The mold optimization technology is to add a set of automated mechanisms to the injection mold to solve a series of molding solutions such as gate separation, mold punching, core pulling, auxiliary molding, and secondary filling after positioning of embedded parts during the molding process.
- Industry Overview
- Technical advantages
- Reduce human influence
- Improve production efficiency
- Optimize molding conditions
- Solve molding defects
- Other solutions
- System composition
- Application range
- Application field
- Problems faced by technology application in China
- Price
In-mold hot cutting can also be called "in-mold cutting" in China. As an advanced injection molding process, its popularization in Europe and the United States can be traced back to the 1990s or even earlier. Due to the many advantages of in-mold hot cutting technology, it has developed rapidly abroad, especially in Europe and the United States. More than 30% of the molds produced by many plastic mold manufacturers use in-mold hot cutting technology, and some mold manufacturers even reach more than 50%. In China, this technology has only been truly promoted and applied in recent years. With the continuous development of the mold industry, the proportion of in-mold hot cutting technology used in China has also increased year by year, but the overall proportion is less than 2%, which is quite large; in recent years, the application of in-mold hot cutting technology in China is largely due to the upgrading of terminal products and the annual increase in labor costs. Injection molding production in Europe and the United States has relied on in-mold hot cutting technology. It can be said that molds that do not use in-mold hot cutting technology are difficult to have industry competitive advantages, which has also caused many molding and mold manufacturers to change their awareness of in-mold hot cutting technology.
In-mold hot-cut molds have been widely used in industrially developed countries and regions in the world today, mainly because in-mold hot-cut molds have the following significant features.
Beneficial to industrial production
After the traditional plastic mold is opened, the product and the gate need to be separated in two processes. The in-mold hot-cut mold separates the gate in advance before the mold is opened, avoiding the secondary processing of the product. The combined process is conducive to production automation.
During the in-mold hot-cut mold molding process, the automation of gate separation ensures the consistency of the appearance of the gate separation end, and the result is the same quality of parts. The traditional secondary processing of the gate separation outside the mold, especially through manual trimming, cannot ensure the consistency of the appearance of the gate separation end. Therefore, many high-quality products on the market are produced by in-mold hot-cut molds.
The automation of injection molding avoids useless human actions in the production process. It can ensure quality while fully automating production, so its advantages are very obvious in large-scale production.
Product design requirements and the limitations of traditional mold technology lead to the need for relatively extreme molding parameters when molding some products. For example, the traditional manual and fixture trimming of transparent thin parts leads to the gate design not being too large, and molding requires a series of parameter requirements such as high mold temperature and high pressure. The realization of automatic separation of in-mold gates makes mold design no longer limited to certain factors. The gate data can be adjusted arbitrarily as required, the injection molding process parameters can be improved, and the molding conditions can be optimized.
The diversification of social development products has caused traditional mold design ideas to be unable to meet the needs of existing products. The introduction of in-mold hot cutting technology solves a series of molding problems such as weld marks, exhaust difficulties, local shrinkage of products, and thin-wall glue difficulties caused by traditional designs. Therefore, with the support of in-mold hot cutting technology, injection molding will become simpler.
Use in-mold hot cutting technology to assist embedded injection molding to avoid problems caused by conventional design, in-mold core pulling simplifies mold design, and the extended application of in-mold hot cutting technology solves a series of molding problems such as product shrinkage and poor filling. Therefore, with the realization of in-mold hot cutting technology, injection molding technology will usher in a leapfrog development.
Although there are many in-mold hot cutting manufacturers and various structural styles in the world, from the perspective of principle, a typical system in the in-mold hot cutting industry is composed of the following parts:
Power unit (timing control system);
Power medium (micro cylinder module);
Forced motion unit (cutter module);
And other parts and accessories that play a connecting and matching role (auxiliary parts);
- Plastic types
In-mold hot cutting technology has been successfully applied abroad to process various plastics, such as PP, PE, ABS, PBT, PA, PC, POM, PVC, PET, PMMA and other common plastics. At present, it can be said that plastics that can be processed with traditional molds can basically achieve in-mold hot cutting process introduction.
2. Product weight
Currently, the smallest parts manufactured by in-mold hot cutting molds abroad are below 0.1g, and the largest are above 30KG, with a very wide range of applications.
At present, in-mold hot cutting technology has been widely used in various industrial products such as electronics, electrical appliances, automobiles, medical care, aviation, packaging, and daily necessities.
Compared with traditional molds, in-mold hot cutting molds have significant advantages and are applicable to most industries and products. However, combined with the current situation of domestic manufacturing industry, not all users are suitable for introducing in-mold hot cutting technology at this stage. In summary, there are the following points for your reference:
- Increased cost
In Europe and the United States, in-mold hot cutting technology is used as a solution to optimize injection molding conditions. Adding in-mold hot cutting process leads to increased mold costs. Therefore, in China, products with low added value and low output are not economically cost-effective for users to introduce in-mold hot cutting process for products without special requirements. Therefore, for mold and molding manufacturers in developing countries, the increase in mold costs caused by in-mold hot cutting process is one of the main reasons affecting its widespread application.
- User limitations
In-mold hot cutting molds require precision processing equipment to support them, and the assembly of parts and molds requires precision data to ensure that there will be many problems in the production process. For example, the deviation of the oil cylinder hole parameters on the mold will cause the oil cylinder to be unable to seal, leak oil, fail and eventually fail to operate normally. The accuracy of the cutter hole will cause the cutter to run abnormally, get stuck, break the knife and a series of other problems. Therefore, for most users in China, the overall strength of the company and the concept of precision processing technology are also the reasons that affect its large-scale application.
- Usage habits
The use and maintenance of in-mold hot cutting molds are different from traditional molds. For people who are accustomed to traditional mold operation and maintenance, the new process requires a certain amount of time to adapt. A company needs to receive enough positive information feedback from relevant internal personnel to promote the new process on a large scale. When the internal cannot form a unified understanding of the new process, the promotion of technology is very slow. Therefore, the large-scale application of in-mold hot cutting technology in China requires long-term market cultivation and experience accumulation.
- Industry development period
The barbaric growth and chaotic development of in-mold hot cutting during the development period is an inevitable process for the development of any industry, and the same is true for in-mold hot cutting.
In the world's industrially developed countries, the in-mold hot cutting process is used as a "technical solution" to improve the level of intelligent manufacturing in the injection molding and mold industry. Manufacturers focus on and deepen the industry, and promote the healthy development of the mold and injection molding industry with technological innovation; while the domestic industry is in the early stages of development. When the new process has a "market" and no standards, everyone can participate, resulting in most mold people currently believing that the in-mold hot cutting technology is a simple application of selling "standard parts" to solve the "gate separation" of products;
As a "technical solution", the in-mold hot cutting process is to install a set of mechanisms in the mold to optimize the front-end mold to improve or To solve defects or other technical problems in traditional mold forming, in-mold hot cutting manufacturers need to be responsible for the overall results. However, at the current stage in China, there is no standard, resulting in no barriers to entry in the industry, and everyone can participate. In order to make quick profits, participants intentionally misleadingly promote the in-mold hot cutting process as a "standard part". This not only makes up for their own technical deficiencies, but also avoids responsibility. Even if there is a dispute with the user, the risk of the standard part model is only the quality problem related to the parts. Due to the early stage of the industry, users have knowledge blind spots. When they do not have a clear understanding of the two concepts of "standard parts" and "solutions", standard parts have their price advantages. It is easier to gain user recognition, so a large part of the scenarios where in-mold hot cutting technology is used in China are seen: users get the plan, make most of the parts themselves, and only purchase standard parts from in-mold hot cutting manufacturers. In this way, non-professionals cross over to do professional things, and the result is that simple applications are not smooth, and they are helpless when encountering complex problems. The final use effect is very different from the expectation, so they mistakenly think that the technology is immature and no longer invest in it. This is a strange phenomenon seen by many mold people. A new process with a very broad market is becoming less and less common in the market. Therefore, the large-scale use of in-mold hot cutting technology in China still requires a long period of experience. Accumulation and application;
- Application key
A successful and stable in-mold hot cutting system requires multiple links to ensure that it operates. The three most important factors are:
- Design plan
For in-mold hot cutting manufacturers, an accurate design plan in the early stage can achieve twice the result with half the effort. Manufacturers first make an assessment based on relevant data, and then combine data and experience to provide an optimal design plan. Otherwise, a series of problems will arise during the production process, which will seriously lead to shutdowns and production stoppages. These data require years of experience accumulation, so choosing a formal and professional in-mold hot cutting manufacturer is an extremely important thing.
- Assembly process
During the normal production process of in-mold hot cutting molds, its overall structure needs to maintain long-term stable operation, so the customized in-mold hot cutting system needs to make corresponding data adjustments according to the corresponding products during assembly. These scientific and reasonable data require long-term experience accumulation. During assembly, follow the standard process to operate, otherwise there will be various problems, such as unsmooth operation, oil leakage, abnormal wear and tear, etc., which will bring unnecessary hidden dangers to stable production.
- Industrial system
Provide scientific and reasonable proposals before production, have a complete production process during production, and provide reasonable and accurate solutions in time for abnormal conditions in the production process. These conditions can be said to be the basic conditions for the stable operation of the products of an in-mold hot cutting manufacturer.
- Domestic status
Although the current in-mold hot cutting technology is still in the early development stage in China and the industry is not standardized, its technical application plays an indispensable role in the upgrading process of the injection molding industry. Therefore, in-mold hot cutting technology has a certain significance. In view of the current status of the industry, only by understanding more industry-related knowledge can some unnecessary losses be avoided in the application. In order to further understand the industry, the following will be sorted out from four aspects as clues.
- Technology
From the perspective of the entire domestic market, most manufacturers currently have weak R&D and innovation capabilities, strong substitutability of technology assimilation brands, and fierce competition among general technology peers. The mid-to-high-end market is occupied by Spier, which is recognized by most injection molding and mold people for its leading technology. It is known as the "Tesla" in the in-mold hot cutting industry and has mastered the most advanced technology in the industry. For example, when most manufacturers are still studying the problems of gate cutting and cutting, Spier has already mastered the "no gate residue" solution and has applied it extensively in the 3C industry. The black powder and oil pollution generated by the cutting knife operation leads to the defect of white or transparent products. When most manufacturers are still studying this problem, Spier has already treated it as a conventional solution. Therefore, from a technical point of view, the technology currently mastered by Spier can be regarded as an industry leader, and in terms of market share, Spier occupies the mid-to-high-end market with its leading technology, while other manufacturers rely more on price or other advantages to compete in a differentiated manner to occupy the mid-to-low-end market due to technology assimilation.
The in-mold hot cutting process is a technical solution, which is in the early stage of development in China. From the perspective of the current domestic manufacturing industry, its price is relatively high and is positioned for the mid-to-high-end customer group. In addition, "solutions" are different from "standard parts". Solutions are responsible for the overall results and need to be supported by comprehensive technical strength. Standard parts are only responsible for the quality of parts. Therefore, when users understand these two different modes, choosing different needs will lead to a large difference in their prices;
- Service
The in-mold hot cutting process belongs to the injection molding industry. It exists as an improvement process in the injection molding industry and is a niche industry. The domestic industry is in the early stage of development. Therefore, there are very few manufacturers specializing in in-mold hot cutting technology. In terms of the current industry status, it is unrealistic for manufacturers to provide comprehensive technical support and after-sales service nationwide. At present, the in-mold hot cutting industry is not very mature in China. General customers can only choose suppliers nearby and make up for the technical deficiencies of manufacturers through after-sales service at a relatively close geographical location. High-end customers can choose Spier to reduce after-sales maintenance through its mature technology. Therefore, if the in-mold hot cutting process wants to have a complete service system like other mature industries, it can only be achieved through long-term technical accumulation and large-scale market application.
- Manufacturer
The in-mold hot cutting process belongs to an industry with highly concentrated technology. The required knowledge is related to molds, injection molding, materials, hydraulics, automation and other fields. Those engaged in it need strong professional knowledge, so its system price is relatively high compared with general industrial products. In the early stages of the industry, early practitioners had insufficient knowledge of the industry and mistakenly believed that the in-mold hot cutting process was just selling a few standard parts with high prices and high profits. These factors led to the participation of many people, and hundreds of manufacturers participated in the peak period. However, with the increase in applications, more and more problems were exposed on the client side, and these manufacturers were unable to reasonably solve the related problems due to technical deficiencies. Users also had problems after changing suppliers many times, and finally stopped introducing in-mold hot cutting technology. As a result, the market shrank, fewer and fewer users, and fewer and fewer corresponding manufacturers. As a result, it is difficult to find physical manufacturers specializing in in-mold hot cutting in the market. Those non-professional manufacturers exist more in the form of agents or mold standard parts distributors. These manufacturers continue to harvest users who do not understand the industry in the form of standard parts.
Since the in-mold hot cutting technology has an irreplaceable role in the process of injection molding industry upgrading, it has a certain significance. The market also needs some professional in-mold hot cutting manufacturers. As we all know, from the perspective of the entire market, Spier has been recognized by customers in the high-end market for its leading technology and strongest comprehensive strength. Fusaki Yamano has accumulated a lot of production and manufacturing experience in standard parts manufacturing for many years. The price is affordable and the quality is guaranteed. Therefore, it has also gained a large share in the low-end and mid-end market. From the current market, these two brands are known by mold people because of their distinctive characteristics, clear positioning and high market share. Most other domestic manufacturers are still in the primary development stage of business operations, and the corporate label is not obvious. It belongs to the survival period. However, with the increase in applications and long-term experience accumulation, the industry will gradually mature and formalize, and there will be more and more manufacturers.
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