Advanced Materials Technologies Pte, Ltd.

Advanced Technology Materials, Inc.

Robin Baumgartner

Lye-King Tan

Eng-Seng Tan

Kay Leong Lim

Kay-Leong Lim

The invention shows how powder injection molding may be used to form a continuous body having multiple parts, each of which has different functional properties such as corrosion resistance or hardness, there being no connective materials such as solder or glue between the parts. This is accomplished through careful control of the relative shrinkage rates of these various parts. Although there is no limit to how many parts with different functional properties can make up an object, special attention is paid to certain pairs of functional properties that are difficult and/or expensive to combine in a single object when other manufacturing means are used.

Method to form multi-material components

The invention shows how powder injection molding may be used to form a continuous body having multiple parts, each of which has different physical properties such as magnetic characteristics or hardness. This is accomplished through careful control of the relative shrinkage rates of these various parts. Additionally, care is taken to ensure that only certain selected physical properties are allowed to differ between the parts while others may be altered through relatively small changes in the composition of the feedstocks used. An additional application of the present invention is a process for forming, in a single integrated operation, an object that is contained within an enclosure while not being attached to said enclosure. This is accomplished by causing the shrinkage rate of the object to be substantially greater than that of the enclosure. As a result, after sintering, the object is found to have detached itself from the enclosure and is free to move around therein. Several examples of structures formed using these processes are presented.

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Singapore, Singapore

Robin Baumgartner