1. First, when designing a part, be mindful of the dimensions. Allow enough clearance to avoid damaging the substrate, while simultaneously shutting-off on the substrate to prevent overflow of material onto unwanted areas.  This can be something of a delicate balance and will likely be different, based on part geometry and material used.

2. Secondly, when over-molding onto electronics, be mindful of temperature restrictions.  For some electronic devices, there are components that have a lower operating temperature range than what is ideal for silicone over-molding (125°C – 175°C).  Typically, this is true of battery's capacitors.  The normal operating range for most capacitors is -30°C to 125°C with nominal voltage ratings for a working temperature to be no greater than 70°C for plastic capacitors.  If possible, it is best to avoid these components when over-molding electronics with LSR.

3. The last secret to over-molding electronics is surface compatibility to improve adhesion to the substrate.  When two materials are chemically dissimilar, certain options are available to improve bonding:

• It is always important to make sure that the substrate is clean prior to molding.
• Mechanical surface preparation; such as roughening via sanding and grit-blasting, can produce good adhesion.  For further improved bond strength creating undercuts or thru-holes in the substrate.
• Chemical surface preparation; such as primers or other adhesion promoters, can be purchased with the suppliers of the liquid silicone such as Shin-Etsu and Wacker Silicones. 
• Another type of surface modification process is applying plasma to change the surface tendencies of polymer.  Plasma is compressed energized gas that is applied onto the polymer molecules to break up some of the bonds.  When some of the molecules are broken apart, the surface of the material will create available binding sites.  Atoms from the silicone material are then allowed to come in and fill up these binding sites.
• Corona discharge works very similarly to plasma treatment, but differs in that it uses an electrical arc to free up the bonding sights instead of gas and flame.  Due to this corona treatment is also an effective means to improve adhesion with metallic substrates.

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Albright is pleased to announce the addition of its Arburg 175V All Rounder for liquid silicone injection molding. Albright was recently published in a Plastic News magazine article regarding the addition of this Arburg 14 ton press. The new Arburg 175V All Rounder injection press is an excellent fit for the company as it allows for micro liquid injection molding and molding of other small silicone parts. Frank Antosiewicz, a correspondent for Plastics News wrote the article, which can be viewed below.

Albright adds 14-ton Arburg press

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To learn more about how the food bags are used by astronauts in outer space, check out Google’s “How do you live in space” video, below.

Camp Google Space Week – Explore with NASA

The post Albright Provides Silicone Molded Parts to Allow Astronauts to Eat in Space! appeared first on Albright Technologies.

Albright Technologies recently developed a feature article for publication in Medical Design Briefs magazine. The article, titled “Silicone: Expanding the Horizon of Today’s Medical Devices” was published in the May 2015 issue of Medical Design Briefs magazine. This comprehensive article written by Ryan M. Taylor, Director of Sales & Marketing at Albright Technologies, covers many aspects of medical silicone materials and silicone molding for medical devices and pharmaceutical products. Topics covered in the article include the history of silicone materials, medical silicone materials selection including implantables, silicone molding processes, and silicone medical device applications. To read the article, please visit the link below.

Taylor, Ryan. “Silicone: Expanding the Horizon of Today’s Medical Devices” Medical Design Briefs, May 2015, Volume 5, Number 5, pages 10-14.

The post Silicone: Expanding the Horizon of Today’s Medical Devices appeared first on Albright Technologies.

Join Kevin and Ryan at the center of the universe this June at the MD&M East Trade Show in New York City! The show is located at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center at 655 West 34th Street in NYC. Albright will be located in Booth 2223.

The exhibition hall schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, June 9th, 2015             10 AM to 4 PM

Wednesday, June 10th, 2015        10 AM to 4 PM

Thursday, June 11th, 2015         10 AM to 3 PM

Albright will be exhibiting our latest silicone prototyping and silicone production molding solutions to attendees at Booth 2223, located near the Hall 3B entrance. We are currently offering free passes to our partners and visitors interested in rapid silicone prototyping and production molding services. Save $95.00 dollars on registration, visit MDMeast.com/invite and use the source code, invite.

We look forward to seeing you in the Big Apple next month. Stop by Booth 2223 for a visit and learn about the latest developments at Albright Technologies and the medical silicone molding industry!

MDMeast.com/invite

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PRESS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Albright Technologies Introduces Silicone Injection Molding for Prototypes and Low Volume Production

Leominster, MA – May 18th, 2015: Albright Technologies is pleased to announce the introduction of liquid silicone injection molding services for prototype and low volume production purposes. The addition of this product offering will enhance the company’s capabilities in the silicone prototype and production molding markets.

Albright has recently acquisitioned several injection molding presses for its operation. All of the presses purchased are suited for small, medium and micro sized parts. The company is able to manufacture complex injection mold tools within 15 to 25 business days, allowing it to remain highly competitive in the silicone molding market.

“The addition of liquid silicone injection tooling and molding services will provide our customers with yet another option for molding their prototypes and production parts,” said Ryan Taylor, Director of Sales & Marketing at Albright. “We foresee significant growth from the addition of liquid silicone injection molding as many of our customers finalize their prototype designs and move to production volumes,” Mr. Taylor added.

Matt Bont, Director of Operations, noted that the addition of silicone injection molding will provide the company with significant expansion in capability in low-volume production molding. “After a period of in-depth analysis, Albright made the strategic decision to purchase multiple injection presses and to adopt CNC machining processes that will enable the manufacture of injection mold tools,” stated Mr. Bont. “Our team is very excited about the possibilities that liquid injection molding provides for our company and our customers” he added.

To learn more about Albright Technologies, Inc. please visit http://www.albright1.com.

About Albright Technologies, Inc.

Albright Technologies is a global leader in manufacturing prototype and low-volume production silicone components for Medical, Pharmaceutical, Aerospace, Military, Industrial and Consumer applications. Albright Technologies has extensive silicone molding experience and can provide silicone material selection, prototyping and design for manufacturability with scalable molding methods. The company is ISO 13485 certified and molds components for medical applications in its ISO 7 hard-walled clean room.

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The post Albright Technologies Introduces Silicone Injection Molding for Prototypes and Low Volume Production appeared first on Albright Technologies.

Albright Technologies has added silicone injection molding tooling and services to its product lineup. As a rapid silicone prototyper, Albright has always employed the latest technology to provide its customers with high quality silicone parts with short lead times. Liquid silicone injection molding became a suitable product offering as we expanded our offerings to better serve the silicone molding market.

While silicone prototypes are commonly manufactured with low volumes in mind; injection molded liquid silicone rubber parts are typically molded at higher volumes.

Therefore, silicone injection molding allows Albright to fill a gap where compression molding services are not well suited. While ramping up to higher volumes, production injection molding will offer continuous and repeatable results time and time again.

Once your part design is beyond the prototyping phase, then it is ready to go into low-volume production. At this point, a single cavity or multi-cavity injection tool should be manufactured and used. The injection tool will produce parts more rapidly with a lower cost per unit than a comparable compression tool.

Albright provides controlled environment room (ISO Class 7) injection molding services of your silicone parts. In addition, Albright is ISO 13485 registered to better serve its medical and pharmaceutical customers.

If you are ready to have your part design quoted for injection tooling and molding services, please contact Albright Technologies today at 978.466.5870 or via email at info@albright1.com. If you would like to send your models and prints to us, please fill out our RFQ page.

The post Albright Introduces Silicone Injection Molding Services & Prototypes appeared first on Albright Technologies.

There are many benefits to designing molds made of aluminum including, cost, supply and physical properties. Here are a few reasons why aluminum is a viable material for mold tooling:

1. Processing Aluminum has become more efficient through the use of standardized blocks for mold tooling.

2. Aluminum allows for rapid cutting and finishing because it is highly machinable, polishable and holds micro details. Aluminum takes less finish cuts than harder metals, such as steel, further shortening CNC time. This means your parts will get to you sooner, as we can begin molding earlier.

3. Aluminum a very light weight metal, which makes handling and operating less burdensome.

4. Aluminum is chemical resistant, reducing corrosion as time passes.

5. Modern welding techniques allow us to make modifications and corrections to molds including repairing damaged tools rapidly and cost-efficiently.

6. Aluminum is a good conductor of heat, reducing the time it takes for the mold to heat up before molding. The rapid transfer of heat allows for fast cycling.

7. Some grades provide very high rigidity and wear resistance for excellent prototype tooling and fixtures.

Tell us a little bit about your molding experience. Do you use aluminum tooling? Do you agree with using aluminum for prototype and low volume tooling? Do you make tools in-house or do you outsource? What reasons would you not machine aluminum tooling for your silicone prototypes? Do you have a bias against aluminum tooling and why?

Albright Technologies will machine your molds in-house and modify them if needed in just a few days! We will turn your silicone designs from model to parts in 15 business days or less! Get a quote from Albright Today. Select the World’s Rapid Source for Silicone Molded Parts by visiting our RFQ page or calling our Sales Department at 978.466.5870.

The post 7 Reasons to Mold Silicone with Aluminum Tooling appeared first on Albright Technologies.

Check out our latest video and take a virtual tour of Albright, while learning about the company’s manufacturing offerings. The video covers many of Albright’s in-house capabilities, including:

• Full silicone material selection from major silicone suppliers: LSR, HCR, RTV, HTV
• Prototyping AND Production
• ISO 13485 certified
• ISO 7 Clean Room, hard-walled. High capacity, HEPA-filtered air-handlers
• Clean Room processes: Material prep, molding, post-processing and inspection
• Implantable parts, both long and short-term applications
• Complex over-molds, especially dissimilar substrates and electronics
• Very large and very small parts: We micromold to sub-mm features
• In-house tooling
• Liquid injection molding
• Compression molding
• Transfer molding

View the video below:

Contact the fastest source for silicone molded parts, by visiting Albright1.com. If you are in need of a quote for silicone parts, stop by our RFQ page.

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Typically, the silicone material is loaded with a certain percentage of BaSO4. The loading percentage will depend on the level of contrast needed for the area of the body being viewed. Another common use of Barium loading has been in clinical trials and finished devices for failure detection and assessment since a part failure may be visible. Many of the major silicone suppliers provide Barium loaded materials today in the two implantable grades of silicone. While it is most common for the unrestricted silicone materials to be loaded, some of the restricted grades are as well.

Barium loading of silicone materials is common for the following applications:

1. Catheters

2. Shunts

3. Stents

4. Toe joints

5. Markers overmolded in silicone to detect and determine placement of devices

Now it is time for some questions for discussion on Barium loading. Have you ever manufactured BaSO4 loaded silicone parts? Did you load and mix the Barium at your company or did you purchase pre-mixed Barium silicone material? What Barium loaded silicone materials did you use?

Albright Technologies can mold your Barium loaded silicone medical devices in our ISO Class 7 hard walled controlled environment room. We can also source Barium loaded silicone material for you. If you need a custom mixed material with a certain percentage of BaSO4, Albright can mix it for you. If you are in need of a quotation for a Barium silicone related project, please visit our RFQ page here.

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