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THERMOFORMING: Plug-Assist Tools & Techniques

From: Plastics Technology
Issue: January 2012

CMT Materials Inc., Attleboro, Mass., will debut technologies that thermoformers can use to reduce sheet thickness when forming heavy-gauge materials at the NPE 2012 show in Orlando. The company will show new ways to reduce machining and processing time for its Hytac line of syntactic foam plug-assist materials.

Also featured will be CMT’s newly reformulated Hyvac fixture material for rapid, low-cost production of vacuum hold-down trim fixtures. To reduce machining and processing time for Hytac syntactic foam, the company will show new developments in tool geometries, plus corresponding feed, speed, and depth-of-cut details to ensure long tool life and high-quality surface finish straight from the machining center. CMT also will demonstrate use of its Hyvac material to create a quick and easy hold-down fixture for trimming and QC inspection simply by using an existing formed part as a casting mold.