Metal Injection Molding Blades 440C-Nb

J

Japan Steel

Joined
Mar 18, 2020
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7
Dear all

I have received quite interesting sample of feedstock. I like to find some interested people to help with design of a potential product. This design can be very different from classic, because with 3d MIM - Technology we can do any geometry.

Differents of 440c is, that i have added some Niob for better performance of metal. This is used in Japan for special swords..

Regards
Andrej
 
Do you have ANY idea of what you are talking about???

3d MiM is about circuit design - it has nothing to do with knife geometry in ANY WAY - read about it here: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8811022 - "next generation wafer-level fan-out package technology"

Are you also a steel foundary? How exactly are you adding Niobium to your 'metal'? You know we're all familiar with it because of s35vn, which is very common & the first mass produced knife steel with Niobium in general use.

Please provide more info if possible
 
dirc said:
Do you have ANY idea of what you are talking about???

3d MiM is about circuit design - it has nothing to do with knife geometry in ANY WAY - read about it here: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8811022 - "next generation wafer-level fan-out package technology"

Are you also a steel foundary? How exactly are you adding Niobium to your 'metal'? You know we're all familiar with it because of s35vn, which is very common & the first mass produced knife steel with Niobium in general use.

Please provide more info if possible
Click to expand...

Well, I think 3D MIM in this case is about Metal 3D printing not circuit design...
 
I don't think that the MIM process would make a good blade. Something about the density of the final product...

I remember when GLOCK went to MIM parts and there were many complaints of breakage, especially the firing pin. If you pull this off it would be neat though!
 
yeah, metal injection molding is just simple & a fairly old thing... I've not seen it used in combination with '3d MiM' - adding the 3d to the front of it changes it to a very specific thing in the fabrication process of chips on wafers

It would have been much more clear to just say 'we do metal injection molding'
 
dirc said:
yeah, metal injection molding is just simple & a fairly old thing... I've not seen it used in combination with '3d MiM' - adding the 3d to the front of it changes it to a very specific thing in the fabrication process of chips on wafers

It would have been much more clear to just say 'we do metal injection molding'
Click to expand...
Maybe he's making virtual reality knives? :p
 
and the traditional problems with metal injection molding I expect is due to the high temperatures used - I expect grain growth on these will be rather extreme

the end result is that anything made this way will have weaker overall properties... unless they've gone to the trouble of redoing an annealing stage and proper HT stage
 
dirc said:
and the traditional problems with metal injection molding I expect is due to the high temperatures used - I expect grain growth on these will be rather extreme

the end result is that anything made this way will have weaker overall properties... unless they've gone to the trouble of redoing an annealing stage and proper HT stage
Click to expand...
Would that leave any benefit to the process (for knives) at all? It seems like more steps for a product that isn't better (and maybe worse?)
 
That made me think about

Boye Dendritic Cobalt, which investment cast, certainly not 3d printed.
 
After seeing how MIM performs on a plethora of .45 internals... I'm not sure I could bring myself to buy a knife with an MIM blade without seeing a long history of reliability.
 
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Metal injection molding can work just fine if done right. You just don't have grain flow like you would in a forged part. Most of the bad rap it gets is the result of poor mold design and casting methodology or from back when it was a fairly new method and didn't have all the kinks worked out yet. Metal injection molding and modern investment casting processes, when done properly, are able to achieve an average of about 98% the density of a machined or forged component.
 
David Boye molds Stellite 6-B (Boye Dendritic Cobalt) and 440-C (Boye Dendritic Steel) in ceramic molds, which when the grain migrates upon cooling, leaves dendrites or macro crystals which on the micro edge act like a buzz saw.
The MiM process, as used for knives, was developed in part to make blades with a complex geometry without having to hire artist/grinders.
Transmission gears are made this way, so the stuff is pretty tough.
 
tiguy7 said:
David Boye molds Stellite 6-B (Boye Dendritic Cobalt) and 440-C (Boye Dendritic Steel) in ceramic molds, which when the grain migrates upon cooling, leaves dendrites or macro crystals which on the micro edge act like a buzz saw.
The MiM process, as used for knives, was developed in part to make blades with a complex geometry without having to hire artist/grinders.
Transmission gears are made this way, so the stuff is pretty tough.
Click to expand...
I was just going to mention this. Pretty well regarded I believe.
 
tiguy7 said:
David Boye molds Stellite 6-B (Boye Dendritic Cobalt) and 440-C (Boye Dendritic Steel) in ceramic molds, which when the grain migrates upon cooling, leaves dendrites or macro crystals which on the micro edge act like a buzz saw.
The MiM process, as used for knives, was developed in part to make blades with a complex geometry without having to hire artist/grinders.
Transmission gears are made this way, so the stuff is pretty tough.
Click to expand...
Learn something new every day. Thanks!
 
tiguy7 said:
David Boye molds Stellite 6-B (Boye Dendritic Cobalt) and 440-C (Boye Dendritic Steel) in ceramic molds, which when the grain migrates upon cooling, leaves dendrites or macro crystals which on the micro edge act like a buzz saw.
The MiM process, as used for knives, was developed in part to make blades with a complex geometry without having to hire artist/grinders.
Transmission gears are made this way, so the stuff is pretty tough.
Click to expand...

I'm reading up on it and it does sound like MIM has come a long ways in the last decade or two. I had no idea MIM could be made considerably stronger and tougher than PM. The cost to do it well on something the size of a knife blade seems a little prohibitive though, no?
 
I am not sure what you’re referring to as PM. If it’s powdered metallurgy blades, MIM blades are not stronger and tougher than “CPM” blades.
 
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