Chandler, AZ --- Piper Plastics has developed a proprietary high pressure molding technology that yields near net shape polymers up to 2” thick without porosity, voids or sinks. The process, which utilizes molding equipment designed and developed by Piper Plastics, allows the company to mold high performance thermoplastics, filled or unfilled, with isotropic mechanical properties.
A major reason for developing the new technology was to save costs when machining finished parts from expensive high performance materials such as PEEK, PAI or TPI. “The molds are inexpensive since we are only molding a near net shape that will be machined after molding,” said Bruce White, Vice President, Piper Plastics.
The technology also allows Piper to offer small batch runs for mating the right polymer or blend for an application. “Distributors typically only carry about 50 types of engineering plastics but with this technology we can mold custom blanks from over 3,000 polymers and compounds, or develop a compound specifically for an application,” said White.
The process is suitable for larger parts and weights of up to 6 pounds per blank with large and varying wall thicknesses and complex geometries. For more information on Piper’s near net shape high pressure molding, visit http://www.piperplastics.com/pages/nearnet.html