Titanium and its alloys have been widely used for medical and aerospace applications because of their excellent attributes of high specific strength, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. However, it is not easy to produce the complex shaped parts due to their poor castability and machinability. Metal injection molding (MIM) is one of suitable processing technique to produce the complex shaped parts in order to reduce the manufacturing cost. In this study, complex shaped Ti-6Al-4V compacts was prepared by MIM process for airplane application. The effects of high molecular binder content and different compact’s set-up during thermal debinding on the distortion of complex shaped compacts were measured and evaluated. The binder with 10 % APP (Atactic polypropylene) was found to have better shape retention for the parts. Furthermore the results indicate that high distortion occurs at early stage of thermal debinding process. The use of supports during thermal debinding can significantly reduce the distortion of the final parts.

Di Indonesia, mineral tanah jarang, monasit, xenotime dan zircon diasosiasikan dengan deposit alluvial timah, uranium dan emas. Mineral tanah jarang ditemukan sebagai mineral ikutan dari proses penambangan dan ekstraksi mineral timah. Pulau Bangka dan Belitung yang terletak di antara Semenanjung Malaysia dan Sumatera bagian timur diketahui sebagai deposit timah alluvial utama di Indonesia. Penelitian ini bertujuan melakukan karakterisasi dasar mineralogi dan komposisi kimia dari mineral tanah jarang yang berasosiasi dengan bijih timah. Mineral seperti monasit dan xenotim yang merupakan mineral ikutan mengandung sedikit kandungan unsur radioaktif seperti Th dan U. Hasil pengujian semi kuantitatif dari beberapa mineral (selected minerals) menggunakan EDX menunjukkan monasit memiliki rata-rata kandungan Ce 28,2%; La 12,9%; Nd 9,7%; Pr 5,2% dan Gd 3,9%. Sedangkan xenotim mengandung unsur utama Y 29,5%; Dy 7,7% dan Gd 2,6%. Potensi pemanfaatan dan pengembangan industri berbasis tanah jarang didiskusikan dalam tulisan ini.

Metal injection molding (MIM) is a near net shape manufacturing technique for producing small, complex, precision parts in mass production. MIM process is manufacturing method that combines traditional shape-making capability of plastic injection molding and the materials flexibility of powder metallurgy. The process consists of the following four steps: mixing of metal powder and binder, injection molding to shape the component, debinding to remove the binder in the component, sintering to consolidate the debound parts. In this research, the physical and mechanical properties of metal injection molded 17-4 PH stainless steel were investigated with the variation of sintering temperatures (1300 °C - 1360 °C) and atmosphere conditions (argon and vacuum conditions). The relative density, microstructure, distortion, and hardness are measured and analyzed in this study. The results show that highest relative density of 87%, relative homogeneous shrinkage and high hardness are achieved by sintering at 1360 °C for 1.5 hours and argon atmosphere. At the same sintering temperature and time, sintering in vacuum shows lower relative density (81%) than that in argon condition due to pores growth. The pore growths were not observed in the argon atmosphere. It can be concluded that sintering stages more rapidly under vacuum condition. The hardness measurements result also showed that high hardness is obtained by high density parts. The optimum average hardness obtained in this study is 239 HV. However, the hardness properties results are still lower than 280 HV according to MPIF Standard 35 for MIM parts.

MIDC’s researchers in fulfilling Industry Development Programme have taken a step to develop technology in the design application of orthopedic implants to help suppress the rate of imported medical devices in Indonesia. This research objective was to make a prototype plate for a jawbone connector that meets the geometric specifications with the metal injection molding approach. The jawbone connector plate has a very small size of about 2 mm x 20 mm x 0.5 mm that needs precision mold with certain geometric specifications. MIM approach was used, from the literature reviews that show MIM is the appropriate process for manufacturing implants. The phases of MIM were done according to the standard reference which is making raw materials or feedstock, gatting system design, flow simulation, precision mold producing, mold testing, injection process, debinding, sintering, and mechanical product testing. The results of this study were precision molds with several variants and were test using plastic polypropylene to see the performance of the mold. The researchers then produce the jawbone connector implant using feedstock material. The test result conducted in MIDC successfully shows that the mold can produce shapes that match the required geometry.

Indonesia is known as one of the largest pulp and paper manufacturers in the world. However, it still relies too heavily on technology from foreign countries. In relation to the Government’s policy to support import substitution, the use of domestic goods should be increased including in this sector. Therefore, the inverse of engineering design or reverse engineering technique should be implemented in an effort to manufacture the disc refiner in the local industry. This technique is a long process that started by identifying the existing product then choosing the suitable manufacturing method and finally generate the same product or even the enhanced version. This paper will present how to build the 3D model of the pulp disc refiner using 3D-scanner and CAD software as the essential step in reverse engineering technique. In addition, it will also provide the material composition of the disc refiner for the preparation to manufacture the improved product. The result of this research can be used as guidance for the local machinery manufacturers to strengthen their competitiveness, especially in manufacturing the machines for pulp and paper industries. Keywords: 3D model, disc refiner, reverse engineering, manufacture, import substitution.