HIGH PERFORMANCE MOLDMAX® ALLOYS FOR PLASTIC INJECTION AND BLOW MOLDING 

The high production demands of the plastics processing industry require high performance tooling materials. Materion’s MoldMAX® alloys meet these demands with a combination of strength, thermal conductivity and good polishability, enabling a shorter cycle time and improved plastic molding part quality. 

Whether your application calls for MoldMAX HH®, MoldMAX LH®, MoldMAX V®, MoldMAX XL® or PROtherm® alloys, this product line provides a combination of attributes not found in other plastic tooling materials. 

MoldMAX alloys are tailored for all types of plastic injection and blow molding applications. With excellent machinability and high impact strength, they enable easy fabrication of molds that stand up to the abrasive wear associated with the plastic injection molding process and they resist galling. They offer the strength and wear resistance tool steels, but with thermal conductivity that is up to ten times greater. 

When used in steel molds, MoldMAX alloys cool hot spots, reducing or eliminating the need for cooling channels. By minimizing the temperature differences of mold parts, MoldMAX alloys provide tighter molded tolerances and less post-mold shrinking or warping.

MoldMAX alloys improve parting line maintenance in the blow molding process and offer longer service life when used for components and inserts in aluminum blow molds. 

Applications | Core and cavity inserts | Sliders and lifters | Hot run tips | Spruce bushings | Core pins | Ejector Sleeve | Pinch offs | Parting line inserts | Neck rings | Full cavities | Preform cores

BENEFITS OF MOLDMAX ALLOYS

MoldMAX offers several benefits, including: 

• Strength and thermal conductivity to improve cycle time and part quality. With a unique combination of strength and thermal conductivity, MoldMAX alloys improve cycle time and part quality, even when used for only selected cores and inserts.
• Faster cycle time and improved part quality. In blow molds, MoldMAX alloys wear better and have improved conductivity and corrosion resistance than aluminum. In pinch-offs and neck rings, they are more conductive than steel, which leads to faster cycle times, less maintenance and improved part quality.
• Excellent Machinability. All MoldMAX alloys are easy to machine, and in conventional machining operations, reduce machining time over tool steel. With high thermal conductivity, MoldMAX alloys are slower to electrical discharge machine than steel but set up can be optimized to minimize this difference.
• Uniform microstructure that resists chipping and pitting. MoldMAX alloys are hot worked to ensure a more uniform microstructure that resists chipping and pitting.
• Corrosion resistance. The copper base in the MoldMAX family of products provides excellent resistance to hydrochloric acid, carbonic acid and similar decomposition products that can result from the plastic injection molding process. As a result, these materials are ideal for applications involving potentially corrosive plastics such as PVC.
• Wear and galling resistance. MoldMAX alloys have exhibited excellent wear resistance as injection mold components and cavity inserts in direct contact with plastic parts. Molds have been used with glass-reinforced polymers and achieved in excess of one million cycles.

Find out more about the design and processing information of this plastic tooling alloy in our MoldMAX® alloys technical papers. 

COMPARE MOLDMAX ALLOYS WITH OTHER PLASTIC TOOLING  

Materion alloys are in bold.
*registered trademark of Constellium
**registered trademark of Arconic Inc.

TYPES OF MOLDMAX ALLOYS 

We offer a variety of MoldMAX alloys to meet the high production demands of the plastic processing industry. 

• MoldMAX HH Alloy is a premium plastics alloy with hardness and strength comparable to standard tool steels, but its thermal conductivity is four to six times higher. Its high hardness provides durability in applications where other high conductivity copper alloys fail. Download our MoldMAX HH alloy data sheet.
• MoldMAX LH Alloy is another premium copper beryllium plastic tooling and moldmaking alloy. It provides hardness and strength comparable to standard AISI P-20 tool steel, but with a thermal conductivity that is five times higher. Download our MoldMAX LH alloy data sheet.
• MoldMAX VAlloy is a high conductivity, moderately high strength, copper-nickel-silicon-chromium alloy that is commonly used for injection mold cores and cavities. MoldMAX V alloy is available in rounds and plate. Download our MoldMAX V alloy data sheet.
• MoldMAX XL Alloy is a high strength copper-nickel-tin mold alloy with good thermal conductivity. Its hardness is comparable with AISI P-20 tool steel, but its thermal conductivity is two to three times higher. Download our MoldMAX XL alloy data sheet.
• PROthermAlloy is a high conductivity copper beryllium alloy with good strength. It has the highest conductivity of any alloy with tensile strength in excess of 100,000 psi. It is commonly used for injection mold cores, blow mold cavities and hot runners. Download our PROtherm alloy data sheet.
• WeldPak and WeldPak XL copper beryllium is used as filler metal for TIG (GTAW) weld repair of copper beryllium, PROtherm alloy and the MoldMAX family of alloys. It is commonly used to repair cracks or to build up worn surfaces. WeldPak meets UNS C17200. WeldPak XL is used as filler metal for TIG (GTAW) weld repair of MoldMAX XL alloy. It is also used for repairing cracks or building up worn surfaces. WeldPak XL meets UNS C72900.

MoldMAX alloy is available in rounds, square and rectangular bars, plate and forged rings. 

Please be advised that ToughMet® 2 CX90 Alloy is not recommended for use in plastic injection mold tooling where glossy or semi-glossy surface finishes are required.  Consider using MoldMAX® XL material instead.

MOLDMAX V IMPROVES AUTOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE 

In addition, MoldMAX V alloy has been used for many years by race teams in Formula 1, Le Mans, NASCAR, MotoGP and other racing classes to improve performance on the track. By changing out the materials used to make engine components such as valve seats and guides to MoldMAX V alloy, race teams have kept their engines running at optimum efficiency longer. We have optimized MoldMAX V alloy specifically for automotive applications and renamed it PerforMet® alloy. Learn more.

WORK WITH AN AUTHORIZED MOLDMAX DISTRIBUTOR 

Contact an authorized MoldMAX alloy North American distributor or in your area or a MoldMAX alloy international distributor for additional information about the MoldMAX plastic tooling alloys product line.

For technical information, talk with our engineers.