There are many supplies in life, large or small parts, simple or complex products, all need to be produced using molds. Many people do not understand the processing technology of product materials, and knowledge in this area is still lacking. There is no way to distinguish which products are silicone molds and which are plastic molds. It may feel that there is not much difference between the two, in fact, the difference Is great. Today, I will talk about the difference between silicone molds and plastic molds from the material, structure and use of molds!
Material difference:
Silicone mold is a special mold glue for making handicrafts. Generally, the silica gel and curing agent are mixed and stirred evenly according to a certain ratio, and then cured and molded at room temperature or under heating. It has the characteristics of high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, strong tear resistance and fine simulation. Silica gel is a thermosetting material and is generally injection molded. Silica gel has good fluidity, so silicone molds do not need to use boiling water, and the price is cheaper than plastic molds.
Plastic mold is the abbreviation of combined mold for compression, extrusion, injection, blow molding, and low foam molding, so it is also called: plastic mold or injection mold. It has the characteristics of processing plastic parts of different shapes. In the past, domestic factories were called plastic factories, while Hong Kong and Taiwan called plastic factories plastic companies. Plastic is a thermoplastic material, usually using injection molding molds. Plastic mold has the title of mother of industry, and now many new product releases will involve plastic.
The difference in structure:
The material of the silicone mold is mold silicone. The general structure is composed of five components: base rubber, cross-linking agent, catalyst, filler and additive. In fact, the base rubber, cross-linking agent and filler are one component, and the catalyst is separated. As a component, this is why the mold silicone is the origin of the two-component room temperature silicone.
The structure of the plastic mold mainly includes a concave mold with a variable cavity composed of a concave mold combined substrate, a concave mold assembly and a concave mold combined card board, and is composed of a convex mold combined substrate, a convex mold component, a convex mold combined card board, a type A punch with a variable core composed of a cavity truncating assembly and a side truncating combination plate. In order to improve the performance of plastics, various auxiliary materials such as fillers, plasticizers, lubricants, stabilizers, colorants, etc. must be added to the polymer.
The difference between uses:
The raw materials of silica gel can be divided into solid silica gel and liquid silica gel according to physical properties. Solid silicone is mainly used for molded products. For example: silicone sleeves, silicone tableware, silicone molds, silicone buttons, etc., liquid silicone is mainly used for extrusion molding products, such as silicone nipples, silicone tubes, etc.
Plastic parts are widely used in every field of life today, such as household appliances, instruments, wires and cables, construction equipment, communications electronics, automotive industry, aerospace, daily hardware, etc. Plastics are so widely used and so convenient to use that they have brought side effects, and in some areas people have to carry out “plastic bans”.
Now the environmental protection issue is a focus issue that people are concerned about. Silica gel is a new type of environmentally friendly raw material. With the development trend of society, the future development prospect of silica gel is still very large, and it will inevitably get better and better. It will also be discovered slowly. In contrast, plastics are more harmful to environmental protection. If no reasonable solution can be found, they will be replaced by silicone.
