Water Flow Control Valve

Project description:

Silicone Valve Gasket

At Elastomer Technologies we have a reputation for resourcefulness, which we demonstrated during the production of the water flow control valve gasket highlighted here. This component consists of two duck bill valves with a .003″ web of material across their mouths. At issue was the fact that the client had already invested in the tooling, but was experiencing difficulty sourcing a high volume of quality parts. With our strong history for problem-solving, the mold shop that built the tooling suggested to the client that they contact us for a solution.

As built, the mold design was less than optimal for repeatable production of this part, which had complicated features and close tolerance requirements. The part geometry was filled from thick to thin, the cold tip gating was very problematic, and the location of the valve shut-off was too close to the gate. These three issues combined made it very difficult to keep the fill consistent and geometries accurate, especially over a long production run.

Having an all-electric injection molding press equipped with the very latest in control technologies allowed us to define a very narrow processing window. In addition to keeping close control over temperature, pressure, processing, and cooling time, this system features a feedback loop to report processing conditions and automatically make adjustments. This resulted in a high degree of part repeatability.

Molded from 50A and 70A durometer liquid silicone rubber, the part featured dimensions of 1.5″ in length x 0.75″ in width x .250″ in height. Numerous quality checkpoints, including first article inspection, 100% inspection at the molding press, as well as a comprehensive final examination validated we met the ±.003″ tolerance requirements. Our capabilities allowed us to adapt our processes to their existing tooling and achieve exceptionally high yield rates under difficult conditions.

We continue to fulfill orders for this product several times throughout the year. Considering the high volume requirement, our intelligent solution allows us to mold and ship 25,000 to 100,000 units within a narrow three-week timeframe.

To learn more about how our comprehensive portfolio of industrial capabilities can benefit your next project, contact us today.

Silicone Valve Gasket Project Details

Capabilities Applied/Processes

Liquid injection molding of silicone

Equipment Used to Manufacture Part

Toshiba 50 Ton all electric molding press, customers single cavity cold tip equipped mold.

Overall Part Dimensions

1.5″ x 0.75″ x .250″

Tightest Tolerances

±.003

Material Used

50A and 70A liquid silicone rubber

Material Finish

A2

Industry for Use

Medical and consumer

In Process Testing/Inspection Performed

First article, 100% inspection at the molding press for specific geometry requirements, post process inspection.

Volume

25,000-100,000 per order several times a year.

Delivery/Turnaround Time

3 weeks

Delivery Location

Canada