Production of medical devices prototype through metal injection moulding technique

Abstract

Metal injection moulding (MIM) is an advanced near net shape forming process for high quality of complex shapes combined with high properties of materials. For economic reasons, it is necessary to have demand for a large quantity of parts. This paper presents the attempt to fabricate medical devices, particularly fracture fixation plates, for orthopaedic applications for commercial purposes by MIM process. The stainless steel powder with median particle size of 15 m m and a binder consisting of polyethylene, paraffin wax and stearic acid were mixed at 160°C using a sigma blade mixer for 1 h to prepare the feedstock of fracture fixation plates. The fracture fixation plates component was injection moulded using 80 ton MIM machine with the nozzle temperature of 200°C. Before sintering, the specimens were debound using a combination of solvent extraction and thermal pyrolysis method. The specimens were then sintered under vacuum atmosphere. The properties of the fracture fixation plates such as physical appearance and densities were presented and discussed. The results show that the mechanical properties of the plates made by MIM comply with the MPIF standard 35.