Commitment to Excellence Leads to Meeting a Client’s High Standards…and Our Own
Introduction
The most challenging issues often take the longest time to solve. A strong partnership between customer and provider is necessary to pull it all together. When a long-time customer in the power industry came to Molded Dimensions Group with a challenge no other supplier could handle our team went to work. The client was looking for improved lightning strike protection in its power distribution systems. This project focused on silicone rubber overmolding and silicone-to-composite bonding for a mission-critical utility component exposed to transient overvoltage events. When extreme voltage events occur, every material interface, bond and process step must still perform at the highest level.
When the client faced consistent challenges with existing suppliers, they turned to the technical expertise of Molded Dimensions Group. What followed was a multi-year collaboration; an intensely detailed process with many quality checks and requirements, leading to a positive outcome.
The Problem: 100% Silicone-to-Composite Bond for Lightning Strike Protection
The challenge was to achieve a 100% bond between silicone rubber and a non-traditional composite material resistor. If silicone fails to adhere perfectly to the material, electrical energy can arc around the resistor, negatively affecting the product’s function during a lightning strike. In a surge event (transient voltage), this can create a field failure risk and reduce in-service reliability over time. This may lead to system failure over time.
Before working with Molded Dimensions Group, the client worked unsuccessfully with another molder, paying a higher price with less success. They found many molders with access to the specified Dow silicone compound, but they could not reliably bond it to non-traditional material at the level required for lightning protection applications.
The Solution: Surface Preparation and Process Controls for Utility-Grade Bonding
Molded Dimensions Group’s solution was the result of an intense R&D effort and process development, collaborating with the customer’s engineering and design departments to achieve consistent bond integrity. This identified a proprietary process – to solve bonding issues, including the way the surface of the non-traditional composite material was prepared and treated.
This process, combined with detailed, specific cleaning methods, enables the silicone primer to facilitate a uniform bond.
To achieve success, the process had to be fine-tuned to the point that even environmental factors had to be considered in order to eliminate airborne contamination. Through experimentation, Molded Dimensions Group discovered an alternative solution which produced superior bonding results.
Quality assurance is also a part of every step through process validation. Trials, checks (and re-checks) are meticulous to confirm adhesion performance and repeatability, thanks to the countless scenarios that have been tested.
Once prepared, the molding was refined through multiple trials. Molded Dimensions Group sources all customer-specified components to ensure full compliance with the customer’s design requirements.
The Results: Improved Grid Reliability Through Reduced Field Failures
Molded Dimension Group developed a resistor assembly that meets the customer’s high standards. The customer is seeing a reduction in failures and greater reliability that other suppliers could not match, including reduced field failures, improved consistency, and improved reliability during surge events. Molded Dimensions Group is now this customer’s preferred molder delivering the highest success rate for a mission-critical part.
Our client’s confidence in Molded Dimensions Group is reflected in its long-term outlook, with a firm forecast for 2026 that is approximately four times higher than previous volumes.
This is another example of our ADEPT Process in action – Activate, Develop, Execute, Perform and Thrive. Striving to meet customer needs thanks to superior technical competence and the work of experienced professionals, this five-step process brings peace of mind and exceptional solutions.
