Compression Molding
Compression molding is one form of molded silicone rubber parts. Compressing preformed silicone rubber in a mold with a press during the compression process, Silicone rubber is forced into the mold cavity to form the final product during this process, any excess rubber is pushed into the flash and trim gate allowing easy cleanup once the rubber is set.
Compression molding works best for medium hardness compounds in low volume production. Silicone rubber can be difficult to insert into more complex mold designs. And Soft and Hard silicone rubber compounds don’t do well in the compression molding process.
But Silicone rubber compression molding offers advantages over other methods
- Cost-effective Tooling
- Maximized cavity count
- The short set-up time that saves on short production runs
- Economical process for medium precision
- the least amount of waste in comparison to other molded rubber processes.
Compression molding can be a cost-effective solution when:
- Having silicone rubber industries manufacture the Tooling.
- the cross-section of the part is very large and requires a long cure time.
Compression molding is used for anything from simple silicone rubber o ring to the most complex silicone parts.
If compression molding isn’t the best fit for your project, Ukong can offer a variety of other molded silicone rubber products through injection or transfer molding.
Injection Molding
Injection molding process involves rapidly injecting an exact amount of Silicone rubber from a tube or cylinder into a closed heated mold, the injection press closes the heated mold and applies pressure to keep the mold closed during the injection and curing cycles, the screw then injects the silicone rubber through the nozzle into the mold. the silicon rubber travels through the mold via a system of runners and sprues and finally enters the mold cavities through a gate, it then fills and packs the cavities to form the desired part rubber.
Injection molding offers economical advantages including:
- short molding cycle
- Lower unit cost
- high dimensional tolerances
- An absence of flash
- little scrap or waste.
If you’re interested in what Ukong can do for your company email us at sales@ukongtech.com
Transfer Molding
Transfer molding combines the advantages of injection molding with the ease of compression molding. the process of transfer molding involves placing a rubber and a chamber at the top of the mold and then pushing through sprues into a heated mold.
Transfer molding offers several advantages over other methods,
- shorter production cycles
- maintains close dimensional tolerances than compression molding
- provides uniformity to the molded products
- fast mode setup.
