Company News

In the manufacturing of injection molds, electroplating is often regarded as an optional "surface decoration", so many manufacturers choose to cut corners - reducing the thickness of the coating, omitting the intermediate layer, and simplifying the pre-treatment process. This approach may seem to save money, but in fact, it poses huge risks to the molds.

The immediate problem is increased demolding resistance. If the coating is too thin or has poor adhesion, the mold surface will soon wear out, and the friction coefficient will increase significantly. As a result, the pusher bends and breaks, the product is top-broken or top-penetrated, and even the mold sticks and is pulled, causing production to be forced to stop.

The loss of anti-corrosion ability is more concealed. Omitting the nickel layer or having pinholes in the coating, acidic gases from plastic decomposition and condensate water directly corrode the steel substrate. The mold rusts, suffers from stress corrosion cracking, and eventually breaks down suddenly.

The detachment of the coating is the most troublesome situation. Inadequate pre-treatment leads to "false plating", and after several hundred molds are produced, the coating peels off in sheets. These hard fragments get stuck in the pusher and slider, forcing the mold to be taken off the production line for re-plating, resulting in huge production losses.

Uneven heat dissipation and decreased surface accuracy are also not to be ignored. Uneven coating thickness leads to uncontrollable warping and deformation of the product; rough coating causes fogging, orange peel, and streaks on high-gloss or transparent parts, resulting in a significant drop in the yield rate.

From a cost perspective, saving 3,000 yuan in electroplating fees by cutting corners may lead to premature mold failure, production suspension, and maintenance, resulting in losses of over 150,000 yuan.

The cutting corners in electroplating process poses systematic and long-term risks to the molds, rather than being a single and accidental one. It erodes the performance and lifespan of the molds from multiple dimensions such as demolding, anti-corrosion, adhesion, heat dissipation, and surface accuracy. In actual production, when accepting new molds or re-plating molds, suppliers should be required to provide coating thickness measurement reports. Use a magnifying glass to carefully observe whether there are spots, pinholes, or peeling on the surface, and verify through trial molding whether there are scratches or mold adhesion marks.