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Project Gives Wear Resistance to Aluminium Tooling
01 Mar 2007
A project to investigate innovative uses of anodised aluminium in the field of thermoplastic moulding has drawn to a close with some spectacular results. The anodised coating perfected by the Project Alamo team from across Europe has given the wear and chemical resistance to tooling without compromising the inherent beneficial properties of aluminium.
The use of aluminium mould tools for thermoplastic processing is becoming increasingly popular within the EU: driven by cost, reduced cycle times, reduced lead times and reduced energy cost. The growth rates for aluminium tools for thermoplastic processing applications are expected to increase significantly over the next few years. However, limitations of aluminium tools in regards to their corrosion, wear and abrasion resistance have prevented even greater up-take.
During Project Alamo, a 2-year European Union funded research programme co-ordinated by Rapra Technology, the programme members combined expertise in various fields using both injection moulding and rotational moulding techniques to produce test tools which compared traditional P20 steel, aluminium, and anodised aluminium mould tools (for rotational moulding and injection moulding). The results were conclusive: the anodised aluminium insert performed close to the standard of the steel one whereas the non-anodised aluminium insert showed marked wear in the gate area, visible to the naked eye.
www.rapra.net
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