How To Choose The Metal Material For Plastic Injection Mold Tools

When thinking about plastic injection mold for your project. The product designers and engineers should identify the tools and machine efficiency as well as make the right choice of metal for the injection mold.

The choice of tools raw material is critical because it determines the production lead times, cycle times, finished part quality and cost, among other things. For engineers and designers to make informed decisions, they should consider the plastic injection mold tools used for production. Today, we take the main mold tools materials to you in this article.

Below are key raw materials for plastic injection mold tools

• 7075 Aluminum material

7075 is an aluminum alloy made of Zinc as the primary alloying element. Other elements put in the make include Magnesium, Copper, Manganese, Iron, Silicon, Chromium, and titanium. The 7075 has a high weight/strength ratio and the incredible strength and is lightweight.

Advantage:

1. 7075 has excellent mechanical properties, It is a high strength aluminum alloy than other aluminum material such as 6061, 6082, 2024 aluminum. It has very good heat transfer properties, and it is very easily heated and cooled, so It can be cycled more quickly for cooling channels than the steel materials, which can save time for production.
2. It is best for the industries that need high strength and lightweight properties of an aluminum alloy. 7075 aluminum alloy use is vast in various sectors such as the aerospace, military, and maritime industries.

Disadvantage:

1. It has a lower corrosion resistance compared to steel.  It’s not suitable for long time injection production. Of course, it also is not matching with Nylon, POM, Glass fibers materials which will erosion the tooling material itself, then reduce tooling life. The aluminum tooling is only for trail order under small samples or low-volume manufacturing, The aluminum material is not good for larger parts and complex features parts, since it can’t withstand high clamping pressures during the injection.

• NAK80 Steel material

  

NAK80 is an incredible material that contains three elements: Nickel, Aluminum, and Copper. This steel tool is semi-hardened to handle the more demanding utilities. NAK80 is the most compelling option for productions of high-volume, high pressures of clamping as well as resins with the glass fibers.

The NAK80 is a faster and more robust semi-hardened machining steel tool than the P20. It is also resistant to corrosion, and you will not have to release it from stress, even after completing 250,000 cycles. It is uniquely clean with a uniform structure of the grain which polishes well to allow an advanced photo etching and texturing. Moreover, with the NAK80, you will not require any post-stress relieving of EDM.

Advantage:

1. It facilitates easy machining
2. It is also suitable for promoting welding
3. It is pre-hardened, which allows for faster machining and heat treatment.
4. It also facilitates natural polishing, which improves the appearance of the final product.
5. The material has excellent electrical discharge properties.

NAK80 is suitable for use in the plastic injection mold. NAK80 is useful in precision wrinkle processing mold, the mirror polishing molds, products that require smoothness such as computers, cars, and many more.

Disadvantage:

1. It has a lower heat transfer ability as compared to other metals.

• P20 Steel material

Advantage:

1. It facilitates heat treatment after the machining process
2. It is pre-hardened thus offering stability and strength
3. P20 has good thermal stability
4. It provides excellent wear and tears resistance
5. It has good polishability properties.
6. P20 is better for die casting and plastic injection molds.
7. Also useful in rubber compression molds and prototypes mold.

Disadvantage:

1. P20 requires special tools in the milling process which can be costly to the product development
2. It has a low resistance to corrosive chemical resins such as PVC.

• H13 Steel material

H13 is a steel material whose utilization is in the hot and cold tooling applications.It consists of various elements that make up the alloy such as Chromium, Molybdenum, Carbon, Nickel, Manganese, and Silicon.

H13 is a steel tool that is air-hardened and is a suitable option for the massive volume orders of production with continuous cooling and heating cycles. It can also hold close tolerance on dimension over one million applications. Moreover, it easily machines before heat treatment while the metal is soft.

Advantage:

1. H13 facilitates welding activities
2. It has good abstraction resistance
3. It also has excellent machinability.
4. It has high wear resistance to thermal changes

H13 is widely applied in the formation of extrusion dies. It is also critical in the forging industries because of its ability to withstand the hot and cold temperature. Other uses include in pressure die casting activities and in the manufacture of components that require excellent toughness and polishability.

Disadvantage:

1. More expensive than P20 or aluminum.
2. It has a lower heat transfer ability than aluminum.

• S136/S136H Steel material

This is a steel material that allows for high polishing efficiency and posses anti-corrosion properties. The S136 is the stainless alloy steel tool with high chromium. It sports high mirror, purity, excellent small deformation heat acid treatment, incredible abrasion resistance, and impressive machinability.

Additionally, it has low costs of maintenance. Even after long use, the mold’s cavity surface still has the initial smoothness. You will not require special protection when using or storing the S136H.

Advantage:

1. This material has incredible corrosion resistance properties
2. It also offers excellent machinability
3. The material also provides good abrasion resistance
4. When the material hardens, it provides excellent stability

The material is appropriate for the smoothening of surfaces, especially in the optical industry. Products such as cameras, syringe instruments, and plastic products.

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