Thermal-Mould™ copper mold materials -- forged high strength copper, beryllium copper and aluminum bronze -- include the industry's largest blocks -- up to 4,000 lbs.-- and the broadest range of shapes, sizes and custom designs. These high-performance plastic mold tooling materials are also available in plate, bar, rounds, disks, rings -- with short lead times of 2 days - 3 weeks.

Thermal-Mould's™ key combined properties of high thermal conductivity and hardness result in substantial economic and production benefits for plastic processing molders and tool makers:  

• Reduced up-front tool design and manufacturing costs 
• Lower production unit costs through reduced cycle times
• More parts made from existing tools in the same time
• Improved dimensional part control

See Thermal-Mould™ Alloys and Properties for detail on mechanical properties.

Nonferrous' Thermal-Mould™ hardened copper alloys have 3 - 10 times the thermal conductivity of tool steels, with significantly higher hardness than aluminum.  

• Thermal-Mould™ 72 (Beryllium Copper C17200) has hardness in the 36 - 42 Rc range, with 4 - 5 times the thermal conductivity of H-13 and P-20 tool steels.
   
• Thermal-Mould™ 180 (C18000) has 8 - 10 times the thermal conductivity of tool steels, as a viable alternative to beryllium copper alloys such as Moldmax  ®.
   
• Thermal-Mould™ 180 should also be considered an alternative to Moldmax XL ®, because of Thermal-Mould's™ superior thermal conductivity and forged vs. cast structure.

These alloys have high corrosive resistance for applications using PVC's and other corrosive plastics.

Click on Alloys & Properties for a comparison of the mechanical properties of mold materials.

Using Thermal-Mould™ copper mold materials as inserts will reduce the need for water lines, thus lowering tool design and machining costs.  Nonferrous' proprietary cross-grain forging and heat treatment processes result in uniform physical properties, excellent polish-ability and improved machining characteristics.

• Forged copper alloys minimize cracking and leaking problems common to cast copper alloy alternatives.

The use of forged copper alloys results in shorter cycle times and uniform heat removal from the plastic part, which, in turn, creates lower unit production costs over the life cycle of the tool and leads to more uniform dimensional parameters for the plastic parts. These advantages are documented by industry data and illustrated in the following graph:

For more on Thermal-Mould™ see Alloys and Properties.