Mold halves with metal-matrix composite at feature areas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10363605-B2
Application number	US-201113811407-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 21, 2011
Priority date	Jul 22, 2010
Publication date	Jul 30, 2019
Grant date	Jul 30, 2019

Abstract

A mold half, especially for blow molding of thermoplastic articles, has a mold body defined at least in part by a single piece of aluminum or aluminum alloy mold material having a cavity and a pinch-off or other feature area and further having a metal-matrix composite (MMC) layer formed integrally in the mold body at the pinch-off or other feature area. A mold is fabricated from two mated mold halves. A process of producing a mold half involves machining a single piece of mold material to provide a mold body having a cavity and a pinch-off or other feature area, the pinch-off or other feature area being of smaller dimension than required for the mold half, integrally forming a metal-matrix composite layer in the pinch-off or other feature area to build up the pinch-off or other feature area to at least a dimension required for the mold half. The metal-matrix composite comprises an aluminum-nickel alloy matrix (e.g. AI-12Si alloy alloyed with Ni) having WC particles embedded therein or a aluminum matrix (e.g. AI-12Si alloy) having TiC particles embedded therein and has greater wear resistance, greater strength, greater toughness or any combination thereof than the mold material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A mold half comprising a mold body defined at least in part by a single piece of aluminum or aluminum alloy mold material, the single piece defining a mold cavity by a cavity surface having a shape for imparting to a part of a molded article, the cavity surface including a feature area comprising a layer of a metal-matrix composite (MMC) formed integrally therein, the MMC comprising an aluminum-nickel alloy matrix having WC particles embedded therein or an aluminum matrix having TiC particles embedded therein, and the cavity surface defined by the aluminum or aluminum alloy away from the feature area.

2. The mold half according to claim 1 , wherein the WC or TiC particles are distributed in the matrix in an amount in a range of from 5 wt % to 50 wt %, based on the weight of the composite.

3. The mold half according to claim 1 , wherein the WC or TiC particles are distributed in the matrix in an amount in a range of from 20 wt % to 35 wt %, based on the weight of the composite.

4. The mold half according to claim 1 , wherein the MMC is formed by cladding a powder mixture onto the cavity surface at the feature area, the powder mixture comprising an Al-12Si alloy.

5. The mold half according to claim 1 , wherein the MMC comprises the aluminum-nickel alloy matrix having embedded WC particles.

6. The mold half according to claim 5 , wherein the WC particles are distributed in the aluminum-nickel alloy matrix in an amount of about 27 wt %, based on the weight of the composite.

7. The mold half according to claim 1 , wherein the MMC comprises the aluminum alloy matrix having embedded TiC particles.

8. The mold half according to claim 7 , wherein the TiC particles are distributed in the aluminum matrix in an amount of about 30 wt %, based on the weight of the composite.

9. The mold half according to claim 5 , wherein the MMC comprises 1.5-5.4 wt % Ni, based on weight of the composite.

10. The mold half according to claim 1 , wherein the aluminum or aluminum alloy away from the feature area comprises an Al alloy of any one of Al 7075-T6 through T7351.

11. The mold half according to claim 1 , wherein the MMC is formed integrally with the mold cavity, and comprises a metallurgical bond between the metal-matrix composite and the aluminum or aluminum alloy.

12. The mold half according to claim 1 , wherein the feature area comprises a pinch-off area.

13. The mold half according to claim 1 , wherein the aluminum or aluminum alloy away from the feature area is a single piece of aluminum or aluminum alloy mold material.

14. A mold comprising two mold halves as defined in claim 1 mated to receive a molding substance.

15. The mold according to claim 14 , wherein the cavity is shaped for molding a container.

16. The mold according to claim 14 which is a blow mold.

17. A process of producing a mold half comprising:
machining a single piece of aluminum or aluminum alloy mold material to provide a mold body comprising a mold cavity defined by a cavity surface having a shape for imparting to a part of a molded article, except at a feature area, the feature area being of smaller dimension than required for the mold half; and
integrally forming a layer of a metal-matrix composite (MMC) in the feature area to build up the feature area to at least a dimension required for the mold half, the MMC comprising an aluminum-nickel alloy matrix having WC particles embedded therein or an aluminum matrix having TiC particles embedded therein.

18. The process according to claim 17 , wherein the MMC layer is formed by first engineering the mold body in which the feature area is machined to an undersized dimension, and then adding MMC material to the feature area to build up the feature to final dimension.

19. The process according to claim 17 , wherein the feature area is built up with MMC material beyond final dimension and then machined down to final dimension.

20. The process according to claim 17 , wherein the MMC layer is formed by laser cladding.

21. The process according to claim 17 , wherein integrally forming comprises forming a metallurgical bond between the metal-matrix composite and the mold material.

22. The process according to claim 19 , wherein machining the mold material comprises rough machining an area of the mold material adjacent the feature area, which is also of smaller dimension than required, and both the feature area and the adjacency are machined down to the final dimension which is the shape for imparting to a part of a molded article.

Assignees

• Xue Lijue
• Wang Shaodong
• Li Yangsheng
• Paget Tony
• Nat Res Council Canada
• Garrtech Inc

Inventors

• Xue Lijue
• Wang Shaodong
• Li Yangsheng
• Paget Tony

Classifications

• B29K2905/02

  Aluminium · CPC title

• B29C49/4823

  with incorporated heating or cooling means · CPC title

• B29C33/38

  characterised by the material or the manufacturing process (B29C33/44 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B29L2031/7158

  Bottles · CPC title

• B29C2049/4892

  Mould halves consisting of an independent main and bottom part · CPC title