M390 microclean(R) of Edelstahl is a powder metallurgical plastic mould steel with a high level of corrosion and wear resistance and therefore often used in the plastics processing industry. But as a consequence of rapidly advancing developments in the plastics processing industry the required level of wear resistance of tool steels in this field is constantly rising. For that reason a new PM tool steel with higher hardness values and an increased amount of primary carbides has been developed to improve the resistance against abrasive and adhesive wear. The wear resistance of both steels against adhesive situations for components of the plastification unit of injection moulding machines has been tested with a novel method. In case of processing polyolefins with an injection moulding machine it was found that there is adhesive wear between the check-ring and the flights of the screw tip of the non-return valve under certain circumstances. The temperature in that region was measured with an infrared temperature sensor. The existence of significant peaks of that signal was used as an indicator for an adhesive wear situation.

The results of investigations in screw design for metall injection molding (MIM) will be presented. The consistency of cavity pressure, metering time and MFQ (monitoring of feedstock quality; parameter measured during metering) was chosen to compare different screws. A simulation program was used to optimize the conveying and melting mechanisms in the plastification unit. The theoretical background of this simulation programm will be explained.