Injection moulding

CIM, what is that?

CIM stands for Ceramic Injection Moulding. This process is used to produce ceramic parts and is inspired by the principles developed for the injection moulding of plastics.

A multi-stage production process:

1. Manufacture of the feedstock (ceramic powder + binder) in the form of granules.
2. Manufacture of the injection tooling (a mould whose shape forms the shape of the finished part).
3. Injection, which produces a “green” or unfired part.
4. Debinding, performed to remove the binder.
5. Sintering, which is a high-temperature firing process during which the part change from a “green” state to a “sintered” state (which causes shrinkage which must, of course, be tightly controlled).
6. Possible supplementary operations (grinding, engraving, etc.)
7. Finishing (polishing or mechano-chemical (tumble) polishing)

The importance of the formulation

Once again, precise control of the formulation and of the blending of the powders is essential in terms of managing the shrinkage and thus of achieving the dimensions required of the finished part.