On October 16, the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) reported that a metal injection moulding (MIM) sinter joining study by Rolls-Royce Deutschland and Fraunhofer IFAM received the Rolls-Royce 2026 Innovation Award in the publication category. Conducted under the German aviation research programme LuFo KOMPAKT, the paper "A study on a method of sinter joining in the metal injection moulding process" was co-authored by Mikael Luoto, Enrico Daenicke, Ralf Müller and Thomas Hartwig (presented at Euro PM2024). The study validated a new process route: separately formed MIM green parts are solvent (acetone) debound, butted together with a bonding paste, and then integrated through sintering, enabling geometries that cannot be formed by conventional single-shot moulding. The test material was the low-carbon nickel-based superalloy Inconel 713LC, and three pastes were compared—a system-specific polymer paste, a standard polymer paste, and a filler-containing polymer paste. Mechanical testing showed that the tensile strength of joined parts was comparable to that of unjoined parent material (with a slight decrease in elongation), creep (stress-rupture) performance matched the parent material, and fatigue performance was somewhat reduced, with each of the three pastes showing different strengths. The team successfully produced a "shell" demonstrator that cannot be formed by conventional MIM, indicating the method's feasibility for volume production. Value for powder buyers: (1) sinter joining opens up multi-part assembled complex structures for MIM, favouring demand for superalloy MIM feedstocks such as Inconel 713LC (fine powder grades plus binder systems); (2) the adoption of MIM for assemblies such as turbochargers and small aviation parts will expand fine powder procurement scenarios, and suppliers can position ahead of time according to MIM particle size standards; (3) fatigue performance still needs improvement, so track Rolls-Royce's aviation part qualification progress and the pace of process scale-up.