Innovative steel for high-performance moulds
The Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile in Turin. This was the prestigious venue chosen by Böhler to celebrate, on October 20, its 125 years of business in Italy, and it did so with an event entitled “Life in Plastic - Böhler’s innovative technology in high-performance moulds for plastic materials”. The development of steels to be used in the production of moulds and tools for plastics processing demands knowledge and, therefore, involvement on two fronts: on the one hand, there is that of the resins to be processed and the technologies used for this purpose; on the other, that of the development of increasingly high-performance steels that are able to satisfy the growing requirements of designers and processors, and that therefore meet modern design standards and are suitable for the innovative characteristics of polymers and the high performance levels required of manufactured goods, etc.
Böhler can supply different types of steel to produce the moulds, platens and inserts for example, that are today used in the main plastics processing technologies, from injection moulding and blow-moulding to thermoforming. This is possible thanks to the development of technologies and manufacturing processes that reflect its more than 100-year history and international experience. The event focused on these aspects in particular.
The company presented the products it offers for the construction of moulds for plastics processing in various fields of application – from the automotive industry (the choice of the Turin venue was, of course, deliberate) to the medical sector – and its range includes both corrosion-resistant and standard steels, which are chosen according to the type of tool or tool part to be constructed.
An important part of the event was that devoted to technologies for steel production, such as powder metallurgy technology for example, and processes developed in order to obtain new products with properties specially developed for the plastics industry. A crucial role in this regard is played by heat treatment, in other words the cycle of heating, carried out under given conditions at certain temperatures, followed by cooling (more or less gradual), which serves to make a metal or a metal alloy (usually steel, in fact) develop crystal structures that give it certain mechanical and/or technological properties.
Böhler is part of Böhler Uddeholm Italia, which brings together the Uddeholm and Buderus brands, and is a widespread presence in Italy, where it operates through 5 interconnected facilities: the headquarters and central depot in Milan, two branches, each with a depot, in Turin and Padua, and two sales offices, one in Bologna and the other in Brescia. The distribution of available materials is coordinated from the Steel Point warehouse at the Milan facilities and through a transport system, directly managed by the central logistics service, which, on a daily basis, links the depots with the branches. Deliveries to customers are carried out by local hauliers with which the company has longstanding relations. In Italy (at the Milan, Turin and Padua facilities) 1847 tons of material are currently available in stock, 135 tons of which belong to the M range of steels, developed specifically for the plastic processing industry.
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