INJECTION MOLD P4 3 Types of Presses
Presses used for compression and transfer molding of thermosets can be of many shapes and designs, but they can be broadly classified as hand, mechanical, or hydraulic types. Hand presses have relatively lower capacity, ranging from 10 to 100 tons, whereas hydraulic presses have considerably higher capacity (500 tons). Hydraulic presses may be of the upstroke or downstroke varieties. In the simple upstroke press, pressure can be applied fairly quickly, but the return is slow. In the downstroke press fitted with a prefilling tank, this disadvantage of the upstroke press is removed, and a higher pressure is maintained by prefilling with liquid from a tank.
The basic principles of hydraulics are used in the presses.Water or oil is used as the main fluid.Water is cheap but rusts moving parts. Oil is more expensive but it does not corrode and it does lubricate moving parts. The main disadvantage of oil is that it tends to form sludge due to oxidation with air.
The drive for the presses is provided by single pumps or by central pumping stations, and accumulators are used for storing energy to meet instantaneous pressure demand in excess of the pump delivery. The usual accumulator consists of a single-acting plunger working in a cylinder. The two main types of accumulators used are the weight-loaded type and the air-loaded type. The weight-loaded type is heavy and therefore not very portable. There is also an initial pressure surge on opening the valve. The pressure-surge problem is overcome in the air- or gas (nitrogen)-loaded accumulator. This type is more portable but suffers a small pressure loss during the molding cycle.
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