NANOCOMPOSITE MOLD FABRICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS

摘要

The mold cost often takes a high percentage of the manufacturing cost in molding processes such as injection molding, compression molding, RTM/VARTM, blow molding, etc., especially in product and process developments. In order to reduce the mold cost, a nanocomposite material is developed as low-cost tooling (LCT) material in our group. LCT has many advantages over the traditional LCT materials in mechanical, thermal, electrical, machining, etc. properties. The casting of mold cavities and pre-inserting cooling or heating coils reduce the mold cost, further. In this study, two molds were made and tested with LCT material; one is for injection molding with thermoplastic polymer and the other is for a vacuum bag process with thermosetting resin. The test results show that the molds can be fabricated with LCT, quickly and inexpensively, either in serving in harsh conditions (injection molding) or large mold size. It is useful in product and process developments as well as prototype fabrications.