Thermoform vacuum

Film Processing Methods Fluorinated ethylene-propylene resins are processed by conventional melt-extrusion techniques. Films may be thermoformed, vacuum-formed, heat-sealed, heat-bonded, welded, metallized, or laminated. 

Processing methods extrusion, injection molding, blow molding, thermoforming, vacuum forming... 

Thermoforming vacuum forming, pressure forming Other processes... 

The main stream of wood fiber PP composites is short fiber reinforced, suitable for typical thermoplastic processing. The main steps of this technology are (1) pre-mixing, (2) plastic transformation of the melt (typically sheet extrusion), and (3) thermoforming (vacuum- or pressureforming) of the sheet. 

Nylon films are used in lamination or coated form to ensure heat sealabiHty and enhance barrier properties. The largest uses are as thermoforming webs for twin-web processed meat and cheese packagiag under vacuum or in an inert atmosphere. Other uses include bags for red meat, boil-ia-bags, bag-in-box for wine, and as the outer protective layer for aluminum foil in cookie and vacuum coffee packages. 

Thermoforming includes the extmsion of sheets, thicker than 0.25 mm, followed by forming a reheated sheet in an open-face mold by pressure, vacuum, or both. Sheet of less than 0.25 mm thick is therm oformed in-line, and filled and sealed with contents such as processed meats, cheeses, and pastas. 

Thermoforming of extmded sheet is achieved by warming the sheet to its glass-transition poiat and coUapsiag it over a mold shape (21). The coUapse can be effected by vacuum suction or pressures appHed on the sheet above the mold. This technique is used to make trays and profiled advertisiag signs. Both single- and multilayer sheets can be used. 

The term thermoforming incoroporates a wide range of possibilities for sheet forming but basically there are two sub-divisions - vacuum forming and pressure forming. 

A variation of thermoforming which does not involve gas pressure or vacuum is matched die forming. The concept is very simple and is illustrated in Fig. 4.53. The plastic sheet is heated as described previously and is then sandwiched between two halves of a mould. Very precise detail can be reproduced using this thermoforming method but the moulds need to be more robust than for the more conventional process involving gas pressure or vacuum. 

The chassis is made from a 1/4 in. sheet of either ABS or TPO vacuum formed into a tub and reinforced with reinforced pultruded glass fiber-TS polyester plastic tubing. The hood and other products are being made from a 20 mm thick sandwich of thermo-formed PPO-alloy skins, glass fabric infused with thermosetting vinyl ester, and a urethane foam core. The bumper and front fascia is thermoformed from a polyolefin elastomer sheet with an UV-resistant cap layer of DuPont s Tediar PVF film. The dash and... 

We use plug assisted thermoforming when we wish to make thick-walled products or thin-walled, deep draw products. The principal steps of the process are illustrated in Fig. 16.2. The first two stages are similar to those of vacuum forming. Once the sheet has been clamped, a plug made from a material with low heat conductivity is thrust downwards into the cavity,... 

Food packaging, cups and dairy containers from thermoformed sheets, vacuum-formed packages... 

FIGURE 18.14 Steps in plug-assisted vacuum thermoforming. Initially vacuum is applied and the plug is pulled into the sheet pushing it into the mold. Further vacuum pulls the sheet against the walls of the mold. Finally, vacuum is turned off and the plum and formed product removed. 

During the thermoforming process (see Fig. 12), the sheet is heated above the glass transition temperature and below the melting point of the crystalline phase [35]. Afterwards, the hot sheet is formed into a chilled mold using vacuum, pressure and/or mechanical force. After a cooling step, the thermoformed containers are punched out and ejected. The skeleton (30-70% of the total volume) is recycled in the same application (Fig. 12). 

In the thermoforming process, the sheet is heated to slightly above Tm or Tg and is placed in a clamp frame that clamps it along the part perimeter. The deformable sheet is then forced to conform to the shape of a mold by means of vacuum, air or gas pressure, or a plunger. There are thus three distinct categories of thermoforming ... 

We can model the thermoforming process by examining a preheated sheet that is vacuum-formed directly onto the walls of a cavity. The softened sheet undergoes a... 

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