Tool Steel Quality And Surface Finishing of Plastic Molds

Abstract

Plastic industry is today in a constant growth, demanding several products from other segments, which includes the plastic molds, mainly used in the injection molding process. Considering all the requirements of plastic molds, the surface finishing is of special interest, as the injected plastic part is able to reproduce any details (and also defects) from the mold surface. Therefore, several aspects on mold finishing are important, mainly related to manufacturing conditions – machining, grinding, polishing and texturing, and also related to the tool steel quality, in relation to microstructure homogeneity and non-metallic inclusions (cleanliness). The present paper is then focused on this interrelationship between steel quality and manufacturing process, which are both related to the final quality of plastic mold surfaces. Examples are discussed in terms of surface finishing of plastic molds and the properties or the microstructure of mold steels.