The Metal3D printing trend from the metal injection moulding manufacturer’s viewpoint
Metal3D printing has been widely accepted as a manufacturing option in various industries. It was more dominant in prototyping purposes before, although serial production using high-throughput equipment from various metal3D printer manufacturers is becoming a reality. This time, we will report the recent trend of metal 3D printing development from the 3D printing conference, RAPID + TCT 2025 Detroit.
RAPID + TCT
Organized jointly by SME and Rapid News Publications Ltd, RAPID + TCT brings together North America’s largest additive-manufacturing community. SME (founded in Detroit in 1932) represents more than 200,000 manufacturers, academics, professionals and students. Rapid News Publications, meanwhile, has led the TCT Group for over 30 years, covering 3D printing, design and engineering technology. This year’s event in Detroit, over 500 exhibiting companies and over 15,000 attendees converged on exhibitions. During the conference more than 140 presentation were held featuring 8 thematic tracks: Aerospace, Defense, Healthcare, Mobility, Consumer, Process Development, Materials Development, and Ecosystems over the course of 3 days.
Interesting topics
● Huge production showcase; e.g. ф600 mm * 850 mm sized Inconel tube
● The sintered density can be higher in scattering spot scan than line scan sintering
● Suppressing data to minimise simulation time with good agreement to the actuarial
● Powder development and powder recycle technology development
● Debinding process is not focused intensively yet.
Most interesting presentations
As the opening keynote reminded us, even the additive manufacturing, hottest in powder metallurgy, rarely makes headlines like a new smartphone launch—yet the technologies we develop underpin countless critical products. At Micro MIM and Taisei Kogyo, we take pride in advancing metal-powder processing, often behind the scenes, to enable these breakthroughs. We will continue to explore how competitive metal 3D printing can complement—and in some cases rival—traditional MIM processes. We see tremendous opportunity in hybrid workflows, where the geometrical freedom of AM and the scalability of MIM can be combined to deliver innovative, cost-effective metal components at volume.
Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more updates on how we are applying these insights to our own powder-metallurgy innovations.
Hello I am Mana Masuda!
I am in charge of moulding in the Manufacturing Department. It has been 2 years since I joined the company. With the motto “Enjoyable and Precise,” I handle all aspects of the moulding process for both prototype and mass production projects.
On my days off, I often spend time at home playing games or reading manga, but recently I’ve been enjoying 3D modelling using a program called Blender.
The photo shows a memorable hamburger I had during a one-week trip to Ishigaki Island. It was made using only Okinawan pork, and it was absolutely delicious.
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Conclusion
Cracking, slumping or blistering is commonly observed due to the binder swelling and/or residual stress difference between the surface and interior. It is possible to avoid these problems by selecting appropriate organic solvents and temperature control.
The catalytic deboning uses sublimation of binder, thus it is possible to decompose the binder in relatively short processing time with minimizing the deformation. However, with a strong acidic atmosphere, theapplicable metal material option is limited.
In the sintering process, the necking, which is bridging the metal powders by thermal diffusion, starts at the sintering temperature. Once the necking starts, the shrinking is observed and increases the density, thus before starting the necking reaction, all the organic components should be decomposed and gas between the powders should be removed. In the sintering process, the unwanted chemical reaction, such as oxidation or carbonization, leads to mechanical property loss, therefore a precise atmosphere control with low heating rate at the beginning of the process is required. Also, when it reaches the sintering temperature, some add it vegetal can be evaporated.