MME has answered their customers’ call to enter into a new manufacturing field and carry the same “can-do” attitude and manufacturing principles into the field to gain results. As in the past, OEM customers have turned to MME Group for a better product and faster lead times, asking us to solve their most burdensome problems. We have once again answered the call with LIM tooling and molding. 

After years of being involved primarily in the tooling end of Silicone, MME Group has brought LIM MOLDING in-house. We have met our objectives to meet several different needs, the ability to handle large and small products and tool changeovers quickly.

MME Group has molded over 20 separate silicone products since first being introduced to this fast– growing technology over 4 years ago. Currently we are in production on silicone products for several fortune 100 companies.  The silicone products that we have produced include everything from single-shot, multiple-shot, over– molding, color matching and insert-molded parts.

What is Silicone Rubber?

1. Silicone Rubber has a bond similar to the structure found in glass, sand and quartz.
2. Silicones have a wide range of properties that provide an excellent balance for industrial and consumer materials.
3. In LIM molding the material is delivered in a very cool state and cured in the mold.  This makes LIM Molding the actual “opposite” of standard plastic injection molding. Whereas in standard molding, the material is pre-mixed and heated to temperatures that range from 300-600 degrees Fahrenheit in the barrel of the machine and then are injected into a mold to cool down.

What are the expected tooling and molding lead times?

1. With proper, early supplier involvement to help nurture your products to silicone readiness, tools can be built in 4-6 weeks for many applications.
2. Materials and colorants are readily available off-the-shelf, and custom materials are proactively procured during the tools build to allow for minimal delays in ramping to laboratory-ready parts shortly after tools are done.
3. Cycle times and cure times are similar to injection molding, and usually have little bearing on delivery.
4. Secondary operations like pad printing and other unique applications can be coordinated to minimize delays.

• Can be rigid, flexible, is translucent and is easy to color
• It has no taste, smell or by product.
• It protects against UV damage, corrosion and fire
• Meets FDA and ISO Biocompatible standards
• Can circumvent high rubber costs by eliminating “other” parts and minimizing assemblies.

Silicone Rubber DIS-Advantages

• A little higher in cost
• Sensitive to substance such as sulfur clay which may prevent the silicone from curing
• The rubber is usually very thick( high viscosity)
• Standard FAI practices do not work. Special inspection and qualification techniques are sometimes necessary

Applications Currently Using Silicone

• Automotive
• Healthcare
• Connectors
• Baby Products
• Consumer
• Medical Devices

MME is proud of our silicone success and confident in our strong engineering, quality,tooling and molding team. As the LIM molding technologies and silicone materials development continue to emerge, we see silicone as a key factor in top quality products going into the future.