Products

Photo courtesy of Plastic Ingenuity

Photo courtesy of Plastic Ingenuity

CMT Materials is the world’s leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of syntactic foam and other innovative tooling materials for the thermoforming industry.

Our products provide:

  • Greater efficiency, from down-gauging of sheet to lower energy costs to increased yields
  • Decreased production times
  • Increased cost savings
  • Improved part consistency with excellent detail
  • Elimination of dust and reduced tool wear when machining plugs
  • Greater durability and thermal stability
  • Reduced sheet sticking to plug surfaces
  • And more…

We combine high-quality, industry-proven syntactic foam products with superior problem-solving skills and top-notch customer service to optimize the performance of thermoforming tools. Whether it’s off-the-shelf plug assists or custom sized solutions, CMT stands ready to help.

HYTAC® Plug Assist Materials – the CMT Materials plug assist family of products – allows thermoformers, tool makers, and machine builders to get more efficient material distribution with:

      • Elimination of mark-off, chill lines, and thin areas
      • Faster cycle times
      • Enhanced part clarity
      • Improvements in haze and gloss
      • Better part strength
      • Decreased material and energy usage
      • See our HYTAC Selector Guide for options

HYTAC products are available in a wide variety of sizes in rod, sheet, and block.  See our HYTAC syntactic foam plug assist products in use in the HYTAC photo gallery.

 

There are four types of HYTAC materials:

      • Thermoset Syntactic Foam (also referred to as Epoxy Syntactic, Epoxy Composite, 350 or 450) is a homogeneous blend of microspheres and a special epoxy binder system resulting in a low thermal conductivity plug. Plugs made with this material provide good performance and are the lowest cost syntactic foams. Thermoset syntactic foam is dusty to machine and can be brittle in use. Products in this family include HYTAC-W, WF and WFT.
      • Copolymer Thermoset Syntactic Foam is formulated to balance plug performance with easy machining/polishing without dust and a longer lasting, more durable plug. Tougheners, PTFE additives, and friction enhancers make these plug assists suitable for deep draw parts, high transparency requirements, and a wide range of other application needs. Products in this family include HYTAC-FLX, FLXT and C1R.
      • Thermoplastic Syntactic Foam is the most durable plug material and combines the benefits of syntactic foam with long life even in the most abusive production environments. It machines in large shavings with no dust and provides excellent material distribution in a mold. Our pioneer thermoplastic syntactic product, HYTAC-B1X,  quickly gained popularity around the world for its unique plug assist properties.  Today, our next generation HYTAC-XTL thermoplastic syntactic offers higher toughness, lower thermal conductivity and expansion, plus it is easier to machine and has excellent polish surface quality.
      • Solid Polymer Plastics  are low cost but do not provide the temperature resistance and material distribution qualities of syntactic foams. Solid polymer plug assists are generally limited to short production runs or very specific application requirements.

HYVAC® is a fast and economical way to hold contoured parts in place during a trimming or assembly operation. It is also gaining popularity as a quick and easy-to-use go/no-go QC fixture to check formed part sizing. HYVAC comes as a three-part kit of resin, catalyst and fiber-reinforced spheres which can be easily mixed and poured into a formed part or other mold. Following an overnight room temperature or low temperature oven cure, the fixture is removed from the part/mold and ready for use. Vacuum may be pulled directly through the material to provide an effective hold-down fixture that may be installed on an automated or manual router system.

CTB and REN Shape® tooling and modeling board. Vacuum formers and thermoformers use these products for prototype and low volume production molds when forming in applications where metal molds do not make sense due to time or cost considerations. CMT can help in selecting the proper board material for specific forming applications considering factors such as surface quality, ease in machining, tool durability, and forming temperature. See our Comparison List for details on all available tool board products.

METAPOR® is a composite material consisting of two major components. Different granules, such as aluminium or ceramic materials, and binders are currently used in thermoforming tools. The material is air-permeable over the entire surface, due to its micro-porous structure. In contrast to sintered materials, the pores are not closed off after machining. The numerous advantages are useful in the thermoforming industry as well as for vacuum clamping and air cushion devices. Design flexibility is enhanced because micro-vents are an integral part of the complete surface. The material‘s inherent properties eliminate the need to design and manufacture complex venting systems. For ideas, see the METAPOR photo gallery.