Plastic injection moulding

This technique has been known for many years and is used in the field of the production of complex shaped plastic parts. In particular, the use of sliding split moulds enables the forming of undercuts. Plastic pellets are melted in the plastic injection moulding machine and then, while in a liquid state, pressure injected into a mould. The part sets (solidifies) in the mould and can subsequently be removed as the finished article. Plastic injection moulding has revolutionised moulding in the field of plastics, and cannot be ignored in industrial manufacture today.

Metal powder sintering (P/M process)

The technology of sintering has also been used for many years, to produce metal parts of many various alloys of metal powders. Metal powder is power pressed into a mould, whereby a shaped part build up from the powder is formed. This part is then removed from the mould and subjected to heat treatment, which causes the metal particles to fuse into a whole via diffusion processes. Thereby a metallic part is formed which corresponds to that of the compresion mould. P/M is an economic process for the production of relatively simply shaped metal parts, and is well recognised in industrial production.

First, an injectionable starting material is prepared, consisting of plastic and very fine metal powder, containing more than 90% by weight of metal powder. Like plastic, this material is processed into moulded parts with a conventional plastic injection machine (plastic injection moulding). After injection, the total plastic content which made the shaping possible is leached out of the moulded parts without the parts themselves losing their shape. In a further step the parts are sintered, thereby obtaining metallic properties. Parmaco works with the Parmatech-Process, which has been in industrial use to great success for the last 15 years in the USA.