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Life cycle of molds for silicone rubber

Our company produce the silicone rubber,and use many moulds for products.but we faced some problem:poor appearance and low life cycle of the mould.In order to match the appearance of the products we should use sand-blasting,this may damage the mould.

would you tell me how to solve this problem and increase the mould life cycles. thanks

pieer chai
- xiamen china
1999

Base material surface finish and type of steel should be considered. Sandblasting the moulding surface at the correct pressure with a fine grit blast media will not damage the tool. After you have tried out the tool and you are happy with the results, hard chrome plate the tool. Hard chrome will maintain the new surface finish and greatly increase the life of the tool.

Stephen C. Ward
- Canada
1999

You can try two options:

1.- Make a Teflon coating onto your mould, your pieces will look shining, and as the Teflon has non stick properties, will work without any release agent (oil, wax, etc)

2.- Make the sandblasting using small glass balls (is less abrasive than aluminium oxide) or using plastic media that it is not abrasive for the mold. There is a commercial name called AEROLITE, you can contact to Clemco (suppliers of sandblasting machines).

Jordi Pujol
- Barcelona, SPAIN
1999

Water based Teflon coating meets just your need. The non-stick coating itself resist heat, most chemicals.

S. Y. Yuen
- Hong Kong, China
1999

We find that Composite Electroless Nickel - PTFE coating will solve your problem.

Gabriel Schonwald
Bnei Berak, Israel
1999

I am looking for a Teflon base coating to be used within water to reduce drag on pipes.

Miguel Gonzalez Larriba
- Ensenada, Baja, Mexico
2002