Electroless Plating Mold Die for Leather-Grain Surface Quality
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional mold dies suffer from minor defects on their surface, which result in burrs on the mold product and impair its surface quality. Existing solutions, such as plating layers, either cover fine grain patterns or fail to effectively address surface defects.
Innovation Solution
A mold die with a leather-grain transfer surface featuring a combination of first and second uneven-shape parts, along with a thin electroless plating layer that selectively buries surface defects while preserving the fine grain pattern, is used to manufacture a mold product with excellent surface quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a plating layer is applied to the mold die surface to cover defects, then surface quality of the mold product is improved, but the fine grain pattern is covered and lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating two distinct types of uneven shapes on the mold die surface: defects (first uneven-shape parts) that should be covered, and grain pattern features (second uneven-shape parts) that should be preserved. The plating layer is selectively applied to cover only the defects while maintaining the grain pattern visibility, achieving different surface qualities in different local areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter changes by controlling the depth parameter of uneven shapes. Defects have greater depth than the plating layer thickness, causing the plating to cover them completely. Grain pattern features have smaller depth than the plating layer thickness, allowing the plating to follow their contours and preserve the pattern. This depth parameter differentiation enables selective covering.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If a thick plating layer is used to effectively cover surface defects, then burr formation is reduced, but the fine grain pattern becomes invisible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the plating layer thickness parameter to a specific range (5μm to 20μm) that balances two opposing requirements: it is thick enough to cover defects and prevent burr formation, yet thin enough to allow the grain pattern to remain visible. This precise parameter control resolves the contradiction between defect coverage and pattern preservation.
Solution Approach 2:
The plating layer achieves different functional qualities in different regions: in defect areas, it provides thick coverage to prevent burrs, while in grain pattern areas, it maintains sufficient transparency to preserve pattern visibility. The local depth variations in the substrate enable this differentiated performance.
3Shape
If no plating layer is applied to maintain the fine grain pattern, then the grain pattern is preserved, but surface defects cause burrs on the mold product
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a plating layer with specifically controlled thickness parameters (5μm to 20μm) that enable simultaneous achievement of defect coverage and pattern preservation. Without this parameter-optimized plating layer, only one of the two objectives could be achieved, but the plating layer makes both possible.
Solution Approach 2:
The final mold die surface becomes a composite structure combining the substrate material with the plating layer. This composite structure integrates the defect-covering function of the plating material with the pattern-preserving function of the controlled thickness, achieving both goals simultaneously.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The proposed solution enables the implementation of a fine grain pattern on the mold product with superior surface quality, minimizing burrs and maintaining the natural authentic texture of natural leather.
Implementation Method 1
a leather-grain transfer surface (23) including a first uneven-shape part (24) having a greater uneven shape and a second uneven-shape part (25) having a minor uneven shape; wherein a plating layer (26) is provided on the mold die (10) by electroless plating
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3C
AI summary
To provide a mold die capable of implementing a fine grain pattern to a mold product with excellent surface quality, a method of manufacturing the mold die, an injection molding apparatus, and a method of manufacturing a mold product. A mold cavity (20) which is a mold die includes a die body (21) and a plating layer (26) provided on the surface of a mold surface (22). In this case, the mold surface (22) has a leather-grain transfer surface (23) for forming a grain pattern. The leather-grain transfer surface (23) includes a first uneven-shape part (24) and a second uneven-shape part (25) formed at the surface of the first uneven-shape part (24) and smaller in an uneven-shape width than the first uneven-shape part (24). The uneven-shape width falls within a range of 10 µm or more and less than 500 µm. The plating layer (26) is an electroless-plating layer. A thickness of at least part of the plating layer (26) falls within a range of 0.1 µm or more and less than 10 µm.