Technical and Economical Comparison of Micro Powder Injection Molding

In recent years, micro powder injection molding $(\mu-PIM)$ is being explored as an economical fabrication method for microcomponents in microsystems technology (MST). Technical and economic comparison was performed for $\mu-PIM$ processes. Molding experiment and simulation during the filling process were performed to evaluate several different geometries and processing conditions. The influence of material parameters and process conditions on mold filling were examined as a function of features size using microchannels as an example. It was found that the heat conductivity and viscosity of feedstock, geometry and mold temperature were the most critical parameters for complete filling of micro features.