Claims
- 1. A mold, comprising:
a mold cavity; a sprue in fluid communication with the mold cavity, the sprue having a nozzle inlet and being adapted to receive fluid from an injection nozzle; and a spreader protruding from an interior surface of the mold cavity opposite the sprue, wherein the spreader protrudes into the mold cavity and into the sprue.
- 2. The mold recited in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the spreader is concentrically disposed within the sprue.
- 3. The mold recited in claim 1, wherein the spreader extends from the interior surface to the nozzle inlet.
- 4. The mold recited in claim 1, wherein the spreader has a geometry selected from the group consisting of rounded, pyramidal, pointed, conical, and teardrop.
- 5. The mold recited in claim 4, wherein the spreader has a geometry is a truncated cone having a rounded surface.
- 6. The mold recited in claim 1, wherein a first angle θ exists between an intersection of a centerline of the spreader at the nozzle inlet and a first side of the spreader, and wherein the first angle θ is less than 90°.
- 7. The mold recited in claim 6, wherein the first angle θ is less than or equal to about 60°.
- 8. The mold recited in claim 7, wherein the first angle θ is less than or equal to about 35°.
- 9. The mold recited in claim 8, wherein the first angle θ is about 15° to about 30°.
- 10. The mold recited in claim 6, wherein the spreader has a second side, the second side having a second angle θ different from the first angle θ.
- 11. The mold recited in claim 1, wherein a diameter of the sprue is sufficiently larger than a diameter of the spreader.
- 12. The mold recited in claim 1, wherein the spreader diameter is equivalent to or less than a nozzle inlet diameter.
- 13. The mold recited in claim 12, wherein the spreader diameter is about 10% to about 70% of the nozzle inlet diameter.
- 14. The mold recited in claim 13, wherein the spreader diameter is about 20% to about 50% of the nozzle inlet diameter.
- 15. The mold recited in claim 1, wherein the spreader has a geometry selected from the group consisting of rounded, pyramidal, pointed, conical, and teardrop.
- 16. The mold recited in claim 15, wherein the spreader has a geometry is a truncated cone having a rounded surface.
- 17. A method for molding, comprising:
passing molding material through a nozzle, a nozzle inlet, and a sprue in fluid communication with a mold cavity; and diverting the flow of the molding material into the mold cavity with a spreader, wherein at least a portion of the spreader is disposed within the sprue.
- 18. The method recited in claim 17, further comprising injecting at least a portion of the molding material at a pressure of up to about 20,000 psi.
- 19. The method recited in claim 18, further comprising injecting at least a portion of the molding material at a pressure of greater than 0 psi up to about 5,000 psi.
- 20. The method recited in claim 17, further comprising diverting the molding material through an edge gate into the mold cavity.
- 21. A nozzle, comprising:
a bore disposed within the nozzle; an orifice disposed at an exit end of the nozzle, wherein the orifice is in fluid communication with the bore; and a spreader movably disposed through at least a portion of the bore, wherein at least a portion of the spreader is adapted to extend from the bore to a point external to the nozzle such that when fluid exits the orifice in a fluid flow direction, the spreader will alter at least a portion of the fluid flow direction.
- 22. The nozzle recited in claim 21, wherein at least a portion of the spreader extending outside of the orifice has diverging sides.
- 23. The nozzle recited in claim 22, wherein the sides diverge at an angle θ of less than 90° from a centerline of the bore.
- 24. The nozzle recited in claim 21, wherein the angle θ is less than or equal to about 35°.
- 25. The nozzle recited in claim 24, wherein the angle θ is about 15° to about 30°.
- 26. The nozzle recited in claim 21, wherein the spreader has a diameter adjacent the nozzle that is less than or equal to about 70% of an orifice diameter.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/241,632 filed Oct. 19, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60241632 |
Oct 2000 |
US |