72-Cavity Hot Runner PET Preform Mold

72-Cavity Hot Runner PET Preform Mold

This 72-cavity PET preform mold is designed for high-volume beverage and water bottle preform manufacturing. Operating on a 10.5 to 14.5-second cycle time (depending on preform wall thickness and cooling system setup), it delivers an hourly output ranging from 17,800 to 24,600 preforms.
The mold incorporates an individually controlled valve gate hot runner system paired with dual-taper alignment logic to ensure core-cavity concentricity within +/- 0.015 mm. Engineered to process virgin PET resin as well as up to 100% recycled PET (rPET) flakes, it reduces part-to-part weight variance to <= +/- 0.1g across all 72 cavities.

Key Product Features

Valve Gate Hot Runner System: Individual pneumatic valve pin actuators eliminate vestige tails on the preform base, preventing gate leaks and maintaining gate thickness within 0.2 mm without manual trimming.

Balanced Melt Distribution: Symmetrical manifold layout with polished internal flow channels maintains identical shear rates and pressure drops to each cavity, preventing filling imbalances.

Dual-Taper Alignment Locking: Primary slide aligners and secondary taper interlocks pre-align mold halves before neck ring contact, preventing mold wear and maintaining concentricity under clamping force.

Concentric Cooling Channels: Spiral cooling jackets surrounding each cavity combined with inner baffle cooling inside cores optimize heat dissipation, reducing cycle time by up to 2.5 seconds compared to standard straight-drilled lines.

Modular Wear Components: Neck rings, cavity inserts, and core rods feature independent mounting locations for quick online replacement without removing the full mold frame from the machine platens.

Technical Specifications

Available Configurations Or Options

Hot Runner Nozzle Control
Group Valve Gating: Actuators grouped by manifold zone for simplified pneumatic lines and cost efficiency.
Individual Needle Control: Independent pneumatic cylinder per nozzle tip for precise thermal profiling when running sensitive rPET grades.
Neck Ring & Split Ejection Systems
Cam Roller Actuation: Mechanical roller cams actuate slide opening/closing during mold stroke, eliminating external hydraulic cylinders.
Hydraulic Slide Actuation: Cylinder-driven neck split movement for deep-drawn or non-standard neck finishes.
Surface Treatment Options
Titanium Nitride (TiN) Coating: Applied to core tips and neck splits to resist abrasive fillers and lower frictional coefficient during ejection.
Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) Coating: Optional on moving guide pins and slides for oil-free, cleanroom operation.

Applications

Bottled Water Production: Light-weight preforms (9.5g - 15.5g) using 29/25, 30/25, or 26/22 neck finishes for high-speed stretch blow molding.

Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSD): Preforms (18g - 38g) with reinforced PCO 1881 / 1810 neck finishes designed to withstand internal pressure up to 8 bar.

Edible Oil & Food Containers: Deep-neck and wide-mouth preform profiles with enhanced thermal wall stability.

Personal Care & Household Chemicals: Customized preforms accommodating custom neck threads and color-pigmented PET materials.

Product Selection Considerations

Before specifying mold dimensions and hot runner zone configurations, evaluate the following parameters on your current injection molding production line:

Tie-Bar Clearance & Platen Dimensions: Ensure the machine tie-bar spacing accommodates the 72-cavity mold plate dimensions (typical width ranges between 1100 mm and 1300 mm).

Injection Unit Capacity: Verify that the maximum shot weight of the machine injection unit covers 110% to 120% of the total 72-cavity shot weight (e.g., 72 cavities x 15g preform = 1,080g total shot weight).

Clamping Force Requirements: Minimum required clamping force calculation is approximately 0.65 to 0.85 tons per cavity, requiring a 450T to 600T injection molding machine.

Post-Mold Cooling Integration: Achieving cycle times below 12 seconds requires a 3-stage or 4-stage post-mold cooling take-out robot with internal cooling pins.

Dehumidified Air & Water Utilities: Requires a chilled water supply (8 degrees C - 10 degrees C, >= 0.6 MPa) and a dehumidified air dryer system supplying dew-point air below -40 degrees C to prevent condensation inside cavities.

Quality Inspection and Testing
Every mold undergoes strict dimensional and functional verification before factory acceptance dispatch:
Material Certification: Spectrographic material grade certification and ultrasonic flaw detection reports for all cavity, core, and hot runner blocks.
CMM Dimensional Verification: Inspection of core, cavity, and neck ring dimensions using a Zeiss Coordinate Measuring Machine to verify tolerances within +/- 0.005 mm.
Hot Runner Thermal Profiling: 24-hour continuous electrical heating testing to confirm zero thermal leakage and balanced zone heating across all manifold channels.
Dry Running Test: 10,000 continuous dry cycle runs on test rigs to ensure smooth action of slide cams, ejector plates, and valve needle pneumatics.
Full Pilot Molding Trial: 48-hour continuous injection trial on dedicated PET test machines. Preforms are sampled for:
Wall thickness uniformity (measured at 4 circumferential points)
Preform eccentricity (dial gauge measurement <= 0.012 mm)
Weight consistency (variance between highest and lowest cavity <= +/- 0.08g)
Acetaldehyde (AA) level testing

Customization and Supply Scope

Customization Options

Tailored preform weight, length, and wall thickness design based on customer bottle drawing and blowing ratio targets.

Custom thread finish matching non-standard or proprietary closures.

Hot runner interface customization for compatibility with existing temperature control units (Euro-map or custom pin connectors).

FAQ

RFQ Call to Action

Ready to Optimize Your PET Preform Production Line?
To receive an itemized technical proposal and quotation for the 72-cavity hot runner PET preform mold, please provide your production parameters when contacting our engineering team:
Preform Drawings or Bottle Specs: Target weight (g), neck finish type (e.g., PCO 1881, 29/25), and bottle application.
Injection Molding Machine Details: Brand, model, clamping force (Tons), tie-bar distance, and screw diameter.
Target Output: Required hourly production volume or target cycle time.
Resin Type: Virgin PET, rPET blend percentage, or additives (e.g., colorants, barrier resins).

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