Some of the old plant’s business was transferred from Dongguan, in 2017, AMTMIM established a new MIM plant in Jiangsu, China.

The new MIM plant in Jiangsu, China, started up last September. AMTMIM recently said it designed the operation to serve the region’s automotive, consumer electronics, and telecommunications manufacturers. AMTMIM manages its own 20,000 square meters modern manufacturing facility, though to date it operates ten injection molding machines, eight vacuum sintering furnaces, and one continuous furnace.  It is integrated for engineering and design, tool making, debinding, sintering and certain finishing and assembly operations.

Similar to injection molding for plastics, metal injection molding uses a composition of metal powders and plastic binders, and injects this material under pressure into a permanent mold. Once the part is formed the binders are removed, using with solvents and thermal processes, and the metal part is sintered to bind the particles.

AMTMIM adopted metal injection molding (MIM) in 2012, adding this process to its production of metal parts for automotive, electronics, medical/surgical, and other critical applications. It said then that the MIM process is effective for delivering a “shot” to fill several cavities per mold, making it a good process for high-volume production of small, complex parts. It added that it had modified its proprietary multi-slide technology with a custom feeding system that it has optimized for the powder flow and thermal characteristics of MIM feed material.

The MIM process involves mixing powdered metal with a binder to formulate a solution for injection molding equipment, a process normally used to form plastic parts. Injection molding allows complex parts to be shaped in a single operation and in high volumes, though the MIM process is defined by the physical limits of the feedstock’s flow, which may limit the volume of material injected, and thus the size of the finished products.

AMTMIM stated that it expects its own in-house tooling and design capabilities will enhance its MIM manufacturing processes, and that core MIM technology and experience will enhance the value of its processes and products for customers.