Customer Question: How many of the molders and moldmakers—who did or did not follow that insightful and educational information—are still in business today?
First rate mold company Answer: Statistically about 50 percent of molders and moldmakers have embraced the technology and it is believed that the holdouts who chose not to have paid the price. Some are gone from the industry completely, some have lost business and others are still out there, but struggling.
Customer Question: Are molders and moldmakers using copper alloys effectively and efficiently in their molds?
First rate mold company Answer:In most applications the usage is still quite conservative and in many cases the copper alloy that does get used, may be the wrong alloy for the specific application. The decision to use the wrong copper alloy may be driven by misinformation about specific alloy performance, product misrepresentation, pricing or availability issues. This will lead to less than optimum performance, short component life or outright failure.
Customer Question: Are the best products for the mold application being used or is the techno-logy being obstructed by ignorance, supplier sales pitch or misinformation?
First rate mold company Answer: There are misapplications of copper alloys all of the time. Many times the wrong copper alloy is used because of ignorance, misinformation or misrepresentations by suppliers.
What may seem as an insignificant change from one product designation or brand to another can significantly impact the mold component life and performance. For example, copper alloys with similar hardness levels can have conductivity levels (the main reason for using copper alloys) only slightly higher than steel. Another example: copper alloys with hardness levels approaching 40 Rockwell “C” have very low ductility with elongations in ranges less than 3 percent. Low ductility and elongation often leads to cracking or breakage of mold components.
the use of copper alloys as injection mold material can lead to substantially faster cycle times compared to steel materials. While the initial cost of the copper material is higher than steel, the faster cycle time and resultant manufacturing cost savings quickly eliminate the cost difference. Potential users of copper materials should examine the possibility of applying three-dimensional analysis to demonstrate ahead of time the many advantages that are available to them by using copper alloys for their molds. There are a variety of copper alloys available with unique properties that can be adopted for different types of molds and plastic parts.