Waterborne Electrostatics Unstick Mold Release Challenge

CUSTOMER: Automotive acoustics company

GRACO EQUIPMENT: HydroShield Batch Waterborne System, ProXp60 WB Air Spray Gun

CHALLENGE: Applying mold release can be a tricky process. One of world’s most respected leaders in sound proofing technology for automobiles had trouble perfecting it.

In injection molding, a mold release is used to make sure the part doesn’t stick to the mold. The material must be applied at a consistent mil thickness and coverage to avoid defects.

• If the mold release is too light in areas, it will cause the molded part to stick to the mold.
• If the mold release is applied too heavily, it will bond to the molded part and leave a residue.

The production line produced carpet designed to minimize noise through vehicle floorboards. To make sure the carpeting didn’t stick to the mold, they manually applied a waterborne material with a conventional spray gun. Transfer efficiency limitations caused a few problems:

• Inconsistent thickness of material applied led to inconsistent molding results.
• High overspray led to wasted material and a hazardous work environment, because most of the slippery material ended up on the floor.

SOLUTION: To increase transfer efficiency, the production manager knew they needed to upgrade to electrostatics. They also needed to connect any new waterborne electrostatic spraying equipment directly to their existing fluid supply system.

Their Graco account representative recommended pairing a ProXp60 WB Air Spray Gun with the HydroShield Batch Waterborne System.

• The manual electrostatic spray gun is built specifically for the nuances of spraying water-based mold release materials.
• The waterborne isolation cabinet could connect directly to their fluid supply without taking up extra space.

RESULTS: The HydroShield Batch Waterborne System easily integrated into their existing fluid supply. The electrostatic waterborne solution quickly proved its value in these ways:

• More consistent coverage and thickness of material, providing higher quality molded parts with lower defect rates
• Drastically reduced overspray, meaning less material usage and costs

With more material evenly applied to the mold instead of the air and the floor, the overall production environment became safer and less hazardous.