In many businesses, from consumer goods to auto parts, there is one type of steel that remains the favored choice for mold makers who work with plastic injection molding.  Well-known for possessing a balance of toughness, affordability, and machinability, AISI P20 steel has a reputation for being the popular choice.

Understanding AISI P20 Mold Steel

The plastic mould steel known as AISI P20 belongs to a category of tools steels known as low alloy. It’s key distinguishing characteristic is having a well-balanced composition of the elements molybdenum and chromium. Having those two elements enables the steel to have a number of advantages.

Toughness – AISI P20 steel is very resistant to deformation and cracking, even when under stress. Such a toughness is extremely important for withstanding very high pressures which occur during the process of plastic injection molding.

Machinability – This can be understood as the ease by with a material, like AISI P20 plastic mould steel, can be shaped or cut using a machine tool. Having such a characteristic as excellent machinability allows for precise and efficient shaping during the time the mold is being created. It helps to lessen both production time and costs.

Surface Finishing – P20 easily accepts processes like etching and polishing which facilitates the creation of high quality smooth mold surfaces. This then translated to excellent finishes on the final plastic parts.

Dimensional Stability – AISI P20 plastic mould steel comes in a pre-hardened state, and this helps it maintain its shape throughout the process of mold-making and during its use.

Benefits of Using AISI P20 Steel For Making Molds

Due to its properties, using P20 plastic mould steel can translate into major benefits for mold makers:

It is cost effective. AISI P20 offers a very attractive balance of affordability and performance when compared to more specialized tool steels. This makes it the popular choice for a vast range of mold-making projects, especially those that do not require extreme resistance to wear and tolerance to high temperatures.

It is versatile. Having well-rounded properties allow P20 plastic mould steel to be used for a wide spectrum of designs. Such versatility makes it the ideal material for creating molds for various plastic parts from simple to very complex geometries.

P20 is easy to use. Its excellent machinability leads to faster and more efficient creation of molds which can ultimately lead to reduced turnaround times as well as streamlined production.

Common Applications of AISI P20 Steel

Because of its many advantages, the P20 finds itself in a wide range of plastic injection molding processes. One of the most common being in automotive parts as the plastic mould steel is widely used to create molds for many auto components like interior trim panels, and under the hood parts, to name a few. It is also used to create molds for plastics used in countless consumer goods like toys, appliances, and housings for electronic devices. There are also many packaging components like caps, bottles, and containers that are produced using molds made from AISI P20 plastic mould steel.

AISI P20 is also widely used in the creation of molds for certain medical devices, housings for medical equipment, and disposable medical components albeit only for those applications that do not require high temperatures of processes of sterilization which require strong resistance to corrosion.

The unique combination of toughness, machinability, affordability, and dimensional stability makes the AISI P20mold steel the favorite choice for a wide range of mold-making projects, especially those that involve plastic injection.