Award: Grand Prize
Year: 2006
Category: Electronic/Electrical

Description:
The award was given to two intricate metal injection molded (MIM) parts, a flip slider and hinge barrel, that make up the dual-hinge opening mechanism in Motorola’s PEBL mobile phone. The innovative design positions the clamshell phone cover to slide down and flip open in a single movement. The parts are made from 17-4 PH stainless steel to a density of 7.6 g/cm³. Properties include: 1,186 MPa (172,000 psi) ultimate tensile strength, 1,090 MPa (158,000 psi) yield strength, 6 percent elongation, and 30 HRC hardness. The MIM process allowed a very complex thin wall, overhanging structures, and a three-dimensional design with no level sitting side. Both parts are coined, machined, polished, and plated. Machining these parts, an alternative fabrication method, would have entailed more components and associated assembly costs and would have cost five times as much as fabricating them through MIM.