Our team at MFG Union City is skilled and experienced in open molding, the most commonly used molding process in composite fiberglass manufacturing.

The benefits of MFG Union City’s Open Molding process include:

• Minimal tooling and mold costs
• Easy mold modification
• Design flexibility
• Optimum for large production runs
• Best range of large part sizes
• Preferred for complex part
• Mobile modeling

At MFG Union City, we can use Open Molding to produce a wide array high quality parts, such as building parts, locomotive ends, military fuel cells and tanks, as well as hoods, doors, rock guards, roofs for trucks. 

Open Molding at MFG Union City

Open molding begins with a release agent that we spray coat on the mold. This release agent ensures that the part will discharge from the mold smoothly. Next, we gel coat the mold with a pigmented polymer to give the part a specified color finish.

At MFG Union City, we then add composite fiberglass to the part, either by the hand lay-up or spray-up process. The required thickness of the part determines how many layers of the fiberglass material we use. Once the fiberglass cures, another layer of gelcoat is sometimes added to complete the part.

Hand Lay-up

Hand Lay-up is the simplest process and preferred for large parts. In hand lay-up, we place precut fiber pieces on the mold and then apply resin to it. Our MFG Union City teammates then manually roll all of the entrapped air out of fiberglass, leaving a finished, smooth part. 

Spray-up

At MFG Union City, we use a spray up process for large intricate parts. We send composite fiberglass chop and resin flow through the chopper unit and air pressure sprays the resin mixture onto the mold. As in hand lay-up, our teammates then roll out the air bubbles to complete the finished, smooth part.