Albright TechnologiesIntroduction
Albright Technologies is pleased to offer liquid silicone rubber injection molding solutions. We manufacture injection molding tools in-house to provide you with rapid silicone prototypes and low-volume production parts as the design progresses. Once your injection molding tools are completed, we will provide you with engineering samples. After the engineering samples are accepted, then it is time for silicone production molding to commence.
Albright is here to guide you from prototyping to high production molding of silicone part designs. We will partner with you through the initial part designs to final prototype to low-volume production molding as your operation ramps up. Once your silicone part requires high-volume production molding, we can move you on to a high-volume silicone molder that we have partnered with located in the United States. Depending on your parts application (medical, consumer, etc.) will determine which of these high-volume molders is a good fit for your product.
We provide controlled environment room (ISO Class 7) injection molding services on our Arburg and Engel silicone injection molding presses. This provides our medical and pharmaceutical customers with low-volume production molding of their medical devices. We can injection mold orders from 10 to 100,000 parts using these injection presses. Contact us today if you are ready to move your low-volume injection molded liquid silicone rubber parts to Albright Technologies at 978.466.5870 or via email. We can review your new or current part designs via our RFQ form. If you “needed a quote yesterday” for silicone injection molded parts, contact Christi or Ryan right now at 978.466.5870.
Setup Fees
When selecting a liquid silicone rubber injection molder, it is an industry standard to charge a setup fee. Like other silicone injection molders, Albright charges its injection molded parts customers a setup fee. The setup fee covers costs including mixing of material, cleaning the mold, and setting the mold in the injection press. In addition, one of our project engineers will change processing parameters until the molded parts are acceptable by quality controls’ standards. Beyond this, the setup fee covers the cost of cleaning the injection molding press, which requires all residual silicone to be cleaned from the barrel, lines and nozzle. The setup fee covers easily a day or more of intensive labor and engineering time. The silicone injection molding setup fee is dependent on which injection molding press is used. We will determine which of our presses should be used, based on the part size and the amount of cavities required.
Injection Press Specifications
Arburg Horizontally Injected, Vertical Molding Press
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Shot size: 9g
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Clamping pressure: 125 kN (12.5 Tons)
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Controlled Environment Room Silicone Injection Molding
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Note: This injection press is suitable for small and micro parts and for overmolding due to vertical clamping
Boy Horizontal Injection Molding Press
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Shot size: 150g
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Clamping pressure: 500 kN (50 Tons)
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Production Floor Silicone Injection Molding
Engel Horizontal Injection Molding Press
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Shot size: 50g
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Clamping pressure: 600 kN (60 Tons)
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Controlled Environment Room Silicone Injection Molding
Liquid Silicone Injection Molding Process
Albright’s liquid silicone injection molding machines range from 12.5 to 60 tons clamping force with a shot size ranging from 9 to 150 grams. Our liquid silicone rubber injection molding machines appear to look just like thermoplastic injection molding machines. Both types of presses use the same basic machine parts, clamp unit, and injection unit.
The clamp unit is identical for liquid silicone rubber and thermoplastic machines. They typically have a hydraulic ram and may have a hydraulic toggle. Some presses are designed with an electric ram with toggle. Unlike the high pressures used to mold thermoplastic parts, liquid silicone injection pressure is in the range of 800 PSI. The purpose of the clamp is to contain the expansion force of the silicone material, by keeping the mold closed as the silicone cures.
The injection unit for liquid silicone runs cool with a water cooled barrel and nozzle to prevent the liquid silicone from curing. Thermoplastic injection units run the opposite way, they need the barrel and nozzle to be heated to 300F or more to keep the material moving. Liquid injection molding units also run at lower pressures (under 1,000 PSI), while their thermoplastic counterparts run at tens of thousands of PSI.
Liquid silicone is typically provided in 5 gallon pail or 55 gallon drums. There is a part A and Part B. Colorants come in the form of dispersions and are normally 1-3% by weight of mixed silicone. The silicone dousing unit pumps one part A silicone and one part B silicone via separate hoses to the static mixer. In addition, color is pumped to the static mixer via another hose. The mixed components are then fed into the throat of the injection molding barrel by way of a shut-off valve.
Once the silicone material is inside the barrel, a shot of the cool mixed silicone advances to the mold as the nozzle seals firmly against the mold. The nozzle shut-off valve opens and a measured shot of cool liquid silicone is injected into a hot (275F to 390F) clamped mold. Then the nozzle shut-off valve opens and the barrel retracts from the mold, while the screw begins to build another measured shot of cold liquid silicone.
After the silicone vulcanizes in the heated mold, the clamp will open and parts are then manually removed or automatically ejected. Cycle times for liquid silicone molded parts are often similar to their thermoplastic counterparts.
As the production molding run comes to a close, the injection press must be readied for a new material for a different part design. It is not acceptable to purge out the system with the new silicone, which will result in the new parts having the last production runs’ silicone in them. Therefore, everything must be cleaned out, which can easily take a day to clean, depending on which injection molding press is used.
