Mold Manufacturing

Molding is a manufacturing process that involves shaping a liquid or malleable raw material using a fixed frame; It is known as a mold or matrix.

A mold is usually a hollow chamber, usually made of metal, into which liquid plastic, metal, ceramic or glass material is poured. In most cases, the pattern is derived from the initial pattern or stencil of the final object; Its main goal is to reproduce multiple uniform copies of the final product. The final configuration is achieved as the liquid cools and hardens in the mold. Its removal is facilitated using a release agent or ejection pins. We are surrounded by both ordinary and complex objects produced as a result of the mold making process. Molding has occurred for millennia. Evidence of its use goes back to the Bronze Age, when stones were used as molds to produce spearheads. Modern molding processes include plastic injection molding, Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) molding, top molding, and tip molding.

Customized prototypes and end-use parts are produced by the plastic injection molding process. The standard process eliminates the use of heating or cooling lines embedded within the molds so molders, also known as molding technicians, can carefully monitor the fill pressure, aesthetics and overall part quality. Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) molding is a highly flexible material that is considered a thermosetting polymer, meaning that it is permanent and cannot be remelted like a thermoplastic.

A specific LSR molding tool is designed with CNC machining, thus providing different surface finish options for the end-use LSR part. Over molding allows a single piece to contain more than one material. After the total run of a substrate part has been molded, the upper mold sets are set on the press.

Then it is placed in the mold by hand and covered with a thermoplastic or liquid silicone rubber material. Insert molding is similar to top molding, but most commonly uses a preformed piece of metal substrate that is over-molded with plastic to form the final piece.