturing


Industry growth figures and trends in low-cost 3D printing ■


Nearly 60 co-authors worldwide with expert analysis ■ New: Sections on China, Africa, metals, and the future


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May 2013 | ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com 85


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