Multi-component injection gets boost from gating technology

Injection moulding with valve gate systems delivers more performance with a specially designed actuator that is part of Incoe’s Soft Gate system.

With valve gate systems, the user can become actively involved in controlling the melt in the mould cavity by deciding which injection point to open when, and for how long. This is how cascade injection moulding came about, with time-delayed opening of the individual injection points to produce very long and large moulded parts free of joint lines.

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But this resulted in a new problem: when the nozzles opened later, the accumulated pressure discharged dramatically into the mould cavity, causing various forms of surface blemishes. A major reason for these problems with valve gate technology comes from the abrupt way in which the valve pin opens: the entire flow cross-section is released in just fractions of a second, and the pressurised melt explosively shoots from the nozzle into the mould cavity.