Mold injection system and methods to prevent superficial melt and color bleed of multi-stack polymeric designs
AssigneeValeo Vision
InventorThomas THIBAUDEAU
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention relates to the prevention and formation control of visible defects within multi-color and light-transmissive polymeric structures manufactured through multi-shot mold injection processes. The system and method can be applied to fabricate multi-layer light-transmissive products that control and eliminate visible or conspicuous defects and thus enhance the aesthetics of the associated structures such that visible defects or molded-in imperfections are effectively eliminated or not discernable to a casual observer.
Claims20
A system associated with a multi-shot polymeric injection process that prevents superficial melt between deposited interfacial color layers during fabrication of a mold product, comprising:
- a mold that is configured to retain a number of polymeric inserts within the mold tool;
- a number of injectors within the mold that are configured to deposit polymeric material, where a portion of said injectors are configured to deposit a base layer with said polymeric inserts;
- where another portion of said injectors are configured to deposit an overlay stack of at least semi-transparent plastic such that an encapsulation region occurs of the base layer with said polymeric inserts and the overlay stack;
- where the polymeric inserts are adapted to avoid remelt or color-mixing between adjoining interfaces with the base layer and the overlay stack of the mold product.
A method to prevent remelt along interfacial layers of a mold product during multi-injection operations of fabricating at least a semi-transparent structure, comprising:
- presenting a mold that retains a number of polymeric inserts within the mold;
- depositing a base layer of a non-transparent plastic that overlaps said polymeric inserts from a number of injector ports within the mold;
- depositing an overlay stack over the base layer with said polymeric inserts, such that the polymeric inserts form a barrier between the interfacial plies of the base layer and the overlay stack are configured to prevent the appearance of aberration defects in the mold product or prevent superficial melting at interfaces with the base layer and the overlay stack or configured to avoid color bleed at interfaces deposited by said injectors of the mold product.
A polymeric product, comprising:
- a base layer with an interface surface;
- an overlay stack with the overlay stack being in contact with a portion of the interface surface;
- a number of polymeric inserts positioned between the interface surface and the overlay stack where said polymeric inserts are configured to prevent melting of the base layer when the overlay stack is fabricated for the polymeric product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.