Hussin Radhwan, Sharif Safian, Nabiałek Marcin, Zamree Abd Rahim Shayfull, Khushairi Mohd Tanwyn Mohd, Suhaimi Mohd Azlan, Abdullah Mohd Mustafa Al Bakri, Hanid Mohd Hazwan Mohd, Wysłocki Jerzy J, Błoch Katarzyna
School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknology Malaysia, Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia.
Center of Excellence Geopolymer and Green Technology (CEGeoGTech), Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Perlis 01000, Malaysia.
Materials (Basel). 2021 Feb 1;14(3):665. doi: 10.3390/ma14030665.
The mold-making industry is currently facing several challenges, including new competitors in the market as well as the increasing demand for a low volume of precision moldings. The purpose of this research is to appraise a new formulation of Metal Epoxy Composite (MEC) materials as a mold insert. The fabrication of mold inserts using MEC provided commercial opportunities and an alternative rapid tooling method for injection molding application. It is hypothesized that the addition of filler particles such as brass and copper powders would be able to further increase mold performance such as compression strength and thermal properties, which are essential in the production of plastic parts for the new product development. This study involved four phases, which are epoxy matrix design, material properties characterization, mold design, and finally the fabrication of the mold insert. Epoxy resins filled with brass (EB) and copper (EC) powders were mixed separately into 10 wt% until 30 wt% of the mass composition ratio. Control factors such as degassing time, curing temperature, and mixing time to increase physical and mechanical properties were optimized using the Response Surface Method (RSM). The study provided optimum parameters for mixing epoxy resin with fillers, where the degassing time was found to be the critical factor with 35.91%, followed by curing temperature with 3.53% and mixing time with 2.08%. The mold inserts were fabricated for EB and EC at 30 wt% based on the optimization outcome from RSM and statistical ANOVA results. It was also revealed that the EC mold insert offers better cycle time compared to EB mold insert material.
模具制造行业目前正面临着诸多挑战，包括市场上出现的新竞争对手以及对小批量精密模塑件需求的不断增加。本研究的目的是评估一种新型金属环氧复合材料（MEC）作为模具镶件的性能。使用MEC制造模具镶件为商业应用提供了机会，并为注塑成型应用提供了一种替代的快速成型方法。据推测，添加诸如黄铜和铜粉等填充颗粒将能够进一步提高模具性能，如压缩强度和热性能，这在新产品开发的塑料零件生产中至关重要。本研究包括四个阶段，即环氧基体设计、材料性能表征、模具设计，最后是模具镶件的制造。分别将填充有黄铜（EB）和铜（EC）粉末的环氧树脂按质量组成比混合至10 wt% 直至30 wt%。使用响应面法（RSM）优化了脱气时间、固化温度和混合时间等控制因素，以提高物理和机械性能。该研究提供了将环氧树脂与填料混合的最佳参数，其中脱气时间被发现是关键因素，占35.91%，其次是固化温度，占3.53%，混合时间占2.08%。根据RSM的优化结果和统计方差分析结果，制备了30 wt% 的EB和EC模具镶件。研究还表明，与EB模具镶件材料相比，EC模具镶件具有更好的循环时间。
