In-Mould Painting by Spraying Thermoset Powder Coating into a Closed Mould,Followed by Standard Thermoplastic Injection Moulding:Part 1:Introducing the IN-SPIRE Process

摘要

Injection moulding technologies are constantly evolving to meet changing customer requirements,improvedcost effectiveness and tomeetnew environmental legislation.One such technology is in-mould decoration(IMD).This technique is attractive due to increased customer desire for multi-functional and decorative products and includes any process in which a fully,or partially,decorated component is produced directly from the moulding process.A new patented IMD process has been developed to produce apainted component direct from the injection moulding tool.It uses thermoset powder coatings which are sprayed under pressure through a valve into a closed mould using a novel feed system.The heat of the tool softens the coatings which are then cured by the injection of thermoplastic polymer into a standard injection moulding system.In this first paper initial design features and considerations as well as the process itself are discussed.