I am trying to compress some optical quality plastic in compression molding machine in between stainless steel plates at 20,000 psi. However the metal is leaving some impression on the pressed film which makes the film opaque. I have not tried mirror finished stainless steel plates yet. The ideal thing would have been glass but glass cannot hold out against the high pressure. Are tempered glass or gorilla glass better choices? Please give me some suggestions.
Dear Sanjiban,
You threw two very different things into one heap. The strength or hardness of a press plate has nothing to do with the imprint on the plastic surface. Besides, the strength of a stainless steel is more than sufficient for 20,000 psi. An imprint on the plastic surface is not created because of a lack of strength of the plate, but because of its roughness or because of incorrect pressing process parameters. A polished plate with the right process parameters will produce a much better plastic surface.
Thanks Vadim for your suggestions. I want to avoid the contact of the polymer with any surface except glass. The polymer films do not loose the transparency when the films are pressed in between thick glasses at lower pressure. However the stainless steel plates are making them somewhat cloudy. I need to press the films at a pressure as high as 20,000 psi. Are you aware of any glass material which can sustain such high pressure? Gorilla glasses are available but they are very thin, e.g. 2 mm.
Completely normal window glass can withstand 20,000 psi with pure pressure loads without any problems, there must only be no tensile or bending loads of this magnitude. So to reduce bending stress you need a very thick glass plate.
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