According to Carrs Toolsteel Technologies, some of its customers are
producing basic plastic mould tools in one day using one of the proprietary Alumold plate
specifications. Bill Church, Managing Director of the company commented, "Machining
is straightforward and fast — certainly many times faster than steel." For
anyone that believes that Aluminium is only suitable for short runs and prototyping, Carrs
has numerous case studies showing how Alumold can be used successfully for tools producing
up to 300,000 shots in, for example LDPE, HDPE, PP and ABS.
There are other big advantages to using Alumold, according to the company
— because thermal conductivity is around three times that of steel, production cycle
times can be reduced by up to 35% and shrinkage and warpage are also significantly better.
The Alumold range of specifications is designed to meet specific end user requirements for
injection moulding, blow moulding and higher temperature applications. Church says that
Carrs has specialised in the supply of high technology tool steels and Aluminium that
enable customers to improve productivity, product quality and profitability. "We have
some superb products for the Hot Work, Cold Work and Plastic Moulding industries." |
