Silky surfaces with Rapid Heat Cycle Moulding
Rapid Heat Cycle Moulding, RHCM, is a technology used widely for making high-gloss LCD TV frames. We at Lite-On Mobile have completed successful studies and are now ready to add RHCM to our capabilities. Plastic parts manufactured with RHCM have no visible weld lines and the surface is smooth and glossy.
LOM has concentrated on electrical heating technologies because of the cycle time benefits compared to competing technologies that use steam or hot water. RHCM uses elevated mould temperatures during the polymer injection phase, followed by rapid cooling to produce a high-gloss finish.
There are two ways to heat the tool surface: resistive and induction heating. In resistive heating there are heating elements in the tool, whereas in induction heating copper inductors take care of converting electrical energy into hot tool steel. These competing technologies have been tested and can be used in production by LOM. Resistive heating is better suited to smaller volume projects because the technology has lower IPR costs. Induction heating provides faster cycle times but comes with higher IPR costs.
RHCM is best suited to normal cover plastic materials like Cycoloy and Lexan, both colored and transparent with or without glass fibers. The advantages of using RHCM include not only the visual quality of the plastic surface, but also thinner wall thickness and better filling of micro structures on the tool surface. The biggest improvements can be seen in the surface quality of glass-fiber-filled plastics.
Additional information on these RHCM solutions from kimmo.kalevi.turunen(at)liteonmobile.com