Before you buy MIM check here (Metal Injection Molding) parts, there are several important factors to consider:
Design considerations: MIM parts can be complex and have certain design limitations. Ensure that your part design is suitable for MIM manufacturing, taking into account factors such as draft angles, wall thickness, undercuts, and feature size limitations.
Material selection: MIM can produce parts from a wide range of materials, including stainless steel, titanium alloys, and more. Consider the specific properties required for your
1、Industry development history
MIM process can be traced back to the 1970s when the powder injection molding process of ceramic spark plugs began. For a long time, the powder injection molding process is mainly used in the field of ceramic injection molding. It was not until 1979, when two metal injection molding products from the U.S. company Parmatech won the International Powder Metallurgy Congress Product Design Competition, that the MIM process was brought to the attention of the powder metallurgy industry. With the development of new binder, powder and degreasing and other related processes continue to progress, the process has also been a relatively rapid development, to the early 1990s, has been gradually industrialized.
As a typical product with the highest penetration rate, the most diverse forms and the greatest demand among mobile intelligent terminals, the role of smartphone as a carrier has been rising. The extensive coverage of smartphones continues to affect people’s work and lifestyle, and the use of various types of cell phone applications and services through the Internet has contributed to the continued deepening of people’s dependence on cell phones — and in 2013, the release of wearable devices, such as Google glasses and Samsung smartwatches, marked a breakthrough in hardware innovation in the Internet era, and the consumer awareness of such products has also continued to increase, and in that year, there was an increase in the number of smartphones. Consumer awareness of this type of product is also increasing, that year, more than 50% of consumers are interested in health monitoring and fitness tracking type of wearable devices url.
2、Industry Development Overview
(1) IM process has a wide range of applications, the global market size is considerable MIM technology process compared with the traditional process, has a high degree of precision, uniformity of organization, excellent performance, batch degree of high characteristics. Globally, MIM process has also been widely used in automotive, electronic products, medical devices, consumer goods and many other fields. However, there are obvious differences in the structure of MIM applications around the world: MIM process is mainly used in the electronics industry in the Asian market, in the North American market is mainly used in the field of medical equipment, etc., and in Europe, it is more in favor of the automotive and consumer goods industries — according to the statistics provided by the Powder Metallurgy Branch of the China Steel Construction Association, driven by the development of the electronics, automotive, machinery, medical and other fields, the global MIM market size was 9.5 million in 2010, which is equivalent to the global MIM market size of 9.5 million. MIM market size of $950 million (about 6.175 billion yuan people), in 2022 the global market size exceeded $ 3.59 billion. After analysis, the 2010–2022 global MIM market size compound annual growth rate has reached 17.39%. In the future, driven by the rapid growth of electronic products and the substitution of MIM manufactured parts for traditional process manufactured parts, the global MIM market will still maintain a favorable development. According to the forecast of China Steel Structure Association Powder Metallurgy Branch, the global MIM market size will reach nearly 3.7 billion U.S. dollars (about 25.5 billion yuan) in 2023. It can be seen that the global MIM market has been growing rapidly in recent years The market size is sizable, and the industry has great potential for future development.
(2) Significant domestic technological progress, rapid market growth
China’s MIM technology laboratory research began in the late 1980s, but limited by the Lack of funds, strict confidentiality of foreign technology, no breakthrough progress for a long time. Until the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, the research of MIM technology was firstly included in the high-tech program of China Nonferrous Metal Industry Corporation. Mim Company’s high-tech program — since then, the National 863 Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the State Education Commission National 863 Program, National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Education Commission of China, National Program for Cultivating Outstanding Talents across the Century, National Outstanding Youth Science Foundation, National 973 Program, etc. The research and development of this field has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, the National Education Commission’s Cross-century Excellent Talents Training Program, the National Outstanding Young Scientist Fund, and the National 973 Program, which have contributed to the The research work of metal injection molding in China has made great progress, and a series of technical inventions and scientific and technological achievements with independent intellectual property rights have been achieved. However, due to the industrial structure and various industries However, due to the influence of industrial structure and the cognition of MIM process in various industries, the application structure of MIM process in China is more complicated than that in Europe, America and other countries. However, due to the influence of industrial structure and various industries’ knowledge of MIM process and other factors, the application structure of MIM process in China has obvious differences compared with that in Europe and the United States. The electronics industry is the most widely covered field of MIM application in China. The significant progress of domestic technology has greatly promoted the rapid growth of the domestic market. In fact In fact, China’s MIM market has been growing gradually since 2000, and in just over ten years, the domestic MIM market has shown a relatively strong development. The domestic MIM market has shown a strong development momentum — according to the data of China Steel Structure Association Powder Metallurgy Branch, in 2011, the domestic MIM market has shown a strong development momentum. According to the statistics of China Steel Structure Association Powder Metallurgy Branch, the size of domestic MIM market exceeded 1 billion yuan mark in 2011, and by 2015 In 2011, the domestic MIM market exceeded 1 billion yuan, and in 2015, the market size was close to 5 billion yuan, reaching 4.85 billion yuan, which is equivalent to 35.23% of the global MIM The MIM market in China has developed into an important part of the global MIM market, and it is expected that by 2018, the MIM market in China will become an important part of the global MIM market. Meanwhile, it is expected that China’s MIM market scale will exceed 7 billion yuan by 2018, and the future China’s MIM market is still facing a large space for development. (3) The rapid growth of the consumer electronics industry, such as smart phones and wearable devices, is driving the MI MIM market continues to develop From a global point of view, since 2007 Apple (Apple) released iOS1.0 and 2008 Google
(Google) released Android 1.1 since the intelligent operating system, intelligent human-computer interaction, mobile phone screen display, application processor technology, and Since Google released Android 1.1 in 2008, a number of key technologies for smart operating systems, smart human-computer interaction, mobile phone screen display, application processor technology and battery and charging technology have made rapid development. Since the release of Android 1.1, a number of key technologies for smart devices, such as smart operating system, smart phone screen display, application processor technology and battery and charging technology, have achieved rapid development. smartphones, wearable devices and other consumer electronics products have also continued to enter the market.
According to IDC’s latest data statistics, global smartphone shipments in 2022 for 1.21 billion units, global smartphone shipments in 2016 for 871 million units, is expected to 2023 annual cell phone shipments for 1.084 billion units, 2016–2022 compound annual growth rate is expected to reach 7.19%, growth is relatively unstable; in comparison, in 2015 global wearable device shipments of 0.77 billion units, global wearable device shipments of 492 million units in 2022, is expected to grow rapidly to 504 million units by 2023, the 2016–2022 compound annual growth rate reached 27.97%, the growth is more rapid.
At the same time, the development trend of thin and light consumer electronics products such as smartphones and wearable devices is accelerating, and the core fog components of such products tend to be more precise and complex. In this context, the application prospects of the MIM process are becoming increasingly clear, and the process has been widely used in the manufacture of appearance structural parts for consumer electronic products such as cartouches, camera rings, pushbuttons, connector interfaces, built-in structural parts, watch cases, watch clasps, etc. According to the statistical data provided by the Powder Metallurgy Sub-committee of the China Steel Structure Association, in 2015, the global MIM manufacturing components in the field of smartphones and wearable devices The market size was RMB 4.76 billion and RMB 1 billion, respectively. According to the organization’s forecast, it is expected that the global market size of MIM manufacturing parts in the fields of smartphones and wearable devices will reach RMB 8 billion and RMB 5 billion respectively in 2022, with a CAGR of 8.02% and 40.95% respectively from 2015 to 2022, showing a rapid growth momentum.
In the future, with the year-on-year increase in shipments of the above products, the demand for MIM products in this market segment will also gradually expand. At the same time, Apple (Apple), Samsung (SAMSUNG) and other consumer electronics giants are also expanding the application of MIM products in their smart products, which will also lead other cell phone companies to scale the application of the product, which will further drive the continued development of the MIM industry market.
From a domestic perspective, in recent years, China’s electronic consumer industry, represented by smart phones and wearable devices, has developed strongly and maintained a high growth rate. With the increasing saturation of the smartphone market in Europe and the United States, the emerging market represented by China has been emphasized by global smartphone companies, coupled with the mature electronic information industry support, China has rapidly developed into the world’s largest smartphone market.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China’s smartphone shipments were 254 million in 2012, and the number has reached 1.21 billion in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.69% and steady growth.
In contrast, the domestic smart wearables market has seen explosive growth in recent years. According to Yi Guan think tank statistics, in 2014 China’s smart wearable device market size of 2.2 billion yuan, in 2016 has reached 12.58 billion yuan, an increase of 5.72 times in two years, and it is expected that in 2016–2022 China’s smart wristbands market size of the compound annual growth rate will reach 105.73%, the speed of development is faster.
At the same time, MIM process in the domestic consumer electronics market recognition is also increasingly high, to Apple (Apple) production of the iPhone as the representative of high-end electronic products on the application of MIM products is becoming more and more extensive, and greatly driven by other smartphone companies have to apply MIM products. At present, the domestic well-known cell phone brands such as Huawei, OPPO, vivo, millet, Meizu, etc. has been in the card bracket, camera ring, LED ring, buttons and other appearance of the structural components in the use of MIM parts, and MIM process has also been in the case, buckle, caseback, and other wearable equipment fog parts have been applied in large quantities.
With the MIM process in the field of smart phones and wearable devices in the application of increasingly mature and more extensive, coupled with Apple (Apple), Google (Google), Samsung (SAMSUNG) and other well-known enterprises on the continuous innovation, optimization, upgrading of products produced by a strong demonstration of the driving effect, the MIM process will be faced with a more broad market space, the development of the above industries will further provide a solid foundation for the growth of the MIM product market. The development of the above industries will further lay a solid industrial foundation for the market growth of MIM products. It can be predicted that in the future there will be more and more brand manufacturers to choose the MIM process to manufacture complex precision parts and components products, the entire market size of MIM products will appear more rapid growth.
(4) Notebook and not board computers, automotive and medical equipment and other fields to expand the application of MIM products market layout diversification in recent years, with the rapid development of the mobile Internet, smart phones continue to move toward the large screen, lightweight and powerful functions, rich in the direction of the development of smart phones, smart phones, especially large-screen smart phones are constantly seizing the consumer electronics market, resulting in the demand for notebooks and tablet PCs have appeared. The demand for notebooks and tablet PCs has declined to a certain extent. According to Wind information statistics, in 2015 the global notebook computer shipments of 158 million units, down 8.94% compared with 2014, down 6.03% in 2016 compared with 2015, the rate of decline has been narrowed; and during the same period of the global tablet PC shipments also declined, shipments of 206 million units in 2015, down 9.71% compared with 2014, down 15.31% in 2016 compared with 2015, and the global tablet PC shipments also declined, shipments of 206 million units in 2015, down 9.71% compared with 2014, down 15.31% in 2016 compared with 2015. The rate of decline has expanded with a 15.31% decline in 2016 compared to 2015 link.
In order to cope with the challenges posed by smartphones, more and more notebook and tablet manufacturers have to adopt differentiated market competition strategies, such as accelerating the layout of business office, medical, education and other fields, in order to ensure their relatively stable market demand. At the same time, for the advantage of smart phones in portability, many notebook and tablet manufacturers continue to enhance their products in the processor, battery life and other aspects of the hardware configuration, and choose a more lightweight technology to enhance the irreplaceability of the product and the use of portability, and such as the ultra-thin fan and other advanced MIM products are precisely in line with the market’s future development of the technology needs.
