Vacuum casting

Posted by roger |

China Rapid prototyping offers low volume manufacturing by vacuum casting (or Room Temperature Vacuum casting) for your plastic parts.

Vacuum casting is a most common uses rapid prototyping technology , when you need a short run of your 3d cad model. The parts are  made out of a PolyUrethanes with properties close to real injected plastics such as ABS,PA, POM ,PA or TPE's  or TPR rubbers.

Usually series of 5-100 pieces will be run using this casting technology. Each Silicone mold can make maximum 20 to 25 pieces.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF VACUUM CASTING?

The main advantages of this process are a much lower tooling costs and a quicker turn-around than traditional steel mould making. the lead-time to create casted models is around 7-10 days. The products have an exceptional detail and accuracy which comes close to the final injected plastic parts. Flexible silicone moulds allow significant undercuts, simplifying mould-making and containing costs.

THE PROCESS:

The first step of vacuum casting process involves encapsulating/enclosing a master model in a liquid Silicone rubber. This model is usually made by 3d printing, SLA  stereo lithography or CNC machining.

Then a vacuum is applied to the mould. The mould is then cured in an oven at around 70°C.

Once cured the mould can be split up in 2 or more parts, at which point the master model is removed leaving a mould cavity perfectly replicating the master model.

WHAT IS POSSIBLE WITH VACUUM CASTING?

We can make double or triple shot products, we can cast rubber or TPE or TPR like materials. (with 20-80 shore A hardness)

We can vacuum cast optical clear plastics ( same like PMMA) and we can use Inserts in the products. Click here for vacuum casted examples.For more information and for a quotation please email your cadfiles (in IGES, IGS STEP or Parasolid format) and detailed information, such as quantities and colours  to:

contact: info@prototypingchina.com or on skype:

or click our contact page