Polyshot develops plate fusion technology for manifold constructionPolyshot develops plate fusion technology for manifold construction
OEMs today are demanding molds that offer faster cycle times for higher productivity to help reduce overall costs to manufacture. To provide those benefits, Polyshot Corp. invested in more than seven years of research and development in its hot runner plate fusion technology. Plate Fusion technology for manifold construction is now the company's core technology, and allows the joining of two or more manifold layers to be fused together.
January 9, 2014

OEMs today are demanding molds that offer faster cycle times for higher productivity to help reduce overall costs to manufacture. To provide those benefits, Polyshot Corp. invested in more than seven years of research and development in its hot runner plate fusion technology. Plate Fusion technology for manifold construction is now the company's core technology, and allows the joining of two or more manifold layers to be fused together.
The process creates manifolds with perfectly round, smooth flow paths with broad, sweeping internal radii, manufactured by cutting two or more plates with half-round "female" paths, then fusing those plates together. High cavitation systems benefit from no artificial balancing methods. Milled and shaped manifold melt channels provide volume and viscosity delivery with greater accuracy for consistent part weight and characteristics.
Typically, these flow paths are created by drilling straight into the block of steel from each end, which creates 90-degree turns. Take for example, a 4-cavity mold (four drop manifold), if the cavities are injected from the center the result can be over-pressurization of the two inside cavities and short-shots of the two outside cavities, explained Doug Hepler, president of Polyshot. "With our technology the linear flow length distance between each cavity and the machine nozzle is the same," he said. "You'll see that when you inject the material everything balances. So the Plate Fusion technology is ideal for balancing or for applications such as very small parts, medical applications or other applications where you don't want the material to degrade."
Hepler notes that the idea for the material flow paths was to simulate a human blood vessel, i.e. with no 90-degree turns. "We try to mimic the way nature creates a flow path," Hepler said. "There's nothing wrong with straight channels and you can balance up to eight nozzles quite easily. Over eight, compromises have to be made. When we do a 128-cavity mold we have four 32-position hot manifold systems being fed by a big X."
This is the 24-nozzle hot runner system material flow path for the Honda Civic drink holder door. The ribs are polycarbonate over-molded with TPE to give the door the ability to roll. This is a fully-balanced hot runner system, with the 'squiggle' designed in to avoid over-packing the cavities. "We took the material for a walk around the park, so to speak," Hepler said. "This system allows you to balance anything including 3D manifolds, without being limited by straight-drilled holes." |
Plates showing the half-round holds created with an end-ball drill. When the plates are fused (vacuum brazed) together, it creates perfectly smooth, round material path with sweeping arcs to promote faster cycles, better quality parts and optimum productivity. |
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