Industry Glossary - M

The core tool around which resin-impregnated paper, fabric, or fiber is wound to form pipes, tubes, or structural shell shapes.

Highly efficient system which eliminates the need for a press screw driven frame structure that opens and closes the mold in a controlled line of draw to prevent tool damage. See Megaject Pro.

A fibrous material for reinforced plastic consisting of randomly oriented chopped filaments, short fibers (with or without a carrier fabric), or swirled filaments loosely held together with a binder.

Ability of the mat to resist being pulled apart under tension during impregnation and molding.

A reinforced plastics manufacturing process in which matching male and female metal molds are used (also called compression molding) to form the part, with time, pressure, and heat.

Strand-to-strand adhesion. A matchstick is a wide bundle that has 3 to 4 times as many filaments in it as do the majority of the bundles in the bed.

Term used to describe the resin component of a polymer composite. An example of usage would be: “The glass fibers are reinforcing a polyester matrix.” The plural is matrices.

The properties of a material, such as compressive and tensile strengths, and modulus, that are associated with elastic and inelastic reaction when force is applied. The individual relationship between stress and strain.

Thermoset resin.

Manufactured fiber composed of metal, plastic-coated metal, metal-coated plastic, or core completely covered by metal.

Microscopic bubbles of glass, ceramic or Phenolic, used as a filler or to create syntactic foam or putty mixtures.

Crack formed in composites when thermal stresses locally exceed the strength of the matrix.

The unit used in measuring the diameter of glass fiber strands ( 1 mil = 0.001 in.).

Continuous glass strands hammer milled into very short glass fibers. Useful as inexpensive filler or anti-crazing reinforcing filler for adhesives.

The amount of volatiles on the glass expressed as a percentage of the total weight.

The amount of moisture in a material determined under prescribed conditions, and expressed as a percentage of the mass of the moist specimen, that is, the mass of the dry substance plus the moisture present.

The cavity or matrix into or on which the plastic composition is placed and from which it takes form. The tool used to fabricate the desired part shape.

Mold protection guard. Prevents the over pressurization of the RTM mold during the injection process. See MPG.

A lubricant, liquid, or powder (often silicone oils and waxes), used to prevent sticking of molded articles in the cavity.

An edge that is not physically altered after molding for use in final form, and particularly on that does not have fiber ends along its length.

The forming of a polymer or composite into a solid mass of prescribed shape and size.

The period of time required for the complete sequence of operations on a molding press to produce one set of moldings.

The pressure applied to the ram of an injection machine or compression or transfer press to force the softened plastic to fill the mold cavities completely.

Low risk, high output composite tooling breakthrough. MIT tooling technology offers the composite molder quick-change multiple mold surfaces without multiple tooling costs. As each surface is an exact clone of its counterpart the replication of mold cavity accuracy, and therefore molded part, is guaranteed.