AM Products » Plastic Injection Molding Inserts » AM Inserts for Food Containers

AM Inserts for Food Containers

Food containers and in particular container lids are produced with in large multi-cavity molds.  These molding processes are highly optimized and typically have very short cycle times, but additive manufacturing (metal 3D printing) can still be adopted and deliver improvements if the correct element of the mold is optimized.  The use of AM can be particularly effective if cooling is incorporated into the gate insert.

Benefits of AM Inserts

• Improved cycle times – one recent case study resulted in a -15 % cycle time reduction compared to a conventional drilled channel cooled gate insert.
• Simplified production process – the ability to print single-piece inserts means expensive multi-stage manufacturing processes such as vacuum brazing can be removed from the manufacturing process.
• Reduced risk of leakage – the ability to print a single-piece design minimizes the risk of leakage between assembled parts eg cavities, poppet valves and baffles.
• Improved polishability – our AM print materials very low levels of porosity allowing our inserts to achieve the highest levels of polishability (SPI Gr A-1).

Product Material

• Polypropylene (PP)

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