Minimum & Maximum Wall Thickness

The minimum or maximum cross sectional wall thickness on any part is very much dependent on the overall part size and design.

• The most important issue to keep in mind is the ability to fill the part during the molding step of the MIM process
• As an example, a 0.010” wall thickness may be possible if it’s localized, but is not possible if it is across the entire length of the 4” long part
• Generally, the optimum wall thickness is 0.040” to 0.120” and again, is related to the overall size of the part. Minimizing wall thickness also reduces the material content of a part and its cost
• At the other end of the spectrum, wall thicknesses as large as 0.500” are possible, but as the wall thickness increases, so does the molding process cycle time, material consumption and debinding and sintering cycles
• Each of these increases represents an increase in the part cost