For the slush process the electroforms are heated to production temperature by different processes, and after a short cycle are cooled down to demoulding temperature. Production temperature for PVC processing is approx. 250 °C, demoulding temperature approx. 40 °C. Depending on the production process, the slush tools have a thickness of 2.5 - 5 mm. The nickel tools are made of sulphamate nickel with a hardness of 20 - 25 HRc. Due to the very high heat resistance it can be soldered and welded.

The nickel tools for the spray process consist of an electrodeposited combination of materials. The first layer is hard nickel with a hardness of 42 - 50 HRc. This is followed by layers of sulphamate nickel and hard copper.

The hard nickel layer has the advantage of offering very good electrodeposition in difficult areas. This allows geometries with unfavourable depth and width ratios to be made by electroforming.

Due to the excellent thermal conductivity of copper, the hard copper layer enables rapid and even heating of the tool. In the case of spray tools, where the production temperature is approx. 65 °C, heating tubes are affi xed to the back of the deposited nickel copper system. The tubing is backed with a metallic filled resin mixture. The nickel shell is mounted on a supporting frame. Spray tools used in the Direct Backfoaming Process (DBF) are backed with a special concrete material (Densit). For this purpose the tools are mounted on a base frame which matches the upper part.

Grain structures or patterns stretch during normal vacuum molding. The negative vacuum molding process using porous nickel tools offers an ideal alternative solution to prevent this happening: This process perfectly reproduces grain structures and patterns without distortion. IMG tools are used for the processing of untextured TPO, PVC and other foils, for example in the manufacture of door panels, glove box lids and instrument panels.

Different methods can be applied here:

• Thermoforming + doubling:
  Deep drawing of a film

at simultaneous doubling of a carrier

• Thermoforming + foam backing:
  Deep drawing of a film and separate foam backing in a foaming mold
• Thermoforming + injection molding:
  Deep drawing a film of max. 0.3 mm - 0.6 mm at simultaneous injection molding

The use of nickel with a surface hardness of approximately 45 HRC, which enables it to be cleaned with dry ice, certainly makes our IMG tool impressive. Their service life is approx. 500,000 molding cycles. Special pores formed by electroplating result in excellent vacuum performance.

RIM / ROM Tools are a tool system composed of a grained nickel tool and an upper tool made of steel or aluminium. The nickel tools are made either of hard nickel + sulphamate nickel or hard nickel + sulphamate nickel + copper, according to the customer’s requirements.

Depending on the design, the backs of the electroformed nickel shells are treated mechanically and then fitted into a base frame. The parting lines are then milled mechanically. In this case the thickness of the electroformed tools is approx. 8 - 15 mm.

A more economical solution would be a thinner nickel shell with a thickness of 4 - 6 mm only. A heating system is affixed to the back and the shell fitted into a milled backing. This is followed by backing using a special concrete (Densit). For these tools the parting line is made directly by electroforming.

The laminating tool consists of a nickel shell and a steel substructure. These tools are used to produce CFRP or GFRP components at temperatures of between 130°C and 180°C and pressures of up to 7 bar.

The advantages are excellent temperature behavior in the autoclave, perfect tightness (vacuum bag), not to mention the ability to adjust the geometry (spring-back). Other customer-specific features such as drilling templates, pressure plate, loose parts and positioning elements can also be implemented.

The electroforms for the showface and the backface are fitted to a base frame at the customer’s premises and provided with a temperature control. They are used in the manufacture of composite sinks.