Tech Table: Mold release agents

Mold release agents — arguably the products most responsible for long tool life — provide a critical barrier between the mold surface and the molded part. Whether for aerospace, automotive, marine, wind energy or any other end market, a properly applied mold release encourages easy separation in demolding high-quality parts. An improperly applied mold release, or a mold release not applied at all, causes well-documented problems in separating part from mold. It is no surprise, then, that release agents are a vital part of quality control during the composites fabrication process, and help guarantee proper mold care, making them a cost-effective strategy for manufacturers.

As a result, mold preparation and maintenance is not just common, it’s mandatory. Suppliers of mold releases offer a variety of products designed to cater to specific materials, processes and applications, with factors like operator preference, plant safety and environmental impact in mind.

This table of mold release agents was built with data provided either directly by the supplier, or from published data. It should be noted that, due to the large variety of available release agents, the products in this table only represent external mold release products in each supplier’s product line; internal release products, conditioners, cleaners, primers and sealers are not included. For more information on these and other composites industry products, use the CW SourceBook database to find and identify suppliers.

This is the second in a series of Tech Tables CW is publishing in 2020, each designed to provide as comprehensive a list as possible of suppliers, their products and selected product qualities. CW’s first Tech Table, published in January 2020, covers aerospace structural adhesives.

The mold release Tech Table is available as a downloadable PDF and can be accessed here short.compositesworld.com/CWtechtble