MOLD MANUFACTURING

By- Bikash Kumar Das

Lecturer,
Central institute of petrochemicals engineering &
Technology, Kochi
SYLLABUS
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CHAPTER I

MATERIALS FOR MOLD MAKING

WHAT IS MOLD?
? A mold is a hollow metal block into which molten plastic
is injected to from a certain fixed shape.
? Molten plastic flows into a mold through a sprue and
fills cavities by way of runners and gates.
? Then, the mold is opened after cooling process and the
ejector rod of the injection molding machine pushes the
ejector plate of the mold to further eject moldings.
 PLASTIC MOLD STEELS
? Due to its exceptionally advantageous combination of
properties that are of critical importance for tools and
molds, steel is the principal material used in the plastic
mold making industry.
? There is now a range of custom steels available for mold
making, with the steel undergoing specialised processes
at steel manufacturers to achieve the service hardness
required for global applications.
? Another distinguishing feature of steel as a material is
that its functional properties can be adapted to special
requirements by further appropriate heat treatment
and/or surface finishing.
FOR ACTUAL MOVEMENT CLICK ON BELOW LINK

https://www.polyplastics.com/en/support/mold/outline/ani2.htm
? In addition to the necessary quality features, another
relevant criterion for evaluating the usual steel concepts
for plastic molds is the efficiency of the mold
manufacturing process. Throughout the added value
chain through to the finished plastic mold, the following
evaluation criteria apply:
? Material cost price,
? Processing properties,
? Cost of further heat treatment, subsequent hard
machining and/or surface treatment, Logistics costs.
POSSIBLE PROCESS STEPS FOR MANUFACTURING PLASTIC
MOULDS
 STEEL MAKING AND PROCESSING
? Whereas the quality of steel materials is assessed by
testing their technological properties, molds and tools are
assessed according to their service life, i.e. according to
their performance.
? Specific research and many years of experience have
established the associations between functional properties
and processing properties of plastic mold steels, forming
the basis for ongoing development of this steel group.
? But the material properties are only some of the factors
affecting service life; other factors include the design of
the mold, the type of manufacture, the operating
conditions, and the heat treatment and surface treatment.
STEELMAKING
? The classic process route for producing special steels is the
electric arc process.
? Scrap is melted down using electrical energy to first
produce crude steel, which then undergoes further
treatment and refining in secondary metallurgy in a ladle
furnace.
? In most cases the plastic mold steel is now also deep
desulfurized in secondary metallurgy, and then poured by
ingot casting or continuous casting for further processing.
? In order to achieve the required functional properties and
processing properties for reliable further treatment,
additional processing and treatment steps then follow,
mostly performed entirely within the steel mill.
? One of the most important steps is metal forming, i.e.
converting a billet or raw ingot into useable plastic mold
steel – using the hot rolling and forging processes.
? Much of the steel used for tool and mold making is made
from rolled plates up to about 200 mm thick; this
dimension represents a technological limit as regards the
residual porosities due to solidification (core consistency
of the finished product).
? Larger dimensions are produced in the form of forged
steel bar in round, flat and square dimensions.
? The desired plastic forming is mostly carried out under
hydraulic presses, to ensure the required material
properties.
? After forming, the steel manufacturer carries out suitable
heat treatment, which may be either preliminary heat
treatment prior to machining, or final heat treatment in
the case of pre-hardened plastic mold steels.
 SPECIAL METALLURGICAL PROCESSES
? In addition to conventional steelmaking, there are also special
metallurgical processes available that are sometimes also used in
plastic mold steel making.
? These new technological solutions are mostly combined with the
established traditional methods of steelmaking and applied
metallurgy.
? Melting steels with high proportions of the alloying elements
titanium and aluminum (e.g. in the case of precipitation hardening
plastic mold steels) is best carried out in a vacuum induction furnace.
? Special melting processes such as electroslag remelting (ESR) or
vacuum arc remelting (VAR) achieve very fine solidification
structures because of the increased local solidification speeds
associated with this process; the process also reduces the incidence
of non-metallic impurities sometimes introduced from the pre-melt.
? Powder metallurgical production of high-alloy steels
combines several advantageous metallurgical features.
? This special metallurgical process involves melting and
treating the melts in medium-sized induction furnaces.
? The melt is then atomized in an atomizing chamber in a
protective gas atmosphere to form fine-grain globular
powder. The powder capsules are filled and sealed gas-
tight, then compressed by hot isostatic pressing in an argon
atmosphere, to create a completely sealed solid.
? Such compressed alloys can be hot formed using normal
processes, despite their extremely high alloy content.
Another special metallurgical process is “spray forming”.
? This involves atomizing the melt in a protective gas
atmosphere using two oscillating nozzles. The resultant
melt droplets are sprayed onto a rotating starting plate,
and rapidly cooled.
? The precipitation of the droplets on the starting plate
creates a solid steel bolt that can be further processed as
appropriate.
HEAT TREATMENT
OVERVIEW OF PLASTIC MOLD
STEELS
? Widely differing, and sometimes conflicting, demands
are made on plastic mold steels in the course of their
processing and use as a material for molds, so there is no
single steel grade that can fully satisfy all requirements
in terms of quality and economic considerations. The
most important requirements are
? Good machinability, good chip formation, low cutting
forces, low tool wear
? High thermal conductivity – for example rapid cooling of molds heated up
by the injection-molding process through-hardening – ideally uniform
hardness penetration after hardening and tempering across the entire cross-
section
? High crack- and fracture-resistance – high fracture toughness in the area
of notches and critical bending stress
? Corrosion resistance – avoiding rust or corrosion attack
? Tempering resistance – suitable for carrying out thermal coating processes
? Weld ability – possibility of welding in the event of design changes or
repairs
? Surface harden ability – laser hardening, flame hardening or inductive
hardening,
? Wear resistance – resistance to mechanical damage and abrasion
? (High-gloss) polish ability – suitable for producing mirror-finish polishes,
? Etch-grainability – suitability for producing faultless
surfaces are texturing by photo etching techniques
? Chromium plateability – suitability for faultless
electrolytic chromium plating
? Nitridability – hardness penetration with nitriding
without loss of strength in the base material
? PVD coatability – suitability for producing a high
standard of surface finish with PVD processes
 ALUMINUM ALLOYS
It is one of the most important industrial materials and has secured
its place over the past decades in almost every industry.
The most important advantages of aluminum can be summarized as
follows:
1. light weight,
2. high thermal conductivity,

3. good electrical conductivity,

4. good corrosion behavior,

5. suitability for many surface treatment methods,

6. variety of semifinished part supply,

7. ease in processing, and recyclability.

Other characteristics of aluminum and its alloys are: nontoxicity

and wholesomeness, non-magnetic behavior, and high
reflectivity of the untreated surface, particularly with regard to
thermal radiation.
MOLD MATERIALS
Wrought materials are mainly used for molds. At lower stresses,
and if very high machining volumes are necessary for the
production of molds, the use of molded blooms offers economic
benefits.
Characteristic features of aluminum plates
1. They have four times better thermal conductivity than steel, thus
reducing the cycle times for the processing of rubber and plastics
while saving energy.
2. They allow a reduction of machining time compared to steel
through multiple cutting speeds. The higher speeds provide better
performance in addition to better surfaces.
3. Their low net weight enables an easy handling and transportation
of molds and devices made of aluminum, combined with short
setup times.
4. They afford low residual stress through controlled
stretching processes, and thus manufacturing possibilities of
warp-free mold plates. A post-treatment, such as hardening
and tempering, is not necessary.
5. They have high strengths, which can benefit the lifetime of
the molds and devices. The same plate thickness as in steel
can be used in a targeted design due to higher mechanical
properties.
6. They have good corrosion resistance. Therefore, one can
do without expensive surface treatments. However, it is
possible to chrome plate, nickel plate, or hard anodize
aluminum plates aer machining (electrical discharge
machining [EDM]).
COPPER ALLOYS-NONFERROUS
METALS
? Although steel and aluminum alloys are still the
majority of the materials used in plastic mold making,
the use of copper-based alloys is steadily on the rise.
  Properties
? Strength Properties:
The alloys that are mainly used in mold making are
mostly precipitation hardening alloys, which means
that the ultimate strength (hardness) can be largely
influenced by the targeted heat treatment.
?Thermal Properties

A design that includes the use of copper alloys at critical points meets the
following different requirements:
❖cycle time reduction by up to 30% and thus increased output,
❖qualitatively perfect products through uniform wall temperature,
❖and constructively simpler design because conformal cooling channels can
be avoided.
Processablity
As diverse as the properties of various copper alloys may
be, there are some principles that should be considered in
any machining operations:
? One should use full-cooling with an increased
percentage of lubricant in the emulsion (about 7 to
8%).
? Sharp tools should be used.
? If possible, machining should be done as evenly as
possible on all sides to avoid warpage.