Molding of Magnesium…

I received this question during NPE…

BD
We have a customer who wants magnesium parts. What is the basic principle to metals injection molding?

My Response
Essentially, materials such as magnesium are effectively alloyed to create a thixotropic material. This alloy can be shear heated like a polymer to create a semi-solid slurry which can be injection molded. The tonnage is approximately 1 ton per cm^2. This process does require specialized equipment and should not be done on a standard injection molding machine.
Additional Thoughts
Like injection molding, the parts should have good design features such as draft angles and fillets. The final part has approximately 0.5% shrinkage.
-Andy

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