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What is Thin Wall Container Mold?
A Thin Wall Container mold refers to a type of plastic injection mold used for producing containers with thin walls. Thin wall containers are widely used in packaging for consumer goods such as food and beverages, as they are lightweight and cost-effective.
The design of a Thin Wall Container Mold requires special attention to detail and precision, as the walls of the containers are very thin and need to maintain their shape and stability during the filling and transportation process.
To produce such containers, high-speed and efficient plastic injection molding machines, as well as advanced mold design and manufacturing techniques, are used to ensure consistent and accurate production.
How to Make Thin Wall Food Container Mold?
The wall thickness of thin wall food containers is usually less than 1mm. Micon mold's R&D team will design different wall thicknesses according to product capacity, model, and specifications. According to our experience, the thickness of 1L thin wall food container is 0.5-0.6mm; the thickness of 2L thin wall food container is 0.6-0.7mm. At present, Micon has designed a minimum wall thickness of 0.38mm on the basis of ensuring the rigidity and strength of thin wall containers, and the wall thickness can be uniform.
Thin wall food container molds must be strong enough to withstand high pressure and high-speed injection molding. As for the selection of thin wall container mold steel materials, we can use S136, DIN1.2316, DIN1.2344, DIN1.2738 and H13 for the core and cavity parts. In order to improve production efficiency, we will add beryllium copper to the top of the core to speed up cooling and reduce the molding cycle; if there is a need for film internal paste at the bottom, we will add beryllium copper inserts at the gate to prevent the film gate position from being diluted.
About the mold gate, there are two types of gate, pin-point and needle valve. For thin wall or multi-cavity molds, needle valve gates are recommended. It is with fast speed, sufficient feed, and reduced pressure. We recommend suitable number of cavities according to the customer's machine and capacity requirements.
Technical points of Micon thin wall food container mold:
1. Specially designed zero-degree lock system for thin wall injection mold
2. Cooling system specially designed for thin wall molds
3. High-precision machining process
4. Select steel materials for each part of the mold
5. Exhaust system specially designed for thin wall molds
6. High-speed injection system
Micon Mould is specialized in manufacturing high-quality thin wall food container molds. After years of research, we have developed thin wall molds with different capacities, models and specifications, including rectangular, round, oval, and square; capacities from 200ml, 500ml to 3L varies. Our molds adopt a self-locking structure with multiple cavities, which not only improve production efficiency, but also facilitate daily maintenance. So far, nearly hundreds of sets of thin wall food container molds have been delivered to customers in different countries.
Thin Wall Molds Finish Machining
Thin wall container molds need to consider wall thickness, weight, stackability, and tightness, so higher mold processing equipment is needed to control accuracy.
We always use high speed milling machine and some other high precision tooling machine to tool it, including high-precision 3 + 2 axis CNC machine ect. The dimension tolerance should be controlled within 0.03mm.
The thin wall container molds have small tolerances and high precision, and make the thin-walled containers more uniform in wall thickness during injection molding.
Thin Wall Container Mold Design Tips
Thin wall products features: thin wall, light weight, high yield, short turnaround period, so the mold requirements are very high.
Thin wall mold structure should be reasonable, the product concentricity should be high, no core deviation, waterway design should be excellent so as to reduce the molding cycle. The output can reach 5 seconds per shot. The draft angle shall be reasonable to prevent the ejection formation and sticking.
Thin wall products design main points:
1. The leakage shall be zero;
2. The container body and cover shall fit properly, leave gap 0.15-0.2mm;
3. There shall leave 0.8-1mm room when design the joint of cover edge and container;
4. The rib design shall be thinner than product, thin wall products are mostly transparent material, too thick rib will bring bubbles;
Thin wall mold design points:
1. If the product shape simple, no any undercut or perforation, for example, plastic cups, about 3 degree or above inclination, in the mold design can use side air, inclined air, air valves etc.
2. If the rib on the stripper plate less than 1mm, the stripper plate can be made as insert in order to machining the rib.
3. Multi cavities mold design points:
a. Individual self-locking: multi cavities independent self-locking is suitable for all shapes of thin-walled mold design, each cavity independent;
b. Entirety mode locking: thickness more than 0.8mm, if machine small, the mold won't fit, so to adopt entirety mode.
4. Core and cavity design points:
a. Should use inserts around the cavity edge to reduce the possibility of steel breaks;
b. Should design cooling water around the gate to reduce the hot runner cooling time;
Key Characteristics of Thin Wall Moulds
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Thin Wall Thickness
If it is disposable food container or food packaging containers, the wall thickness is generally between 0.4-0.8mm.
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High Inject Speed
Thin wall molding often requires higher injection speed to ensure the molten plastic fills the entire cavity before it solidifies.
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Rapid Cooling
Efficient cooling systems are critical to prevent defects like warping or sink marks, as thin walls cooler faster than thicker ones.
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Material Selection
The plastic materials used must have excellent flow properties to fill thin cavities without defects. Common materials include PP, PS and PE.
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Mold Steel Selection
Using 2344 steel material, vacuum quenching and twice tooling process, the thin wall mold core and cavity hardness could reach to HRC 46-50, it is suitable for long time fast running.
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Precision Engineering
Thin wall molds require tight tolerances and advanced design to ensure consistent part quality. We use high speed milling machine for the mould tooling
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Air Venting System
The air venting system of a thin wall container molds is very important, and the depth of the air venting groove is generally 0.015mm.
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Hot Runner System
We have our own unique hot runner system and can also use hot runner brands such as YUDO, DME...
In a simple view, when the product wall thickness is less than 1 mm, it is called thin wall and generally refers to a thickness between 0.3 and 0.8 mm. More comprehensively, the definition of thin wall is related to the process/wall thickness ratio, the viscosity of the plastic, and the heat transfer coefficient. The process “L”, from the mould main runner to the farthest point of the finished product, divided by the wall thickness “t “, is called the process/wall thickness ratio. When L/t＞150, it is called thinwall.
In general, the thinner the wall thickness, the greater the injection pressure required for the product to fill properly. Plastic products require injection molding machines to produce a certain injection speed, that is, pressure. This speed is the guarantee to ensure that the product is completely in the mold. The normal injection speed of the injection molding machine is only half of that of the high-speed machine. This is the key to whether the high-speed machine and the ordinary servo machine can produce thin-walled products.
Micon Mould is specialized in manufacturing high-quality thin wall food container moulds. After years of research, we have developed thin wall moulds with different capacities, models and specifications, including rectangular, round, oval, and square; capacities from 200ml, 500ml to 3L varies. Our moulds adopt a self-locking structure with multiple cavities, which not only improve production efficiency, but also facilitate daily maintenance. So far, nearly hundreds of sets of thin wall food container moulds have been delivered to customers in different countries.
Thin wall injection molding is a specialized form of conventional injection molding that focuses on mass-producing plastic parts that are thin and light so that material cost savings can be made and cycle times can be as short as possible. Shorter cycle times mean higher productivity and lower costs per part.
Thin wall injection molding need the plastic material MFI bigger then 40. (bigger MFI is better).
In the thin wall injection molding production line, in addition to high-speed injection molding machines and thin-wall molds, some supporting auxiliary equipment is also required.
In order to ensure the stability of the production cycle, robots and chillers are usually required. Most thin-walled containers use air-assisted demoulding, so an air compressor is needed. In order to add plastic to the injection molding machine, auto feeder is needed. If you need to use in-mold labeling, you also need an in-mold labeling system.
FAQs About Thin Wall Molds
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What is Wall Thickness in Thin Wall Container Mold?
Wall thickness in injection molded parts generally is less than 1 mm. Generally to a thickness between 0.36 and 0.8 mm.
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How to Choose Better Steel for Thin Wall Molds?
The steel materials available for thin wall container molds are 2344, S136, H13 and other hard steels. The reason for choosing these hard steels is to prevent mold deformation under high pressure injection and prevent product appearance.
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What Materials are Used in Thin Wall Injection Molding?
For thin wall injection molding, it is recommended to use materials with high melt flow rates (MFR) as they can fill the mold more easily. In thin wall injection molding, polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), nylon (PA), and polyethylene (PE) are commonly utilized.
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Why Does Thin Wall Molding Require High Speed and High Pressure?
Speed is one of the key attributes of successful thin-wall molding. Faster filling and higher pressures are required to drive molten thermoplastic material into thinner cavities at a sufficient rate to prevent freeze off.
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Is Your Thin-Walled Mold Suitable For In Molding Label?
Yes, the label inside the mold has specific requirements for the products that need to be labeled. Our thin wall molds is suitable for In Molding Label (IML).
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What are The Advantages of Thin Wall Injection Mold?
High-precision manufacturing: The manufacturing process of plastic thin-walled molds uses high-precision processing technologies, such as CNC machining, wire cutting, mirror EDM, etc., to ensure that the products have excellent dimensional accuracy and consistency. High-efficiency production: By optimizing mold design and adopting advanced CNC processing technology, plastic thin-walled molds can shorten the molding cycle, reduce product loss rate and mold loss. Lightweight and high strength: Products made from plastic thin-wall molds are lightweight while maintaining high strength and rigidity. Good appearance and durability: The products made by plastic thin-walled molds have smooth and beautiful surfaces, which can meet the requirements for appearance quality.
