vacuum
casting

silicone
moulding

Vacuum casting (also known as urethane casting or silicone moulding) is a manufacturing method that uses silicone moulds to produce plastic parts in a relatively simple way and without the high costs and high lead times required for steel or aluminium moulds.

features

Low Production
Levels

Polyurethane (PU) parts produced by vacuum moulding are perfect for low-volume production – when quantities do not justify the investment in expensive injection moulds – as well as for the first series parts that can be produced weeks before the injection mould is ready.

Advanced Prototyping
-Flexible Parts

The polyurethane casting process and the relatively low-cost tools involved make it easy and economical to bring the design and quality of the parts obtained up to production levels. In addition, it is the ideal way to prototype elastomeric parts, similar in characteristics to Silicone, TPU, NBR,… and with hardnesses between Shore A 30 and Shore A 90.

Market
Testing

A high-quality finish makes polyurethane parts ideal for consumer testing, user evaluation and concept models. It also allows almost unlimited complexity, including internal corners with no radii, unachievable with CNC machining, and designs with no demoulding or uniform wall thickness that cannot be achieved with injection moulding.

Parts with excellent finishes
at reduced costs.

benefits

DURABILITY

Polyurethane casting can be achieved with both rigid and flexible plastics. Polyurethane parts are generally as resistant or more resistant than injection moulded parts, and are significantly more durable than 3D printed parts.

SCALABILITY

Our vacuum casting process is optimal for low production volumes of between one single unit and several hundred parts. On average, each silicone mould can guarantee to cast around 20 parts. The maximum quantity will vary depending on the part design.

MATERIALS

We offer a wide range of polyurethanes, both soft and flexible – like Silicone, TPU, NBR,… and rigid and resistant – like ABS or PC. In addition, both opaque and transparent parts can be achieved.

COLOURS

Vacuum casting makes it possible to obtain pigmented parts according to a specific RAL or Pantone code. Therefore, the liquid polyurethane is coloured before casting. As a result, a colouring equivalent to that of an injection-moulded part is achieved.

AGILITY

The parts produced by vacuum casting are shipped within a period of 10 working days, depending on the requirements and quantity of the parts.
On the other hand, when producing the same parts by injection moulding, a period of several weeks is to be expected.

finishes
options

PIGMENTED

The pigmented finish, regardless of its matt, satin or glossy texture, is ideal for those parts that may suffer wear due to scratching, so the colour of the part is maintained.

The pigment colour can be chosen from both RAL and PANTONE.

It is important to note that pigmented colour has a certain colour tolerance, while painting can achieve a more accurate colour result.

PAINTED

Painting is a surface treatment that can be applied to different materials, both plastics and metals.There are three different types of paint to choose: matt, satin or glossy.

The painting of the parts allows you to offer an aesthetic surface finish for your project.The colour can be chosen from either the RAL or PANTONE colour charts.

Transparent

The materials PU- Flexible Polyurethane and PU- Hard Polyurethane offer the possibility of a transparent surface that is translucent and allows the contents to be seen. With these materials we can come close to the surfaces offered by PMMA, PC or transparent Silicone.