1. Selection of tooling material: NewMat elastomers are environmentally-friendly materials with no chemical corrosion. Ordinary tooling steel or beryllium copper alloy can be used as tooling material. If the high transparency is required for finished products, stainless steel is recommended.

2. Runner Design:

A. Sprue: The sprue should be as short as possible with a draft angle of at least 30 degrees, polished to the direction of demolding. A cold slag added at the bottom of the runner and a design of undercut will facilitate the release of the part, otherwise it will likely cause mold sticking or a breakage of sprue.

B. The Shape and Arrangement of Runners: circular cross sections are the best runner shape.  Runners should be arranged evenly. Cold slags and ventilation should be added at runner ends to guarantee an even plastic flow. There are a few options in tooling design.  The first option: each cavity hosts the same product. Second option: parts with similar shape, size, and wall thickness may be placed in the same mold.  Third option: each part of the same figurine is placed in one mold. The third option is most challenging in terms of quality control and should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

3. Gate Design:

A. Position: The gate should not face the cavity position where high thickness and high volume parts will be formed. This will likely produce flow marks and spray marks and other injection flaws. The gate should be placed very close to the side of the cavity wall. Specifically: plastic should be injected into the paws of animal figurines. Injecting plastic through two or more gates is not recommended.

B. Shape of gate: The gate should ideally adopt a circular cross-section with a diameter of at least 2mm. Rectangular cross-sections are also acceptable, and should be at least 2x2mm. The thicker the figurine, the bigger the gate; Point gates are not recommended as they are prone to cause flow marks and spray marks.

<p>4. Mold Venting: Runner ends should have venting design.  Trapped gas in the product should be released by venting. The depth of the venting grooves should be between 0.015-0.03mm.  

5. Mold Cooling: The mold must have sufficient cooling channels. Cooling channels must be able to reach the mold core. If done on a template, the cooling effect will be poor. Cooling must be near the nozzle, otherwise there may be breakage near the gate.

6. Selecting Ratio of Mold Shrinkage: The shrinkage rates vary with different TPR grades and hardness. They differ greatly and the range is very wide. For specific shrinkage rates, refer to the specifications of the TPR product.

Injection Guidelines

1. Selection of Injection Molding Machine: The pressure of each injection should be at 30%-80% of the machine capability.  Injection machines with high pressure should not used for low pressure molding. The best choice is to choose a machine with a multi-speed control system.

2. Drying: under normal circumstances, injection do not require drying. If the resin has been placed in a humid environment for medium to long-term storage, it should be dried at 60℃ for 2-3 hours.

3. Clamping Force: 1.5-3 tons/sq. in.<p/>

4. Hopper Temperature Setting: General Principle: The greater the resin hardness, the higher the temperature.

Hardness below 70A: (Actual material temperature 180℃- 190℃)

Hardness above 70A: (Actual material temperature 200℃ - 220℃)

5. Injection Tuning Parameters: (Speed, positioning and timing are of utmost importance)

A. Stage One Speed: Can be a little faster; fill all runners; can inject resin into the gates of the entire mold cavity; generally at a speed of 10-50%.

B. Stage Two Speed: Can be a little slower; fill to 1/5-1/3 of the product, for thick figurines, the plastic striker should be spherical rather than a spiral or complex shape. Generally use a speed of 5-30%.

C. Stage Three Speed: A slightly faster speed to fill the mold cavity, generally at a speed of 30-50%. Use plastic injection for packing or the packing function of the injection machine for packing.<p/>

D. Injection pressure: the injection or packing pressure should not be too high, only provide sufficient pressure to fill the cavity; otherwise too high pressure will cause demolding problem and thus deformation. It is not advisable to increase pressure in addressing the issues of watermarks or gas lines.

E. Injection time: generally speaking, 15-30 seconds injection time and 25-35 seconds cooling time for thick figurines.<p/>

F. Melting speed: a high-speed melt is recommended to improve flowability. Control it between 50%-90%. Back pressure should be appropriate and not too high; plastic pumping should not be too large. The buffer layer should about 10-30mm, not too large.

6. Machine water is generally used for mold cooling. Mold temperature is controlled at about 20-45℃. Cold water may be used for cooling when necessary. Overly-high molding temperatures will lead to a long cycle time and lower productivity.

7. Runner Reused: Recommend the limit of about 20% although some customers may accept up to 50% of runner material.  Follow quality requirements.

8. Color matching: For SBS materials, polystyrene based carrier is recommended. For harder SEBS composites, low density polyethylene (LDPE) or ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) can be used.  For softer products, PP based carrier is not recommended as the hardness of the composite material will be affected. For some overmolding applications, the use of polyethylene (PE) based carrier may adversely affect the adhesion to the substrate. For specific overmolding material, adhere to the coloring recommendations of the product’s technical datasheet.

SBS coating

1. TPR rubber oil is commonly used. PVC oil is not recommended. According to the expert experience in the ink/paint industry, it is difficult to coat the objects of hardness below 30A and hardness between 70 to 80A. Coating is difficult in places where the shape of a figurine may accumulate the ink. This area may burn because of the extra ink. For specific issues, consult the ink/paint supplier.

2. Poor injection quality are likely to cause coating issues; for example, if products are injected with some glossy surface and some matted surfaces, the matted area will likely burn. Coating will not only unable to conceal the appearance defects, but explore them further.

3. Warpage and shrinkage during demolding will adversely affect coating. The result could be jagged edges of coating effect due to the loose fitting of steawwncil. Consistent control of production parameters is recommended in order to maintain consistent dimension for the finished products.

4. The use of demolding agent or oil stain inside the cavities must be treated by cleaning solution. The products should be thoroughly cleaned before painting.

1. SEBS can withstand temperature greater than 100℃. SBS has operating temperature around60℃.

2. Ultra-soft SEBS can be stretched by more than 1000%. Its touch-feel is very close to skin and therefore ideal for applications like masks and adult toys.

3. SEBS also has better chemical resistance and weather resistance than SBS.

NewMat elastomers can be used in making figurines, toy car wheels, yoga mats, cable, sealing rings, and plastic pipes, etc. They can be over-molded with ABS, PP, and PC/ABS.

TPE materials are thermoplastic elastomers, made from rubber, featuring a high degree of flexibility, tensile strength, toughness, resilience and can be injection molded. TPE is non-toxic and environmentally friendly. Also, TPE / TPR materials have a wide range of hardness and excellent coloring.

多种印刷过程用来装饰注塑、挤出及热塑性塑料制品，作为 Eastar 、 Spector 、 Eastapak 、 Eastalloy 等共聚聚酯的制造商， Eastman 建议您选用有塑料印刷相关经验的供应商，选择适当的油墨及印刷工艺，以在成本及印刷质量上取得平衡。

印刷油墨和基材 热塑性塑料制品不透水、表面无孔隙，通常需要特定的油墨配方，以实现快速干燥、较强的粘附力、溶剂型、水溶型以及紫外线。电晕固化油墨可用于大多数塑料的印刷，瓷漆、环氧、丙烯酸、酯类和聚氨酯类为基础的油墨，都是常用的。 表面张力

油墨的表面张力低于被装饰表面基材的表面张力，可取得更好的湿润效果，相比 Eastapak ， Eastar PETG 的表面张力较高，所以 PETG 的印刷性好过 PET 。

通常，水溶性油墨的表面张力较溶剂型油墨高，通过加入酒精稀释，可降低水溶型油墨的表面张力，有利于提高湿润效果及粘接强度。

电晕表面处理可用于 Eastapak 和 Spectar 等表面张力相对较低的共聚聚酯，电晕处理可提高材料的表面张力及极性，从而提高粘附性能。

耐化学性 在使用溶剂型油墨时，过强的溶剂可能会对基材的结构进行侵蚀，可能造成材料表面龟裂、脆化或溶胀，为了减小潜在的化学腐蚀，中性溶剂例如松香水、多环芳烃和石脑油可以添加到油墨的溶剂体系中。

固化时间
采用紫外线固化油墨进行多种色彩印刷时，应注意尽量缩短固化时间，过度固化可能导致最早印刷的油墨层变脆，影响整个涂层的韧性。

耐磨性
采用亮光清漆或添加蜡的油墨有助于提高表面的耐磨性能。

静态控制
在热塑性塑料表面进行印刷时，静态控制是一个重要问题，控制过度影响生产效率。在喷墨、激光等类似的印刷工艺中，静电会导致供墨的不稳定，使用消除式工作室，通过去离子空气保护基材，可解决这些问题。

移印
移印技术应用于一些不规则或有蚀纹的异形表面的高质量印刷，可用于注塑、挤出等热塑性塑料的表面印刷，非常适合单色或多色印刷，产量可高可低。

所谓移印，是使用铜或钢的凹板，经由硅橡胶铸成半球面形的移印头，以此压向版面，将印板上的图案转印至承印物上完成印刷的方式。

移印使用液体油墨直接印在塑料基材上，油漆适合在未干的油墨上加印紫外线固化油墨（湿对湿）。同丝网印刷相比，移印技术的印刷层更薄。

移印技术已成功应用于 Spectar 以及 Eastalloy 聚合物中。

丝网印刷
所谓丝网印刷，简单的说，类似于制版印刷，它是利用粘附油墨和丝网传递印刷图案，合成纤维如聚酯或尼龙或非常好的不锈钢丝常用来制作丝网。丝网最初是覆盖着感光不透水的物质，通过曝光处理产生可印刷的图案，通过橡胶刮使高粘度油墨通过丝网上的图案直接印刷在塑料表面，由于油墨的粘度较高，基材的表面张力对印刷效果影响不大。

丝网印刷适合于印刷干净、清晰、细节再现性要求较高的图案和多种不同的字体，图案的大小没有特别限制，具有色彩再现性好，制版费用较低，操作简单等经济性特点，被广泛应用于中短期使用的塑料件的多色印刷。

丝网印刷已成功应用于 Spectar 以及 Eastalloy 聚合物中。

胶印平版印刷、凸版印刷和凹版印刷
平版胶印、凸版印刷、凹版印刷通常应用于挤出产品。平版胶印是通过一个中间体 – 橡皮滚筒转印而获得印刷图案；凹版和凸版印刷直接通过图案板印刷至基材上，基材的供给可以是连续式或间歇式。

Eastar 和 Spectar 共聚聚酯可以成功地使用这些印刷方式。

激光印刷
这一技术常应用一些永久性高品质的标志，如条形码、数字化图案、序号及批号等。

激光印刷和激光雕刻有着很大的区别，激光雕刻是将某个区域的材料蒸发，而激光印刷是利用激光瞬间加热塑料使其永久变色。 激光印刷对共聚聚酯来说可能是一个挑战，透明材料可允许激光穿透，会导致 Eastar 和 Eastalloy 共聚聚酯起泡或烧伤。