How to increase efficiency and productivity in plastic injection molding

Did you know that over half of the total energy consumed by an injection molding operation is driven by the actual plastic molding process? If your company operates in this industry, you will no doubt be focused on increasing your process efficiency to save on energy costs.  Another focus will be to reduce your TCO by minimizing your scrap rate and maintenance effort. By improving your processing efficiency and reducing your TCO, you will not only minimize your production’s total carbon footprint but also increase your productivity.

If this sounds good to you, we can help you achieve this.

By using innovative voestalpine Engineered Products based on a combination of our premium tool steel and  technology services such as additive manufacturing, PVD coating and laser texturing, you can substantially increase your efficiency and productivity and be part of an exciting revolution in the plastic injection molding industry.

THE VOESTALPINE HIGH PERFORMANCE METALS VALUE CHAIN PROVIDES THE FULL SOLUTION

The voestalpine value chain for plastic injection molding comprises the following steps (extract from the portfolio):

• Selection of the right material for specific application
• Engineering design including 3D-design, simulation and optimization
• Manufacturing—either conventional or additive manufacturing (AM) processes
• Heat Treatment and mechanical post processing methods such as machining and polishing
• Additional value-added services, including coating and texturing

Starting from the selection of the right material, voestalpine works with you along the entire value chain— from concept to component!

HOW DOES ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY?

There are numerous issues associated with the use of conventionally manufactured parts with their traditional boundary limitations. These include:

• Defects such as shrinkage due to inhomogeneous temperature distribution, resulting in high scrap rates.
• Long cycle times.
• High maintenance and production costs due to high scrap rate and high cycle time.
• Design limitations.

The use of ready-to-use voestalpine additively manufactured tooling inserts and Engineered Products allow plastic part designers to use their design ideas to reduce issues during the manufacturing process and facilitate a cost-efficient production during the injection molding process.

Post-processing technologies such as heat treatment, coating, and texturing of the tooling inserts enhance their performance characteristics and increase their lifetime. The result: a far more efficient production process!

You can read more about AM in our recent blog article “The future of plastic injection molding has arrived!”

UNIQUE SOLUTIONS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR PRODUCTION

The voestalpine Additive Manufacturing Center in Düsseldorf is the innovative hub with a global reach, specialized in the design and manufacture of tooling inserts using laser powder bed fusion. Wherever your business is located, with voestalpine as your partner, our team works with you to map your entire value chain. With our focus on your unique production needs, you can rely on our know-how in both additive manufacturing using high performance tool steel powders and in tool making and engineering to achieve optimal efficiency and performance of your components.

REDUCE YOUR CYCLE TIME AND INCREASE YOUR ENERGY EFFICIENCY (CASE STUDY)

One of the many advantages of additive manufacturing is the design of conformal cooling channels in mold inserts to provide homogenous temperature distribution for reducing scrap rate and narrowing tolerances of the plastic part produced. This optimized cooling channel design leads to less pressure drop and less energy impact due to a reduced distance between the cooling channel and cavity.

One of our customers in the plastic injection molding industry recently worked with us to design the insert for their medical containers. By integrating conformal cooling channels and post-processing technology, the additively manufactured insert reduced the cycle time by 26% and provided a significant energy saving.

The tighter tolerances achieved through the more homogenous temperature distribution also lowered the scrap rate and resulted in a more robust injection molding process for our customer.

YOUR BENEFITS THROUGH THE VOESTALPINE SOLUTION:

• 26% cycle time reduction
• Tighter tolerances and improved part quality
• Reduced scrap rate

Conformal cooling channels can be designed to accommodate new features in existing tooling hardware, allowing new and existing tooling to be improved with little disruption. Correctly designed and well-implemented conformal cooling systems can result in reduced cycle times as we’ve just shown, lower defect rates, and increase tool productivity.

You can discover about our range of Engineered Products for plastic injection molding here.

With our global network, this is one of countless examples of how additive manufacturing has helped our customers increase their efficiency in such diverse industries as tooling, aerospace, mechanical engineering, and oil & gas.

POST-PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY PROVIDES THE FULL SOLUTION

voestalpine provides you with the full solution to your plastic injection molding needs—starting with concept and design optimization and leading through additive manufacturing heat treatment, coating, texturing and final machining. All these services are developed as part of our consultation process with you along the value chain, from concept to component.

HOW TO OPTIMIZE THE TOOL SURFACE

When it comes to the optimization of your tool surface, we provide the full range of post-processing services, including heat treatment, coating and texturing as described below.

HEAT TREATMENT

The correct heat treatment will achieve higher material strength, better wear resistance due to increased hardness and improved corrosive behavior of your tool insert. The resulting extended tool lifetime will increase your production efficiency. Our main heat treatment services include:

• Vacuum hardening
• Gas Nitriding
• Plasma Nitriding
• Induction hardening

With 58 locations around the globe, our engineers and metallurgists are committed to ensuring the ideal heat treatment process for your needs.

You can find out more about our heat treatment services here.

COATING

When it comes to optimizing the surface of a tool, our experts at voestalpine eifeler Coating have been leading the way since 1983. Their experience and knowledge are not only replied upon for production, but also for setting new standards in research and development.

We cover the entire value chain, from polishing to PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) and coating. There are numerous benefits of these coating processes—from creating variable layer structures to improving dimensional and contour accuracy.

REJECTION REDUCED FROM 70% to 2%!

One of our customers in the automotive industry recently approached us to help them improve their tool to produce a vehicle reflector. With scratches on the mold parts, they had a very unfavorable 70% failure rate. We came up with an appropriate coating solution (MOLDADUR-P + TiN-ultrafine) for their core and cavity inserts. The result: The rejection rate was reduced from 70% to 2%, and the tool life was extended to over 50.000 shots without scratches on the plastic part.

YOUR BENEFITS THROUGH THE VOESTALPINE SOLUTION:

• Reduced rejection rate from 70% to 2%
• Tool life extended to over 50.000 shots
• Plastic part produced without scratches

You can find out more about our PVD and CVD coating services here and by visiting eifeler Coating here.

TEXTURING

As a company of voestalpine High Performance Metals, Eschmann Textures is the preferred partner in the plastic molding industry for surface textures. With a wide service portfolio in plastic mold steel, additive manufacturing, coating systems, and various texturing methods, Eschmann Textures offers the full set of engraving technology for aesthetical and functional purposes. From using laser technology to create light-reflection surfaces to applying ceramic coating to produce unique surface textures, the range of possibilities is virtually limitless.

When it comes to increasing efficiency and productivity, the texturing possibilities offered through laser technology, chemical etching, and ceramic technology are constantly growing.

CERA-SHIBO – THE CERAMIC TECHNOLOGY FOR PLASTIC INJECTION MOLDING THAT DELIVERS ON DESIGN VERSATILITY AND SAVINGS

In combination with laser texturing, the innovative Cera-Shibo ceramic technology for plastic injection molding enables different surface designs to be produced by the same tool. By changing the texture within the ceramic coating and renewing this, plastic parts with customized textures can be produced in small series very cost efficiently. This gives you not only maximum flexibility in customizability of surface design, but also significant savings on the tool.

FORVIA INTERIORS ACHIEVE A 23% WEIGHT SAVING

As a global leader in automotive technology, FORVIA (together with Eschmann Textures) has developed the Microject Advanced (MJA) Technology. This technology is a combination of an innovative microcellular injection molding process, the ceramic coating, and laser texturing that enables bionic-inspired lightweight design. Using Microject Advanced a monolithic foam design like a human bone can be created—with a porous core and a thin yet solid outer skin. The unique combination of coating and laser texturing provided by Eschmann Textures ensure a significant extension of MJA’s application-range even to those with the highest requirements on surface quality without silver streaks.

YOUR BENEFITS THROUGH THE VOESTALPINE SOLUTION:

• 23% weight saving
• No defects
• Premium surface quality

You can discover more about Eschmann Textures here.

OUR EXPERTS ARE READY TO SPEAK WITH YOU

If you would like to find out more about how voestalpine can help you increase your plastic injection molding efficiency and productivity, our experts are ready to speak with you.

You can reach them below.