Ceramic Injection Moulding (CIM) - An economic solution for difficult component production problems.

Morgan Advanced Ceramics, Stourport

Ceramic Injection Moulding

Why CIM? - What is CIM? - Benefits of CIM - Ceramic Prototypes - Enquiry Form

For components requiring high precision and medium to high volumes Stourport offers Ceramic Injection Moulding (CIM). CIM is an innovative forming technique to manufacture a range of components, including those with a high geometric complexity, offering an economic solution for difficult production problems.

Morgan Stourport’s ISO9000 CIM facility offers the same benefits of a plastic injection moulded component along with the excellent material properties of an advanced ceramic.

Materials range from high purity aluminas to Medical grade Zirconia achieving ISO13356 “Implants for Surgery using Non-Metallic Materials” compliance for its Y-ZTP Zirconia, the material used in the manufacture of its ceramic injection moulded (CIM) dental abutments & copings.

CIM offers a solution when part complexity goes beyond the boundaries of more basic forming technologies such as dry pressing or an alternative to the CNC machining of ceramics when complex prototypes are required in low volumes.

Why Should Ceramic Injection Moulding be Considered

The continuous strides forward in science and technology lead to ever increasing demands on materials. Ceramics have significant advantages characterised by their outstanding physical, chemical, mechanical, thermal and/or electrical properties. This opens the door to a wide variety of application possibilities when other materials fail to perform, while maintaining great versatility and freedom in the design of components.

The inherent hardness of ceramic means that manufacturing complex shaped ceramic components by standard machining processes can be expensive. Other manufacturing processes such as dry pressing or extrusion limit part complexity. More recently, there has been a change in philosophy in component manufacturing, paralleling the benefits of computation. There is a discernible move away from the energy inefficient and wasteful practice of machining off material, towards more efficient net-shape fabrication. This in turn has allowed production engineers and product designers to improve productivity, lower manufacturing costs and improve product performance.

CIM offers an economic solution for delivering repeatable, ultra high precision ceramic components. Allowing engineers great versatility and freedom in the design of advanced ceramic components. Designs previously rejected as too difficult or expensive to manufacture using other production techniques are made commercially possible. Features such as re-entrant angles, multi-shaped blind holes, screw threads, surface profiles, perpendicular holes, undercuts and intricate cavities are all possible using CIM technology.

What is Ceramic Injection Moulding (CIM)

The CIM process begins with very fine ceramic powders. Using sophisticated mixing technology the powders are compounded with thermoplastic binders to produce a homogeneous pelletised feedstock. The binders form a liquid medium which carries the ceramic powders into the mould during the injection stage. Using an injection moulding machine similar to that used in conventional plastic moulding, the molten feedstock is forced into a mould cavity forming a net shape part. Moulds can be single or multi-cavity configurations. After forming the part it then goes through two thermal processes. First is pyrolysis to remove the binder, followed by sintering in a high temperature kiln to form a fully dense ceramic component. During sintering the component shrinks uniformly by as much as 20% while retaining the complex shape. With good process control close tolerances can be obtained, therefore machining of the part after sintering is usually not necessary.

The benefits of Ceramic Injection Moulding

Provides unique, economic solutions to increasingly stringent material and product design requirements
Excellent batch to batch repeatability and process capabilities achieving a tolerance of +/– <0.3%
High surface finish quality without the need for additional finishing processes
Accommodates extremely complex geometric components
Superior material performance, high hardness and mechanical strength, wear, corrosion and weathering resistant, dimensionally stable, high working temperature and good electrical insulator
Also used for metallised applications

Materials
TG12 - high purity 99.5% Alumina
Zirconia Toughened Alumina (ZTA)
Zyranox ® Zirconia – complies to ISO 13356 “Implants for Surgery using Non-Metallic Materials"

Markets
Aerospace
Communications
Automotive
Electronic
Chemical
Medical
Oil & Gas Exploration

Tools paramount to the success of the CIM process

Mould Flow Analysis Mould flow simulation allows optimisation of the part and mould design by adjusting areas such as gate positions, wall thickness and cooling parameters to help achieve success. Mould flow simulation is usually conducted during the product design stage or the early stages of the tool design to eliminate many of the problems associated with commissioning an injection mould, before construction and major investment in the mould has even begun.

Cavity Pressure Control

Jobs with high volume and tight tolerances demand a level of capability that can only be achieved with cavity pressure containment and control. Cavity Pressure is the process variable that correlates most directly with part quality. Morgan Advanced Ceramics use this to monitor characteristics such as part weight, dimensions, flash, sinks, shorts and warp. When deviations are detected and contained, part quality to the customer can be assured. With cavity sensors, we have the ability to navigate without reference to the horizon. Conventional moulding is similar to a pilot flying in the clouds without even a compass.

Rapid Prototypes

The constant need to accelerate time to market is clearly recognised by Morgan Advanced Ceramics. More than ever, today’s businesses must be swift and agile. To ensure customers maintain their competitive position the company provides the most cost effective, reliable and dependable path to meet product development timeframes. Rapid prototyping supports this enabling a fast-track path from concept to production samples. Utilising rapid tooling methods and CNC machining techniques, it is possible to produce CIM components from a 3D CAD model in a short time-scale with minimum investment. Suitable for low volumes to allow customers to see and feel production-like CIM components during their development stage prior to investing in high volume production tooling.

Rapid prototyping supports this enabling a fast-track path from concept to production samples. Utilising rapid tooling methods and CNC machining techniques, it is possible to produce CIM components from a 3D CAD model in a short time-scale with minimum investment.

Machined – Suitable when very low volumes are required in the tens range. Components would be CNC machined from green blanks.
Rapid Prototypes – Referring to manufacturing a rapid prototype CIM tool. Capable of producing CIM components in small volumes, typically hundreds to low thousands range.
CIM – A full CIM production tool capable of producing repeatable parts in high volumes, from tens of thousands up to and beyond one million components.

What Can Ceramic Injection Molding (CIM) Do For Me?

The injection molding of ceramics is a new and innovative process that provides cost effective solutions for design engineers requiring complex, repeatable ceramic components.

When a ceramic material has been chosen for a specific application, the geometry of the component has often been limited by the cost of shaping operations. Ceramic injection molding (CIM) overcomes this issue by forming net shape parts in the tool.

Zirconia dental coping manufactured using CIM At Morgan Advanced Ceramics, Stourport, (formerly Morgan Matroc) we are producing high performance molded ceramic components from a variety of materials including high purity alumina and Zirconia. A multi-million pound investment in CIM manufacturing technology at Stourport has enabled the site to produce molded ceramic components in volume for major international customers.

These components offer all the benefits associated with technical ceramics including wear resistance, corrosion resistance, thermal stability, superior hardness, high mechanical strength and dimensional stability. Physical features available through ceramic injection moulding include undercuts, threads, blind holes and curves.

Working with us is straightforward: We would first need to understand the answers to a few key quick questions. The following information will enable Morgan Advanced Ceramics to generate a formal quotation & advise of the most cost effect manufacturing process.

Please give details of the application & why ceramic has been chosen. Such as properties, that are most important, i.e. hardness, withstand high temperatures, corrosion resistant, high strength, good insulator, dielectric properties, thermal expansion, etc.
What volumes are initially required for prototypes & approval?
Expected volumes in next 12 months?
Expected volumes in 2 years?
Do you have a detailed drawing of the component? If yes, please forward, ideally in PDF, DWG, or DXF AutoCAD format.
Do you have a 3D CAD model of component? If yes, please forward. Preferred format is an edrawing or IGES, STP, & SolidWorks.
Are there any specific requirements such as surface finish, tolerance, colour, etc.
Is this a new component or mature product? Is there any flexibility to alter the design if required for ease of manufacture?

If this technology offers features that solve your application challenge, or you require design guidance from our application engineers, please follow this link:

Contact Details for Ceramic Injection Moulding (CIM) Enquiries

Download Brochure

Ceramic and Metal Injection Moulding Capabilities (PDF)

Technical Article:

UK-based producer looks to build on current success for precision ceramic components. Morgan Advanced Ceramics, a division of Morgan Crucible Company plc, sees a bright future for ceramic injection moulded (CIM) parts. PIM International recently visited the company’s multi-million pound CIM facility in Stourport, UK.
CIM Zirconia puts a natural smile back into dental implants. Morgan Advanced Ceramics is able to produce the highly complex geometries required for custom-designed dental abutments. It can produce these and their associated retaining and jawbone screws, accurately, in volume and with a high degree of repeatability.

Core Technologies:

Metal Injecting Molding (MIM) Information from MAC New Bedford USA

Morgan Advanced Ceramics, Stourport
Bewdley Road, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, DY13 8QR, England
Tel: +44 (0)1299 827000 | Telefax: +44 (0)1299 827872

Morgan Technical Ceramics is a Global Business Unit of the Morgan Crucible Company plc.
It comprises Morgan Advanced Ceramics and Morgan Electro Ceramics