Thermoforming Process

Thermoforming
• Process used to shape thermoplastic
sheet into discrete parts
• Basic principles
– Heat a thermoplastic sheet until it softens
– Force the hot and pliable material against the
contours of a mold by using either
mechanical, air or vacuum pressure
– Held against mold and allow to cool, and
plastics retains its shape
• Thermoforming process is differed from other
plastic processing because the material is not
melted, lower pressures are required to
thermoform (the mold materials is less sturdy
materials compared to other processings)
• Disadvantage; generates greater amount of
scrap, cost of the sheet materials is raised
(because of separate sheet-forming step),
limited design parts (parts with sharp bends and
corners are difficult to be produced), process
results in internal stresses
 Summary of advantages &
disadvantages of thermoforming process
 Forming Process
• The techniques of forming process can be
grouped into several types;
– Fundamental Vacuum forming
– Pressure forming
– Plug-assist forming
– Reverse draw forming
– Free forming
– Matched-die forming, etc
 Forming Process: Fundamental
Vacuum forming
• The term ‘Fundamental’ is used to
emphasize that this is the simplest method
of vacuum forming

• Glossary: Sag point- the condition

(temperature, time, thickness, etc) at
which a sheet begins to sag inside the
thermoforming oven
Forming Process: Fundamental
Vacuum forming
• The material is
clamped into a frame
• Material is heated,
begin to sag, the
center of materials
moves downward and
seal against the mold
• Vacuum is applied to
the back of the mold
(outside pressure of
the air pushes the
plastic against the
mold)
• Uneven wall thicknesses are observed in
this technique
• As the sheet touch the mold, the thickness
at the location become fixed, further
stretching occur in the area that have not
yet touched the mold, typically at he
corner.
• Therefore the thinnest area occur at the
corner, near the clamp
Forming Process: Pressure forming
• Positive air
pressure from
the top of the
plastic used to
force the
materials
against the
mold
 Pressure forming
• Methods
– The materials is clamped and heated
– Softening sheet is transferred to the mold
area and the seal is made
– Air pressure is introduced and force the
plastic against the mold
– The pressure is applied quickly to prevent the
sheet from cooling
 Pressure forming
• Advantages;
– Mold cycle can be faster than fundamental
vacuum forming
– Sheet can be formed at lower temperature,
because the forcing pressure is high
– Greater dimensional control
 Plug-Assist Forming
• In this system, a plug is used to force the
material into the mold
• Generally the plug will not pushed the
material completely into the mold, then a
vacuum is applied to draw the materials
against the cavity walls
• Instead a vacuum, air pressure could be
used to force the parts against the walls
Plug-Assist Forming

new thermoplastic composite material

that can be used to make thermoforming
plug assists, it displays tremendous
dimensional stability and low thermal
conductivity. Designed to replace
Syntactic foam, machined aluminum
and wood for plug assists.
 Plug-Assist Forming
• Better wall thickness uniformity than
obtained from vacuum and pressure
forming
• Plugs can be made of metal, wood or
thermoset materials
• The plug should be 10% to 20% smaller in
length and width than the female cavity
 Reverse draw forming
• Is used when very deep draws are needed
• In this technique, the material is heated to the
sag point, and then blown away from the mold
• The purpose of blowing is to thin the material in
the center of the sheet
• The size of the bubble is controlled by an electric
eye. When the buble reachest the correct size,
the pressure is topped and the plug press the
material to the mold
• The vacuum is activated through the mold to
draw the plastic against the mold wall
(a) Reverse draw step to (b) plug-assist and vacuum
Pre-stretch the material Forming step
Reverse draw forming: Plug assist
air slip forming
 Free forming
• The forming is done without a mold,
especially those where very high optical
quality is required
• Touching the mold can result in
undesirable changes in the surface quality
of the part
• Complexity of shapes of parts is limited
• Often used for canopies
 Free forming
• The part is expanded
with air pressure
• The size of the bubble
is monitored by an
electrical eye
• When the bubble
reach the desired
shape, air pressure is
reduced to a level that
maintains the size
while the part cools
 Matched die forming
• Some parts with very complicated shapes,
can best be formed if both plug and cavity
mold are used together
• These mold must be matched so that it
can be fit together
 Matched die forming
• Material is heated to the
sag point, and then
transferred to the molding
station, where the plug and
cavity molds are brought
together to squeeze the
material
• No vacuum or air pressure
is applied during the
forming process
• Material is mechanically
pressed into the shape
defined by matched molds,
and allow to cool while the
mold continue to press
against it
 Thermoforming Machine
• Not as complicated or costly as other plastic
processing machine that melt the plastic
materials
• Element of the machine; heating chamber or
oven, method for removing the material from the
oven, and locating it so that the sheet and the
mold can be brought into airtight contact
• Machine can be single-mold batch system or
continuous, highly automated machine
 Single-station thermoforming
machine
• Heating the
sheet
• Clamping the
sheet
• Moving the sheet
and mold into
proper
relationship for
forming, a
vacuum or
pressure system
 Critical operation parameters
• The most important sheet property is thickness
(variation in thickness over the sheet should be
kept under 5%)
• Uniformity from sheet to sheet is desired, so that
the processing parameter can be kept constant,
i.e. melt index, if one sheet has a lower melt
index than another, the amount of heat to
achieve the same formation will be higher than
in the sheet with lower melt index
• Other variables that might change from sheet to
sheet are density, molecular orientation, etc
 Critical operation parameters
• Key parameters during the forming
operations;
– Speed of vacuum application- vacuum should
be applied as quickly as possible
– Temperature of the mold- the mold is normally
at room temperature, or temperature below
solidification point of the plastic
– Size of the bubble
– Plug size
 Male and Female mold
• Female mold- a mold in which the part is pressed into a
cavity
 Draw ratio
• Is used to estimate the amount of wall
thickness variation that might occur
• High draw ratio result in excessive thinning
and wall nonuniformities

• Draw ratio = depth of part / width of part

 Area ratio
• Give some approximation of the amount of thinning that
will be experienced by the plastic sheet when it is
transformed

• Area ratio = area of the sheet before forming

area of the part after forming
• If the sheet is 200 cm2, and will be thermoformed into a
part that has total area of 400cm2, the area ratio is 1:2
• Area ratio x desired thickness of finished part = minimum
original thickness (thickness of the blank)
• The overall average thickness of the part will therefore
be one-half of original thickness
• The area ratio is often used to calculate the size of the
unformed sheet that must be used to make a particular
part
• Determine the thickness of the blank for
fundamental vacuum thermoforming, assuming
that the thickness of the finished part is uniform.
The finished dimensions of the part to be made
is 60 x 50 x 5 cm prepared by 2mm thick blank.
Consider the allowance for clamping and mold
clearance = 2 cm on each side
1. Dimension of blank (with allowance)= 64 x 54 cm
2. Calculate surface are of the part
50 x 60 x 1 side = 3000 cm2
50 x 5 x 2 sides = 500 cm2
60 x 5 x 21 sides = 600 cm2
Total area of finished part = 4100 cm2
3. Thermoforming area of the blank= 60 x 50
= 3000 cm2
4. Area ratio = 3000/4100
5. Thickness of the blank
= 2 mm/0.7317 = 2.73 mm