US20140131000A1 - Metal Alloy Injection Molding Protrusions - Google Patents

Abstract

Metal alloy injection molding techniques are described. In one or more implementations, these techniques may also include adjustment of injection pressure, configuration of runners, and/or use of vacuum pressure, and so on to encourage flow of the metal alloy through a mold. Techniques are also described that utilize protrusions to counteract thermal expansion and subsequent contraction of the metal alloy upon cooling. Further, techniques are described in which a radius of edges of a feature is configured to encourage flow and reduce voids. A variety of other techniques are also described herein.

Description

RELATED MATTERS
• This application claims priority under 35 USC 119(b) to International Application No. PCT/CN2012/083083 filed Oct. 17, 2012, the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
• Injection molding is a manufacturing process that is conventionally utilized to form articles from plastic. This may include use of thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic materials to form an article, such as a toy, car parts, and so on.
• Techniques were subsequently developed to use injection molding for materials other than plastic, such as metal alloys. However, characteristics of the metal alloys could limit use of conventional injection molding techniques to small articles such as watch parts due to complications caused by these characteristics, such as to flow, thermal expansion, and so on.
SUMMARY
• Metal alloy injection molding techniques are described. In one or more implementations, these techniques may include adjustment of injection pressure, configuration of runners, and/or use of vacuum pressure, and so on to encourage flow of the metal alloy through a mold. Techniques are also described that utilize protrusions to counteract thermal expansion and subsequent contraction of the metal alloy upon cooling. Further, techniques are described in which a radius of edges of a feature is configured to encourage flow and reduce voids. A variety of other techniques are also described herein.
• This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The use of the same reference numbers in different instances in the description and the figures may indicate similar or identical items. Entities represented in the figures may be indicative of one or more entities and thus reference may be made interchangeably to single or plural forms of the entities in the discussion.
• FIG. 1 is an illustration of an environment in an example implementation that is operable to employ injection molding techniques described herein.
• FIG. 2 depicts an example implementation in which features of an article molded using a system ofFIG. 1 is shown.
• FIG. 3 depicts an example implementation in which a cavity defined by mold portions may be shaped to form a wall and features ofFIG. 2.
• FIG. 4 depicts a system in an example implementation in which an injection distribution device is used to physically couple an outflow of injected metal alloy from an injection device to a mold of a molding device.
• FIG. 5 depicts an example implementation showing comparison of respective cross sections of the runner and the plurality of sub-runners ofFIG. 4.
• FIG. 6 depicts a system in an example implementation in which a vacuum device is employed to create negative pressure inside a cavity of the mold to promote flow of the metal alloy.
• FIG. 7 depicts a system in an example implementation in which a mold includes one or more overflows to bias a flow of metal alloy through a mold.
• FIG. 8 depicts an example implementation in which a protrusion is utilized to reduce an effect of thermal expansion caused by varying degrees of thickness of an article to be molded.
• FIG. 9 depicts an example implementation in which a mold is employed that includes edges configured to reduce voids.
• FIG. 10 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an example implementation in which an article is injected molded using a mold that employs overflows.
• FIG. 11 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an example implementation in which a mold is formed that employs overflows.
• FIG. 12 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an example implementation in which a protrusion is formed to at least partially counteract thermal expansion of the metal alloy and subsequent contraction caused by cooling of the metal alloy.
• FIG. 13 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an example implementation in which a mold is formed that is configured to form a protrusion on an article to counteract an effect of thermal expansion.
• FIG. 14 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an example implementation in which a radius is employed to limit formation of voids of the article.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• Overview
• Conventional injection molding techniques could encounter complications when utilized for a metal alloy. For example, characteristics of the metal alloy may make these conventional techniques unsuitable to make articles over a relatively short length (e.g., larger than a watch part), that are relatively thin (e.g., less than one millimeter), and so on due to such characteristics of thermal expansion, cooling in a mold, and so forth.
• Metal alloy injection molding techniques are described. In one or more implementations, techniques are described that may be utilized to support injection molding of a metal alloy, such as a metal alloy that is comprised primarily of magnesium. These techniques include configuration of runners used to fill a cavity of a mold such that a rate of flow is not slowed by the runners, such as to match an overall size of branches of a runner to a runner from which they branch.
• In another example, injection pressure and vacuum pressure may be arranged to encourage flow through an entirety of a cavity that is used to form an article. The vacuum pressure, for instance, may be used to bias flow toward portions of the cavity that otherwise may be difficult to fill. This biasing may also be performed using overflows to encourage flow toward these areas, such as areas of the cavity that are feature rich and thus may be difficult to fill using conventional techniques.
• In a further example, protrusions may be formed to counteract effects of thermal expansion on an article to be molded. The protrusions, for instance, may be sized to counteract shrinkage caused by a thickness of a feature after the metal alloy cools in the mold. In this way, the protrusions may be used to form a substantially flat surface even though features may be disposed on an opposing side of the surface.
• In yet another example, a radius may be employed by features to encourage fill and reduce voids in an article. In a relatively thin article (e.g., less than one millimeter), for instance, sharp corners may cause voids at the corners due to turbulence and other factors encountered in the injection of the metal alloy into a mold. Accordingly, a radius may be utilized that is based at least in part on a thickness of the article to encourage flow and reduce voids. A variety of other examples are also contemplated, further discussion of which may be found in relation to the following sections.
• In the following discussion, an example environment is first described that may employ the techniques described herein. Example procedures are then described which may be performed in the example environment as well as other environments. Consequently, performance of the example procedures is not limited to the example environment and the example environment is not limited to performance of the example procedures. It should be readily apparent that these technique may be combined, separated, and so on.
• Example Environment
• FIG. 1 is an illustration of an environment in an example implementation showing asystem100 that is operable to employ injection mold techniques described herein. The illustrated environment includes acomputing device102 that is communicatively coupled to aninjection device104 and amolding device106. Although illustrated separately, the functionality represented by these apparatus may be combined, further divided, and so on.
• Thecomputing device102 is illustrated as including an injectionmolding control module108, which is representative of functionality to control operation of theinjection device104 andmolding device106. The injectionmolding control module108, for instance, may utilize one ormore instructions110 stored on a computer-readable storage media112. The one ormore instructions110 may then be used to control operation of theinjection device104 andmolding device106 to form an article using injection molding.
• Theinjection device104, for instance, may include aninjection control module116 to control heating and injection of ametal alloy118 that is to be injected into amold120 of themolding device106.Injection device104, for instance, may include a heating element to heat and liquefy themetal alloy118, such as to melt a metal alloy comprised primarily of magnesium to approximately six hundred and fifty degrees Celsius. Theinjection device104 may then employ an injector (e.g., a plunger or screw type injector) to inject themetal alloy118 in liquid form under pressure into themold120 of the molding device, such as at approximately forty mPa although other pressures are also contemplated.
• Themolding device106 is illustrated as including amold control module122, which is representative of functionality to control operation of themold120. Themold120, for instance, may a plurality ofmold portions124,126. Themold portions124,126 when disposed proximal to each other form acavity128 that defines thearticle114 to be molded. Themold portions124,126 may then be moved apart to remove thearticle114 from themold120.
• As previously described, conventional techniques may encounter complications when used to mold anarticle114 using ametal alloy118. For example, anarticle114 having walls with a thickness of less than one millimeter may make it difficult to fill an entirety of thecavity128 to form thearticle114 as themetal alloy118 may not readily flow through thecavity128 before cooling. This may be further complicated when thearticle114 includes a variety of different features that are to be formed on part of the wall, as further described as follows and shown in a corresponding figure.
• FIG. 2 depicts anexample implementation200 in which features of an article molded using thesystem100 ofFIG. 1 is shown. In this example, thearticle114 is configured to form part of a housing for a computing device in a hand held form factor, e.g., tablet, mobile phone, game device, music device, and so on.
• Thearticle114 in this instance includes portions that define awall202 of thearticle114.Features204,206 are also included that extend away from thewall202 and thus have a thickness that is greater than the wall. Additionally, thefeatures204,206 may have a width that is considered relatively thin in comparison with this thickness. Accordingly, in form factors in which the wall is also considered thin (e.g., less than one millimeter) it may be difficult to get themetal alloy118 to flow into these features using conventional techniques.
• As shown in theexample implementation300 ofFIG. 3, for instance, acavity128 defined by themold portions124,126 may be shaped to form thewall202 and thefeatures204,206. A flow of themetal alloy118 into thecavity128 at relatively thin thickness may cause themetal alloy114 to cool before filling thecavity128 and thus may be leave voids in thecavity128 between themetal alloy114 and surfaces of thecavity128. These voids may consequently have an adverse effect on thearticle114 being molded. Accordingly, techniques may be employed to reduce and even eliminate formation of the voids, an example of which is described in the following discussion and corresponding figure.
• FIG. 4 depicts asystem400 in an example implementation in which aninjection distribution device402 is used to physically couple an outflow of the injected metal alloy from theinjection device104 to amold120 of themolding device106. Pressure used to inject themetal alloy118 to form thearticle114 may set to encourage a uniform fill of thecavity128 of themold120.
• For example, a pressure may be employed by theinjection device104 that is sufficient to form an alpha layer (e.g., skin) on an outer surface of themetal alloy118 as it flows through themold120. The alpha layer, for instance, may have a higher density at a surface than in the “middle” of themetal alloy118 when flowing into themold120. This may be formed based at least in part using relatively high pressures (such as around 40mega Pascals) such that the skin is pressed against a surface of themold120 thereby reducing formation of voids. Thus, the thicker the alpha layer the less chance of forming voids in themold120.
• Additionally, aninjection distribution device402 may be configured to encourage this flow from theinjection device104 into themold120. Theinjection device402 in this example includes arunner404 and a plurality ofsub-runners406,408,410. The sub-runners406-410 are used to distribute themetal alloy118 into different portions of themold120 to promote a generally uniform application of themetal alloy118.
• However, conventional injection distribution devices were often configured such that a flow of themetal alloy118 or other material was hindered by the branches of the device. The branches formed by sub-runners of convention devices, for instance, may be sized such as to cause an approximate forty percent flow restriction between a runner and the sub-runners that were configured to receive themetal alloy118. Thus, this flow restriction could cause cooling of themetal alloy118 as well as counteract functionality supported through use of particular pressures (e.g., about 40 mega Pascals) used to form alpha layers.
• Accordingly, theinjection distribution device402 may be configured such that a decrease in flow of themetal alloy118 through the device is not experienced. For example, a size of across section412 taken of therunner404 may be approximated by an overall size of across section414 taken of the plurality ofsub-runners406,408,410, which is described further below and shown in relation to a corresponding figure.
• FIG. 5 depicts anexample implementation500 showing comparison ofrespect cross sections412,414 of therunner404 and the plurality of sub-runners406-410. Thecross section412 of therunner404 is approximately equal to or less than across section414 overall of the plurality of sub-runners406-408. This may be performed by varying a diameter (e.g., including height and/or width) such that flow is not reduced as themetal alloy118 passes through theinjection distribution device104.
• For example, therunner404 may be sized to coincide with an injection port of theinjection device104 and the plurality of sub-runners406-410 may get progressively shorter and wider to coincide with a form factor of thecavity128 of themold120. Additionally, although asingle runner404 and three sub-runners406-410 are shown it should be readily apparent that different numbers and combinations are also contemplated without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Additional techniques may also be employed to reduce a likelihood of voids in the article, another example of which is described as follows.
• FIG. 6 depicts asystem600 in an example implementation in which a vacuum device is employed to create negative pressure inside a cavity of themold120 to promote flow of themetal alloy118. As previously described,metal alloys118 such as one primarily comprised of magnesium may be resistant to flow, especially for thickness that are less than a millimeter. This problem may be exacerbated when confronted with forming an article that is approximately two hundred millimeters long or greater and thus conventional techniques were limited to articles smaller than that.
• For example, it may be difficult using conventional techniques to fill a cavity under conventional techniques to form a part of a housing of a computing device that has walls having a thickness of approximately 0.65 millimeters and width and length of greater than 100 millimeters and one hundred and fifty millimeters, respectively (e.g., approximately 190 millimeters by 240 millimeters for a tablet). This is because themetal alloy118 may cool and harden, especially at those thicknesses and lengths due to the large amount of surface area in comparison with thicker and/or shorter articles. However, the techniques described herein may be employed to form such an article.
• In thesystem600 ofFIG. 6, a vacuum device602 is employed to bias a flow of themetal alloy118 through thecavity128 to form thearticle114. For example, the vacuum device602 may be configured to form negative pressure within thecavity128 of themold120. The negative pressure (e.g., 0.4 bar) may include a partial vacuum formed to remove air from the cavity218, thereby reducing a chance of formation of air pockets as thecavity128 is filled with themetal alloy118.
• Further, the vacuum device602 may be coupled to particular areas of themold120 to bias the flow of themetal alloy118 in desired ways. Thearticle114, for instance, may include areas that are feature rich (e.g., as opposed to sections having fewer features, thewall202, and so on) and thus may restrict flow in those areas. Additionally, particular areas might be further away from an injection port (e.g., at the corners that are located closer to the vacuum device602 than the injection device104).
• In the illustrated instance, the vacuum device602 is coupled to areas that are opposite areas of themold120 that receive themetal alloy118, e.g., from theinjection device104. In this way, themetal alloy118 is encouraged to flow through themold120 and reduce voids formed within themold120 due to incomplete flow, air pockets, and so on. Other techniques may also be employed to bias flow of themetal alloy118, another example of which is described as follows and shown in an associated figure.
• FIG. 7 depicts asystem700 in an example implementation in which amold120 includes one ormore overflows702,704 to bias a flow ofmetal alloy118 through amold120. As previously described, characteristics of thearticle114 to be molded may cause complications, such as due to relative thinness (e.g., less than one millimeter), length of article (e.g., 100 millimeters or over), shape of article114 (e.g., to reach corners on the opposing side of thecavity128 from the injection device104), features and feature density, and so on. These complications may make it difficult to get themetal alloy118 to flow to particular portions of themold120, such as due to cooling and so forth.
• In this example, overflows702,704 are utilized to bias flow of themetal alloy118 towards theoverflows702,704. Theoverflows702,704, for instance, may bias flow toward the corners of thecavity128 in the illustrated example. In this way, a portion of thecavity128 that may be otherwise difficult to fill may be formed using themetal alloy118 without introducing voids. Other examples are also contemplated, such as to position theoverflows702,704 based on feature density of corresponding portions of thecavity128 of themold120. Once cooled, material (e.g., the metal alloy118) disposed within theoverflows702,704 may be removed to form thearticle114, such as by a machining operation.
• Thus, theoverflows702,704 may be utilized to counteract a “cold material” condition in which the material (e.g., the metal alloy118) does not fill thecavity128 completely, thus forming voids such as pinholes. The colder material, for instance, may exit theoverflows702,704 thus promoting contact of hotter material (e.g.,metal alloy118 still in substantially liquid form) to form thearticle114. This may also aide a microstructure of thearticle114 due to the lack of imperfections as could be encountered otherwise.
• FIG. 8 depicts anexample implementation800 in which a protrusion is utilized to reduce an effect of thermal expansion caused by varying degrees of thickness of anarticle114 to be molded. As previously described, injection molding was traditionally utilized to form plastic parts. Although these techniques were then expanded to metal alloys, conventional techniques were limited to relatively small sizes (e.g., watch parts) due to thermal expansion of the material, which could cause inconsistencies in articles larger than a relatively small size, e.g., watch parts. However, techniques are described herein which may utilized to counteract differences in thermal expansion, e.g., due to differences in thickness of the article, and as such may be used to support manufacture of larger articles, such as articles over 100 millimeters.
• Theexample implementation800 is illustrated using first andsecond stages802,804. At thefirst stage802, themold120 is shown as forming acavity128 to mold an article. Thecavity128 is configured to have different thicknesses to mold different parts of thearticle114, such as awall202 and afeature206. As illustrated, thefeature206 has a thickness that is greater than a thickness of thewall202. Accordingly, thefeature206 may exhibit a larger amount of contraction than thewall202 due to thermal expansion of themetal alloy118. Using conventional techniques, this caused a depression in a side of the article that is opposite to thefeature206. This depression made formation of a substantially flat surface on a side of the article that opposed thefeature206 difficult if not impossible using conventional injection molding techniques.
• Accordingly, thecavity126 of the mold may be configured to form aprotrusion806 on an opposing side of the feature. Theprotrusion806 may be shaped and sized based at least in part on thermal expansion (and subsequent contraction) of themetal alloy118 used to form the article. Theprotrusion806 may be formed in a variety of ways, such as to have a minimum radius of 0.6 mm, use of angles of thirty degrees or less, and so on.
• Therefore, once themetal alloy118 cools and solidifies as shown in thesecond stage804, thearticle114 may form a substantially flat surface that includes an area proximal to an opposing side of the feature as well as the opposing side of thefeature206, e.g., thewall202 and an opposing side of thefeature206 adjacent to thewall202. In this way, thearticle114 may be formed to have a substantially flat surface using amold120 having acavity128 that is not substantially flat at a corresponding portion of thecavity128 of themold120.
• FIG. 9 depicts anexample implementation900 in which a mold is employed that includes edges configured to reduce voids. Thisimplementation900 is also shown using first andsecond stage902,904. As previously described, injection molding was traditionally performed using plastics. However, when employed to mold ametal alloy118, conventional techniques could be confronted with reduced flow characteristics of themetal alloy118 in comparison with the plastics, which could cause voids.
• Accordingly, techniques may be employed to reduce voids in injection molding using ametal alloy118. For example, at thefirst stage902molding portions124,126 of themold120 are configured to form acavity128 as before to mold anarticle114. However, thecavity128 is configured to employ radii and angles that promote flowability between the surface of the cavity218 and themetal alloy118 to form thearticle114 without voids.
• For example, thearticle114 may be configured to include portions (e.g., a wall) that have a thickness of less than one millimeter, such as approximately 0.65 millimeter. Accordingly, aradius906 of approximately 0.6 to 1.0 millimeters may be used to form an edge of thearticle114. Thisradius906 is sufficient to promote flow of ametal alloy118 comprised primarily of magnesium through thecavity128 of themold120 from theinjection device104 yet still promote contact. Other radii are also contemplated, such as one millimeter, two millimeters, and three millimeters. Additionally, larger radii may be employed with articles having less thickness, such as a radius of approximately twelve millimeters for anarticle114 having walls with a thickness of approximately 0.3 millimeters.
• In one or more implementations, these radii may be employed to follow a likely direction of flow of themetal alloy118 through thecavity128 in themold120. A leading and/or trailing edge of a feature aligned perpendicular to the flow of themetal alloy118, for instance, may employ the radii described above whereas other edges of the feature that run substantially parallel to the flow may employ “sharp” edges that do not employ the radii, e.g., have a radius of less than 0.6 mm for anarticle114 having walls with a thickness of approximately 0.65 millimeters.
• Additionally, techniques may be employed to remove part of themetal alloy118 to form a desired feature. Themetal alloy118, for instance, may be shaped using themold120 as shown in thefirst stage902. At the second stage, edges of thearticle114 may be machined to “sharpen” the edges, e.g., stamping, grinding, cutting, and so on. Other examples are also contemplated as further described in the following discussion of the example procedures.
• Example Procedures
• The following discussion describes injection molding techniques that may be implemented utilizing the previously described systems and devices. Aspects of each of the procedures may be implemented in hardware, firmware, or software, or a combination thereof. The procedures are shown as a set of blocks that specify operations performed by one or more devices and are not necessarily limited to the orders shown for performing the operations by the respective blocks. In portions of the following discussion, reference will be made toFIGS. 1-9.
• FIG. 10 depicts aprocedure1000 in an example implementation in which an article is injection molded using a mold that employs overflows. An article is injection molded using a metal alloy comprised primarily of magnesium using a molding device having a plurality of molding portions that form a cavity that defines an article to be molded using the metal alloy and one or more overflows that are positioned to bias flow of the metal alloy toward parts of the cavity that correspond to the overflows (block1002). As shown inFIG. 7, for instance, theoverflows702,704 may be positioned to bias flow towards associated regions of themold120. Theoverflows702,704 may also be used to removemetal alloy118 that has cooled during flow through themold120 such that subsequent metal alloy that is injected into themold120 may remain in a liquid form sufficient to contact the surface of the cavity as opposed to the cooledmetal alloy118 that may cause pin holes and other imperfections.
• The metal alloy collected in the one or more overflows is removed from the metal alloy molded using the cavity to form the article (block1004). This may be performed using a stamping, machining, or other operation in which themetal alloy118 disposed in the overflows is separated from themetal alloy118 in thecavity128 of themold120 that is used to form thearticle114, e.g., a housing of a hand-held computing device such as a tablet, phone, and so on.
• FIG. 11 depicts aprocedure1100 in an example implementation in which a mold is formed that employs overflows. A mold is formed that includes a plurality of molding portions (block1102). The molding portions may be used to form a cavity that define an article to be molded using a metal alloy (block1104), such as a metal alloy comprised primarily of magnesium.
• One or more flows may also be formed as part of the molding portions that are positioned to bias flow of the metal alloy injected through the cavity toward parts of the cavity that correspond to the overflows (block1106). As before, these overflows may be positioned due to feature density of the article, difficult locations of the cavity to fill, located to remove “cooled” metal alloy, and so on.
• FIG. 12 depicts aprocedure1200 in an example implementation in which a protrusion is formed to at least partially counteract thermal expansion of the metal alloy and subsequent contraction caused by cooling of the metal alloy. A metal alloy is injected into a mold having a plurality of molding portions that define a cavity that corresponds to an article to be molded. The mold defines a portion of the cavity that defines a feature for the article having a thickness that is greater than a thickness of an area of the article defined by the cavity that is proximal to the feature. The mold also defines a protrusion for the article aligned as substantially opposing the feature, the protrusion being sized such that upon solidifying of the metal alloy that forms the article, the protrusion reduces an effect of thermal expansion on a portion of the article that is aligned as substantially opposing the feature (block1202). The protrusion, for instance, may be formed as an indention in part of thecavity128 of themold120.
• The metal alloy is removed from the cavity of the mold after solidifying of the metal alloy within the mold (block1204). As stated above, the protrusion may be used to offset an effect of thermal expansion and subsequent contraction of themetal alloy118, such as to form a substantially flat surface on a side of the article opposite to the feature.
• FIG. 13 depicts aprocedure1300 in an example implementation in which a mold is formed that is configured to form a protrusion on an article to counteract an effect of thermal expansion. A mold is formed having a plurality of molding portions to form an article using a metal alloy that is defined in the mold using a cavity (block1302). This may include forming a portion of the cavity that defines a feature for the article having a thickness that is greater than a thickness of an area of the article defined by the cavity that is proximal to the feature (block1304).
• The mold may also be configured to form a protrusion for the article aligned on a side of the cavity that is opposite to a side including the feature, the protrusion being sized as being proportional to the thickness of the feature such that upon solidifying of the metal alloy that forms the article, the protrusion reduces an effect of thermal expansion on the side of the article that is opposite to the feature (block1306). In this way, subsequent cooling of the metal alloy and corresponding contraction may be addressed to reduce the effect of the thermal expansion on the article.
• FIG. 14 depicts aprocedure1400 in an example implementation in which a radius is employed to limit formation of voids of the article. A metal alloy is injected into a mold having a plurality of molding portions that define a cavity that corresponds to an article to be molded including walls with a thickness of less than one millimeter with one or more features disposed thereon having edges with a radius of at least 0.6 millimeter (block1402). As previously described, metal alloys may introduce complications not encountered using plastics, such as quicker cooling and resistance to flow through amold120, especially for articles having a thickness of under one millimeter. Accordingly, the radius may be employed to reduce voids caused by sharp edges.
• At least a portion of the radius of the edge is machined to define the feature of the article after removal of the metal alloy from the cavity (block1404). In this way, a sharp edge may be provided on the device yet a likelihood of voids reduced. A variety of other examples are also contemplated as previously described in relation toFIG. 9.
CONCLUSION
• Although the invention has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claimed invention.

Claims (21)

1. A method comprising:

injecting a metal alloy into a mold having a plurality of molding portions that define a cavity that corresponds to an article to be molded, the mold defining:

a portion of the cavity that defines a feature for the article having a thickness that is greater than a thickness of an area of the article defined by the cavity that is proximal to the feature; and

a protrusion for the article aligned as substantially opposing the feature, the protrusion being sized such that upon solidifying of the metal alloy that forms the article, the protrusion reduces an effect of thermal expansion on a portion of the article that is aligned as substantially opposing the feature; and

removing the metal alloy from the cavity of the mold after solidifying of the metal alloy within the mold.

2. A method as described inclaim 1, wherein the protrusion is sized as proportional to the thickness of the feature and a coefficient of thermal expansion of the metal alloy.

3. A method as described inclaim 1, wherein the protrusion reduces the effect of thermal expansion on the portion of the article that is aligned as substantially opposing the feature such that an area proximal to the portion and the portion form a substantially flat surface after the solidifying of the metal alloy.

4. A method as described inclaim 1, wherein the metal alloy is comprised primarily of magnesium.

5. A method as described inclaim 1, wherein the thickness of the area proximal to the feature is less than one millimeter and the thickness of the protrusion is greater than one millimeter.

6. A method as described inclaim 5, wherein the thickness of the area is approximately 0.65 millimeter.

7-14. (canceled)

15. A method comprising:

forming a mold comprising a plurality of molding portions to form an article using a metal alloy that is defined in the mold using a cavity, the forming including:

forming a portion of the cavity that defines a feature for the article having a thickness that is greater than a thickness of an area of the article defined by the cavity that is proximal to the feature; and

forming a protrusion for the article aligned on a side of the cavity that is opposite to a side including the feature, the protrusion being sized as being proportional to the thickness of the feature such that upon solidifying of the metal alloy that forms the article, the protrusion reduces an effect of thermal expansion on the side of the article that is opposite to the feature.

16. A method as described inclaim 15, wherein the protrusion is sized based also on a coefficient of thermal expansion of the metal alloy.

17. A method as described inclaim 15, wherein the protrusion is sized to form a substantially flat surface after the solidifying of the metal alloy.

18. A method as described inclaim 15, wherein the protrusion is defined in the cavity such that a corresponding surface of the cavity that corresponds to the protrusion is not flat.

19. A method as described inclaim 15, wherein the metal alloy is comprised primarily of magnesium.

20. A method as described inclaim 15, wherein the thickness of the area proximal to the feature is less than one millimeter and the thickness of the protrusion is greater than one millimeter.

21. A metal product formed by a process comprising:

injecting a metal alloy into a mold having a plurality of molding portions that define a cavity that corresponds to an article to be molded, the mold defining:

a portion of the cavity that defines a feature for the article having a thickness that is greater than a thickness of an area of the article defined by the cavity that is proximal to the feature; and

a protrusion for the article aligned as substantially opposing the feature, the protrusion being sized such that upon solidifying of the metal alloy that forms the article, the protrusion reduces an effect of thermal expansion on a portion of the article that is aligned as substantially opposing the feature; and

removing the metal alloy from the cavity of the mold after solidifying of the metal alloy within the mold.

22. A metal product as described inclaim 21, wherein the protrusion is sized as proportional to the thickness of the feature.

23. A metal product as described inclaim 21, wherein the protrusion is sized based on a coefficient of thermal expansion of the metal alloy.

24. A metal product as described inclaim 21, wherein the protrusion reduces the effect of thermal expansion on the portion of the article that is aligned as substantially opposing the feature.

25. A metal product as described inclaim 24, wherein the protrusion is configured such that an area proximal to the portion and the portion form a substantially flat surface after the solidifying of the metal alloy.

26. A metal product as described inclaim 21, wherein the metal alloy is comprised primarily of magnesium.

27. A metal product as described inclaim 21, wherein the thickness of the area proximal to the feature is less than one millimeter and the thickness of the protrusion is greater than one millimeter.

28. A metal product as described inclaim 25, wherein the thickness of the area is approximately 0.65 millimeter.

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