The MPIF has named the winners of its 2020 powder metallurgy design excellence awards in the special technologies market segment.
The grand prize in the aerospace/military/firearms category for metal injection molding (MIM) components, was awarded to Advanced Powder Products Inc for a trigger mechanism housing for a new 9 mm sub-compact pistol produced for OF Mossberg & Sons. The component originally comprised two pieces (metal and plastic) and was re-designed as a single MIM part. Over 5,000 rounds were fired to test the part and no failures were observed.
Advanced Powder Products Inc also received the grand prize in the medical/dental category for MIM components for a guide tube used in dental surgery. This extremely small part has very thin wall sections and a built-in impingement plate on the inner diameter of the tip. This impingement plate has a Gaussian curvature that can only be formed economically by metal injection molding.
In the aerospace/military/firearms category for MIM components, an award of distinction was given to Alpha Precision Group for a shroud that houses the firing pin and firing pin collar in a bolt-action rifle.
An award of distinction in the aerospace/military/firearms category for MIM components was also given to ARC Group Worldwide for lever actuators for vanes in a turbo-prop engine. The actuators control the angle of the variable inlet guide vanes and the variable stator vanes.
3DEO received an award in the aerospace/military/firearms category for metal AM components, for an anchor link used in a firearms application. A hybrid metal AM process is used to make the parts.
In the medical/dental category for MIM components, an award of distinction was given to MPP and its customer Coracoid for a buckle used in an implanted shoulder repair device. Several technologies were considered for making the part but MIM processing was the only one that produced a part that could withstand the stresses induced during the cinching of the device during surgery and the placement of the cleat.
An award of distinction was also given in the medical/dental category for MIM components to OptiMIM and its customer Atricure for one of two jaws of a surgical device for deploying a clip around a heart’s left-atrial-appendage. The mold produces two parts that are mirror images of one another.
ARC Group Worldwide and its customer Cutsforth won an award of distinction in the electronic/electrical components category for MIM components, for a lower beam EZ change holder for removable brush holders. They are used in brush excitation maintenance on turbine generators in the nuclear, gas, coal, wind, and hydro industries.
This story uses material from the MPIF, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
