Thermoforming has been in practice for a very long time and has been successful in making the business world completely transformative. Right from designing car interior parts, food packaging trays, Hollywood costumes, medical equipment, to space exploration, thermoforming has assisted in developing varied applications. However, with the limitless possibilities of its production methods, it has a number of applications in each and every industry.
Likely, ‘vacuum forming’ is one of the parts of the thermoforming family and serves a number of industries with some of its extravagant features. Vacuum forming is widely used for creating a wide range of applications and FORMECH has emerged as the most trusted brand that delivers top-notch thermoforming machines.
In this, we will see how vacuum forming can produce incredible applications.
What is Vacuum Forming?
Vacuum forming is the simple process in which heat is applied to a plastic sheet that softens and before it gets draped over a mold. Then, a strong vacuum or air suction is given from below of the sheet that attracts soft plastic over the mold and gets its required shape. Once the sheet is cooled, the mold can be easily removed which will leave a perfectly formed plastic component as per your choice.
It is a very simple process which is quite effective, easy, fast and popular!
A Little About Vacuum Forming Process
- Clamping
Here, the clamp needs to be powerful that will ensure the plastic sheet is confidently grasped in the forming process.
- Heating
This process helps to gain the best vacuum forming results irrespective of the materials used. But again the essential results it is mandatory that the sheet is heated equally over the entire surface area and throughout the thickness as well. Here the clamped material is heated.
- Auto-Level/ Sheet Level (Depends on Machine type)
Here a photoelectric beam is activated below the thermoforming plastic sheet during the heating cycle. In this case, if the plastic sheet sags down and the beam breaks, a little amount of air is inserted into the bottom chamber under the shade that will lift the sheet from sagging till the beam is cleared by the sheet.
- Prestretch
Once the plastic has attained its forming temperature it can be easily stretched which will assure uniform wall thickness whenever the vacuum is applied.
- Vacuum
Here a vacuum is applied to the material in order to form the sheet. This process is usually used to draw the air stuck in between the mold and the sheet.
- Plug Assist (Available on HD & TF Series)
Plug-assisted vacuum forming is rarely used whenever a straight vacuum forming fails to spread the thermoplastic sheet uniformly in all the required areas of the mold.
- Cooling & Release
Before being released the plastic should be allowed to cool down once it gets formed.
- Trimming & Finishing
In this process, unnecessary parts get removed from the machine as the formed part has been cooled. However slots cutouts holes are then drilled into this part that is responsible for the printing decoration reinforcing strengthening and assembly part.
With the help of these different cycles, a wide gamut of challenging applications can be produced and businesses can easily attract their customers to grow the business.
Varied Applications
Formech, the world-class manufacturer of vacuum forming machines, serve below mentioned challenging industries and applications-
- Aeronautical manufacturers
- Architectural model makers
- Automotive and vehicular industry
- Building and construction industry
- Chocolate industry
- Computer and design industry
- Education industry
- Electronics industry
- Hospitals and medical applications
- Film and media industry
- Toy and sports industry
- Packaging and related industries
and much more…
If you are in search of an excellent vacuum forming machine then opt for nothing else than FORMECH. Get FORMECH vacuum forming machines from Arrow Digital Pvt. Ltd which is the top-notch supplier of a number of branded printing machines and their substrates. They are the top thermoforming machines suppliers in India.