Ceramic Injection Molding (CIM) is a new process for preparing ceramic parts by combining polymer injection molding method with ceramic preparation process. The manufacturing process of ceramic precision injection molding mainly includes four links:
(1) Preparation of injection feed: Mix, dry and granulate the appropriate organic carrier and ceramic powder at a certain temperature to obtain injection feed;
(2) Injection molding: The mixed injection mixture is heated in the injection molding machine to transform into a viscous melt, which is injected into the metal mold at a high speed under a certain temperature and pressure, cooled and solidified into a blank of the desired shape, and then demolded;
(3) Degreasing: Remove organic matter in the injection molded blank by heating or other physical and chemical methods;
(4) Sintering: Densify and sinter the degreased ceramic blank at high temperature to obtain a dense ceramic component with the desired appearance, dimensional accuracy and microstructure.
The ceramic injection molding process has a series of outstanding advantages:
(1) The molding process is highly mechanized and automated, with high production efficiency, short molding cycle, high strength of blanks, and convenient management and control during the production process, making it easy to achieve large-scale and large-scale production;
(2) It can form various small ceramic parts with complex geometric shapes and special requirements, so that the sintered ceramic products do not need to be machined or less processed, thereby reducing the expensive ceramic processing costs;
(3) The molded ceramic products have high dimensional accuracy and surface finish. Therefore, this technology has been widely studied and applied at home and abroad, especially for the mass production of ceramic products with high dimensional accuracy and complex shapes, ceramic powder injection molding is the most advantageous.