A process for molding a tire within a tire mold having movable elements displaceable to bring the tire mold into an open position or a closed position. The tire mold comprises upper and lower side members; mold segments defining a mold cavity; and sealing means for sealing the mold cavity. The process comprises steps of providing a tire mold having one or more closing seal members; placing the green tire into the mold cavity; placing one or more closing seal members next to a cooperating surface so as to face it without contacting it, by bringing the tire mold into a partial closure position; and drawing a vacuum on the mold cavity causing the one or more closing seal members to be moved or deformed by suction until they are in contact with the cooperating surface so that the mold cavity is sealed in an airtight manner.

A composite material molding jig for molding a long member made of a fiber base material and a resin on a plate member includes: a first member that is made of a material having a thermal expansion coefficient equivalent to a thermal expansion coefficient of the long member, internally includes a space serving as a mold of the long member, and has an outer surface formed flat in a longitudinal direction; and a second member that is made of a material lighter than the material of the first member, internally includes a space shaped to contain the first member, and has an inner surface formed flat in the longitudinal direction, wherein the fiber base material is placed in the space inside the first member, and the first member is placed in the space inside the second member for molding the long member.

A mold element (350) is fabricated (305, 310, 315) using a first mold (5) with which microstructures (323) are integrally formed in relief on the mold element (350). A lens (340) is cast (320, 325, 330, 335) using a second mold (7) that includes the mold element (350) such that the microstructures (337) are integrally formed on the lens (340).

Disclosed is a technique capable of preventing an encapsulating material from covering a heat-dissipating surface of a semiconductor module, which releases heat of a switching element. Specifically disclosed a step for manufacturing a semiconductor module including a submodule having a collector and an emitter with heat-dissipating surfaces, including a step for placing the submodule in the cavity so that the submodule is pressed by the pressing device while covering the heat-dissipating surface of the emitter with the pressing device and covering the heat-dissipating surface of the collector with the lower mold, and a step for feeding the encapsulating material to the cavity by moving the piston so that the pressure of the cavity measured by the pressure measuring device does not exceed the pressure at which the pressing device presses the submodule.

The invention relates to a molding device (1) and a method for the manufacture of structured or semistructured composite components comprising a polymer resin (50) and a fibrous substrate (51). According to the invention, the device comprises a mold (2) comprising a bottom and a lateral surface, a part (10) that is movable along the lateral surface of the mold, comprising a compression surface (14) forming a cavity (7) with the bottom and the lateral surface (5) of said mold (2), characterized in that the movable part (10) comprises a vacuum-drawing channel (13, 23) opening into a chamber (25, 42) located above the cavity and communicating with said cavity (7).

A modular tooling arrangement includes a base member comprising a planar working surface, a frame circumscribing a first cavity at least partially defined by the planar working surface, and a plurality of plates configured to be received in the first cavity for forming a second cavity of a desired shape and size. The plurality of plates at least partially define the second cavity configured to receive a work piece. The plurality of plates may be replaced with plates of various sizes to vary at least one of the size and shape of the second cavity.

A method of manufacturing a forming tool. The forming tool may include at least one die having a perimeter wall and a profile panel. At least a portion of the die may be manufactured using an additive manufacturing process. For instance, the profile panel may be manufactured using an additive manufacturing process or the profile panel and additional portions of the die, such as the perimeter wall, may be manufactured using an additive manufacturing process.

A mold assembly for producing a part includes a first section, a second section movably coupled to the first section, and a cavity defined by the first section and the second section, the cavity being shaped to receive a part while the first section and the second section are movably coupled to each other. The mold assembly includes a joint formed by adjacent surfaces of the first section and the second section and a seal extending along the joint.

A mold tool assembly includes a first tool having a protrusion for producing a respective hole in a foam body and a second tool configured to cooperate with the first tool to mold the foam body. The second tool defines a cavity corresponding to the protrusion. The mold tool assembly also includes a movable plunger for clearing flash corresponding to and located at least partially within the cavity in the second tool, and movable between a disengaged position when the first and second tools are separated, and an engaged position when the first and second tools are closed. The mold tool assembly also includes an actuator configured to move the movable plunger between the engaged position and the disengaged position. In the engaged position, the movable plunger contacts the protrusion to seal the cavity, and in the disengaged position, at least a portion of the movable plunger extends below a bottom surface of the second tool into the hole.

Disclosed is a method implemented by computer for determining a lens blank intended to be used for the manufacturing of a finished optical article. The method includes: —a virtual volume data determining step, during which virtual volume data are determined based at least on finished optical article data representative of the volume of the finished optical article and over-thickness data representative of over-thickness requirements, the virtual volume data are determined so that the virtual volume defined by the virtual volume data includes the volume of the finished optical article volume of the finished optical article and the over-thickness, —a lens blank determining step, during which a lens blank is determined based on the virtual volume data so as to include the virtual volume defined by the virtual volume data.