May, 2001
Tooling:
Porous Aluminum Castings Are Designed For Textured Thermoforming Molds
International Mold Steel's new Espor porous aluminum castings have been introduced as an alternative to solid aluminum castings and nickel-shelled molds for thermoform tooling. Inparticular, Espor castings are said to be ideal for large, female molds requiring 'unlimited' texturing capability.
These castings allow texture to be applied directly to the mold surface at the time of casting, eliminating the normal etching process in similar mold types. The cast texture over the surface of the porous aluminum creates texture with better consistency and detail for organic and technical grains, according to Scott Hopkins, Sales Engineer for International Mold Steel.
Other characteristics cited for Espor include the ability to be cooled with integrated cooling systems identical to standard castings with excellent temperature control. The procedurefor applying the cooling systems allows stability of the cooling systemthus providing superior thermalconductivity to the mold surface.
In addition, 'deep draw' thermoform cavities can be easily formed with a high level of material thickness control and sharp detail.
International Mold Steel is the exclusive North American distributor of Espor, a product made by Portec AG in Switzerland.
International Mold Steel, Inc.
Florence, KY
