Only two arms factories in the world have Metal Injection Molding (MIM) technology and Taurus is the only one below the equator
Taurus Armas, the Brazilian multinational that is the world leader in small arms sales, is already manufacturing 25% of all the MIM (Metal Injection Molding) compound needed to produce the polymer parts for its weapons and accessories.
This is significant in that it is making the company independent of foreign suppliers of this material, enables verticalization of the production process and generates cost savings of around 25%.
Only two companies in the world produce the metal injection compound. With this in mind, the engineers at Taurus’ Brazil/United States Integrated Technology and Engineering Center (CITE) developed a formula that makes metal injection possible (MIM), including the addition of graphene.
A pioneer with a strong investment in innovation, Taurus is now finalizing research into the inclusion of niobium in this product, having already successfully injected the pioneering parts, with the aim of adding all the benefits of this new material, which guarantees greater resistance and durability.
In the world, only two arms factories have Metal Injection Molding (MIM) technology and Taurus is the only one below the equator.
There are around 14 MIM parts in a gun and the company currently produces more than 110,000 of these parts a day. The Taurus plant in São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul, is responsible for distributing MIM parts to all production units (Brazil, USA, India and probably Saudi Arabia).
“Taurus invests heavily in product and process development. For each new product, we have to add value so that the customer perceives value in it, and invest in a process to manufacture it, so that in the end we can produce this product more cheaply and with greater added value. That’s the difference in the contribution margin of the products,” says Salesio Nuhs, Global CEO of Taurus.
Taurus is the largest company with MIM technology in the Southern Hemisphere
In 2021, Taurus acquired the most modern and up-to-date equipment for MIM processing. Manufactured by the German company Cremer Thermoprozessanlagen GmbH – the world leader in continuous debinding and sintering furnaces – the MIM Master NEO XL is Cremer’s latest technology for the large-scale production of complex metal parts with high productivity and significantly reduced energy and operating costs.
In July 2022, Taurus began operating its third continuous furnace in the MIM unit at the São Leopoldo (RS) plant. The new equipment made it possible for the company to significantly increase its capacity to produce parts using MIM technology, from 80,000 parts/day to more than 110,000 parts/day.
The implementation of the furnace project – from proposal to installation – took around a year, with investments of around R$ 5 million. With the acquisition, Taurus has consolidated its place in the world ranking of the top 10 companies with MIM technology and has become the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
This investment, combined with the others made in this technology, made it possible to increase the total production capacity of high-quality MIM parts by 130%, guaranteeing Taurus’ growth plans in Brazil and around the world.
The aim is for the equipment to operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, increasing Taurus’ flexibility and capacity to produce weapons and components.
MIM technology – Metal Injection Molding
High-performance MIM technology enables the production of complex geometry parts at low cost and high volume, eliminating the need for external suppliers used by most arms manufacturers, with a great advantage over traditional processes such as micro-melting and machining. The technology combines the mechanical strength of metals with the shape versatility of polymers, starting with the injection of the components, with a subsequent thermal process to remove the polymers and sintering.
The MIM process is ideal for producing relatively small metal components (from 1 to 50 grams) with a complex shape, tight tolerances, high strength and very good surface finish requirements, as the various parts need to be strong enough to withstand the pressures that develop when firing a weapon.
Many small, complex parts cannot be produced using traditional machining or, if they can be machined, the process will be so extensive that it will become very expensive. Other parts can be cast, but require secondary operations such as machining to add features and polishing to improve the surface finish. The MIM process, however, offers great flexibility in terms of part design, shape and features. MIM parts have an almost final shape without requiring secondary operations.
Another great advantage of using this technology is that the MIM process doesn’t just apply to steels, allowing for a wide selection of metal alloys, including stainless steel, alloy steels, tool steels, brass, copper, titanium, tungsten, ceramics and many special alloys, such as ASTM F17 nickel-free stainless steel and, more recently, alloys with graphene and, soon, niobium, both developed by Taurus and its partners.