Case study: PMMA mould
Date: 20.05.2017
Location: Techshop LM Ivry, France
The aim was to use a self-made thermoformed PMMA mould to create a compressed moulded slab of rubber
- PMMA mould
- Rubber powder (0-0.8 mm) from Aliapur Beta Starter Kit
- PU binder from Aliapur Beta Starter Kit
- Clamps and two wooden panel
Rubber powder is mixed manually with approx. 10% of PU binder. A few percent of water is also added to accelerate the setting of the binder. The mixture is poured into the PMMA mould, and the surface is equalized with a flat object. THe pressure is maintained for 24 hours using two wooden panels and clamps.
- The major problem is that the slab was stuck to the PMMA mould after the setting. The use of a demolding agent might be useful.
- The final slab tends to crumble. This is maybe due to:
- an insufficient quantity of binder
- a bad repartition of the binder in the mixture, which could be enhanced by gently warming up the binder during mixing to reduce its viscosity
Mould
Compression setup
Final slab
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