Moldeo por inyección de piezas de porcelana

The tableware porcelain industry have a strong need in reducing production costs by modernizing its technology and to become more competitive. One of the most promising technology is the Porcelain Injection Moulding (PIM). Injection moulding technology is already well established for plastics and is now being developed for the manufacture of porcelain. Injection moulding technology involves mixing 60-50 vol.% porcelain powders with a suitable combination of organic additives (40-50 vol.%) composed of binders, lubricants, and plastizicers to create a mixture that can be shaped by injection in a die. The shaped part removed from the die («green stage») contains a uniform dispersion of powder. The binder and other unwanted additives are removed («brown stage»), the part is glazed and fired to obtain the final product. PIM has certain advantages over other methods of forming. Crockery requiring handles or other complicated shapes can be manufactured in one step, whereas other processes require the separate fabrication of the handel and the container or different parts, and then the joining of the two parts. The PIM process have in addition the advantages of low costs of investment, the possibility to be totally automated and adapted to different series of production with stocks reduction.