A mold release agent is a specialty coating designed to act as a barrier between a mold surface and substrate.  Without the use of a mold release agent the molding substrate would bond to the mold surface causing part failure, production delays, and quality issues. Mold release agents typically are solvent or water based coatings that utilize specialized release chemistries such as fluoropolymers, polysiloxanes, waxes, ceramics,  etc to form the required release barrier.

Mold release agents work by forming a uniform, thin coating over a mold surface.  This coating strongly adheres to mold surfaces generating a chemically inert barrier that both protects the mold surface and allows smooth release of the molded part.  Release agents generally have very low surface energy and are less than 1-2 micron in thickness. These properties ensure that the mold dimensions are not effected and the molded part not does adhere to the mold release.

Mold release agents offer several key advantages for manufacturers and will generally pay for themselves.  Benefit include:

• Prevention of adhesion of the substrate to the mold - This increases part quality, reduces scraps and decreases the time spent cleaning the mold
• Higher throughput - Mold release agents generally allow for shorter, hotter cycles increasing production output.
• Reduced cleaning and mold fouling - Release agents eliminate mold build-up and fouling, allowing more parts to be produced before cleaning is required
• Extended mold life - Molding is a very aggressive, difficult process, most substrates wear down and contaminate mold surfaces quickly.  This requires resource intensive cleaning and polishing.  Mold release agents protect the mold surface from chemical attack, abrasion and staining, greatly extend mold service life.
• Reduced Scrap rates - Mold release agents allow for reliable and efficient production of parts.  Its low surface energy and chemically inert barrier ensures excellent substrate flow out improving surface quality and minimizing defects.

Mold release agents typically come in two primary forms, waterbased and solvent-based formulations. Whether solvent or waterbased, products can be further refined into semi-permanent or sacrificial versions.

• Semi-permanent mold release agents - These formulation adhere strongly to mold surfaces and are very resistance to abrasion, chemical attack and transfer.  Semi-permanent mold release agents provide numerous molding cycles before reapplication is necessary.  They are ideal for highly aggressive, complex, or difficult molding materials. They typically require a short cure period to ensure proper crosslinking and release properties
• Sacrificial mold release agents  -  Typically simpler, and ideally suited for applications where more frequent mold release application is desired. These coatings do not require any cure period but tend to be more easily abrade from surfaces and can have a tendency transfer to the mold part.  They do supply excellent lubrication and when properly applied, provide reliable, efficienct release.

The composition of a mold release is critical to its performance. Mold Release agents can generally be broken down into several categories. Each category provides its own set of benefits and drawbacks.  Choosing between each one is depending on the type of molding, process temperature, substrate and cost considerations.  The typical chemistries are :

• Fluoropolymers
• Silicone and Siloxane Resins
• Wax / Wax-hybrid
• Boron Nitride / Graphite
• Fatty Acid / Oil
• PVA

For today's modern molding and production process, advanced polymers like fluoropolymers, siloxane resins and hybrid waxes offer the best overall performance, cost effectiveness and ease-of-use that manufacturers require.