Hello friends,The famous architect Mies van der Rohe once said that "God is in the small details". In the design of casting molds this proverb takes on the greatest meaning. Any mistake can turn into a failure and only grammar in the small details can help us achieve our goal. Today we will focus on the meaning of determining the wall thickness of products.When planning a plastic product, you should pay a lot of attention to determining the wall thickness of the product, because the wall thickness also affects the product's properties as well as the technological possibilities to produce it.
thick versus thinThe greater the thickness, the stronger the product, but the thickness has additional consequences on the production. Since the raw material is injected into the mold while it is molten, we cool the product. This is done by cooling the mold, and when the plastic hardens enough, the mold can be opened and the product extracted. As a result, the cooled mold cools the surface of the product, and the thinner the product, the faster the cooling. On the other hand, products with a thick wall have a longer cooling time.
Comparison between different wall thicknesses of productsThin wall thickness
Thin wall thickness has several implications for the product,• Economical in weight.• Short production cycle time.Both of the above characteristics make an item with a thin wall thickness cheaper to create. On the other hand, the thin thickness may make it difficult to fill the product well in the mold. Sometimes this problem can be overcome by using a high flow material. This may cause problems with the extraction of the product, due to a weak or too soft structure.
Thick wall thicknessChoosing a thick wall thickness affects the product in these two ways:• The product will weigh more.• Longer cycle time in production.Both of the above characteristics make an item with a thick wall more expensive to create. Also, there may be problems of subsidence, air bubbles, and distortions in the product. Sometimes these problems can be overcome or reduced by using a foamed material, or by using fillers such as glass fibers. In addition, the entrance of the material is required to be thick, and its cutting may be problematic or expensive.On the other hand, the product comes out stronger. Another way to strengthen a product besides increasing the wall thickness is to add reinforcement.
Uneven wall thicknessTo get a product with a minimum of distortions, it is desirable that the wall thickness of the product be uniform, but sometimes the designer has constraints that require him to combine different wall thicknesses in the same product. In such cases, it should be taken into account that all the problems of thin and thick products may appear in the product, and especially distortions resulting from different contractions of different wall thicknesses. Therefore, in such a case, it is even more recommended to perform a production analysis for the product before creating the template.
In conclusionThe choice of wall thickness has many consequences on the creation of the product and its function, so it is important to be aware of the consequences of choosing the wall thickness.Below is a table of recommended wall thicknesses according to raw material:
Recommended wall thickness range (mm) | raw materials |
3.5 - 1.20 | ABS |
3.00 - 0.75 | ACETAL |
3.80 - 0.65 | ACRYLIC |
3.00 - 0.75 | POLYAMIDE |
3.00 - 0.75 | POLYCARBONATE |
3.00 - 0.75 | POLYCPROYLENE |
If you need help determining the wall thickness of the product you are planning, feel free to contact us, and we will be happy to help.You are welcome to ask questions by email, and write to me what you think about the schedules I mentioned in the article.boaz@plastomold.com thanks and have a good day,BoazCommitted to the success of your next project!Boaz is a foreigner.