Innovative special alloy revolutionises the plastic processing industry
The ever increasing consumer demands on improving products along with the industrial requirements for timely and inexpensive production has brought new needs in the plastic processing. Additionally, regular upgrading of products has led to a constant need for new designs, such as bumpers and dashboards found in the automotive industry. Due to these market requirements, current trends focus on including more complex and larger parts in the moulding process and reducing the life-time of moulds. These trends have urged the plastic processing industry towards more rapid mould production while reducing at the same time the costs and facilitating the handling. Although aluminium alloys have already been introduced to plastic blow moulding and thermoforming, aluminium moulds have not been widely used in the plastic injection market or in resin transfer. This is mainly due to their insufficient mechanical properties despite their better overall properties in comparison to steel moulds. Answering this need, ALCAN developed a special alloy that features high yield strength and design methodology for aluminium moulds. The innovative material can be used in new compositions of aluminium plates that are customised to the needs of the mould industry following an optimised conventional processing route. Moreover, a novel processing route for thick high-strength aluminium plates aimed for the mould industry with very low through-thickness variations has also been realised. Collaboration is sought with partners interested in using aluminium moulds for "niche" markets such as OEM's and mould makers.
