Thermoplastic Injection Moulds

THERMOPLASTIC INJECTION MOULDS

A mould is an empty shape or cavity into which molten polymer is inserted, which then takes the form of the component required.

The term "mould" is generally used to refer to the entire assembly of parts within the moulding equipment used to produce parts. Moulds can always split into at least two halves (called the core and cavity), allowing for the part formed to be extracted. In general, parts should be shaped so as not to become locked in the mould. For example, the sides of objects must typically be perpendicular to the direction of pull (the direction in which the core and cavity come apart). "Bucket-like" parts tend to shrink in the core as they cool, and once the cavity is pulled out, they are typically ejected using extractors. Parts can then be easily welded once moulded to allow for a hollow part (such as a water jug or doll head) to be joined onto another for parts that could not physically be designed in a single mould. 

Moulds require: engineering and design, specialist materials, machinery and highly qualified personnel for all manufacturing, assembly and testing processes. 

Traditionally, moulds have been expensive to manufacture. They are usually only used in mass production processes where a need is faced to produce thousands of parts. Moulds are typically built using hardened steel, pre-hardened steel, aluminium and/or a beryllium-copper alloy. The choice of material used to build a mould primarily comes down to the choice of material used. Steel moulds usually cost more to build, but their longer service life will offset the higher initial cost thanks to their ability to produce higher numbers of parts before wear. Pre-hardened steel moulds are less wear-resistant and therefore used for lower volume requirements or larger components. 

Aluminium moulds can cost substantially less, and when designed and machined with Moderna computerised equipment, they can be cost-effective when moulding tens or even hundreds of thousands of parts. 

Molde Matos S. A. is able to produce moulds ranging from 30kg all the way up to 32,000 kg.

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