Research Progress on Powder Injection Molding in Malaysia-A Review

Abstract

In this era, parts complexity, dimensional accuracy, and cost-effectiveness are one of the
basic requirements of the modern industry. Most of the conventional manufacturing
techniques have failed to fulfill the industry’s needs. Powder injection molding (PIM) started
in the early 70s, which is a combination of powder metallurgy and plastic injection molding
that fulfills the gaps in conventional manufacturing techniques. In Malaysia, PIM was
introduced by SIRIM Sdn Bhd Malaysia in late 2000. The latter few universities started
working on PIM. Among all universities, the Advanced Functional Materials Research
(AFM) group at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) started to work in 2008 under the
direction of Prof. F. Ahmad and was decided to target various industries and their latest
requirements. The work completed during the past 11 years has been published in various
high-quality international journals, secure intellectual property (IP), i.e., trademarks, patents,
a pre-commercialization grant from the government, one commercialization agreement, and
signed a technology licensing agreement. They also worked on carbon Nanotube reinforced
copper nanocomposite for thermal management and secured two patents. This project was
commercialized for heat sink materials for LED Lights. The group is also working on
controlling the orientation of fibers in the metal matrix to enhance thermal conductivity.
Moreover, grafting graphene on metal oxide for its potential use as a radiation shielding
material is one of the noble works. Currently, the group is working on the fabrication of soft
magnetic material with enhanced permeability for potential use in hearing Aids, electric
motors, and several other applications. Besides, bio-medical parts like a dental screw, biomedical material of 316L SS reinforced by nano Titanium and additive manufacturing by
using ultra-fused BASF 316L SS parts made through FDM represent the scope of works in
PIM.