What Is The Basic Process Of Plastic Thermoforming?
The basic process of thermoforming is: sheet clamping, heating, forming, cooling and demoulding. Among them, molding is the most important and complicated. Most of the thermoforming is carried out on a molding machine, which varies greatly depending on the thermoforming method. It is not necessary to complete the above five processes for various molding machines, and it is possible to make trade-offs according to actual production needs. The maximum size and maximum forming depth of the clamping device are usually used as the main parameters of the thermoforming machine.
(1) Clamping of materials. When the material is held by thermoforming, when a plastic sheet (sheet) cut into a certain size is used, in order to prevent heat shrinkage and self-weight sagging, the sheet is held around the sheet to maintain the shape of the strip.
(2) Heating. The heating system heats the plate (sheet) at a predetermined temperature to a temperature required for molding, so that the material becomes a highly elastic state, and the smoothness of the next molding process is ensured.
(3) Forming. The process of molding the heat-softened sheet (sheet) into a desired shape by means of a mold and associated equipment.
(4) Cooling system. The substantially shaped plastic product having a certain temperature is cooled below the heat distortion temperature to cool and solidify the product, and after being released from the mold by the demolding device, the size is fixed and the product is not deformed.