Patent ID: 8377358

Claim:
A method of producing an over-molded article comprising the steps of: a) providing a substrate to be over-molded, wherein the substrate has a Young's modulus of 150 MPa to 1500 MPa, has an upper surface, lower surface, and a side surface connecting the upper and lower surface, and a centerline equidistant from the upper and lower surface; b) providing a mold with a mold cavity including a first and second section defining a cavity, the mold cavity having an upper wall, a lower wall and an inner and outer side wall interconnected therebetween, a cavity height defined by the distance between the upper wall and the lower wall, wherein the mold is essentially void of any nesting device inside the mold cavity to support the substrate and the mold cavity is further defined to have a clear zone and a substrate zone; c) placing and aligning an edge of the substrate onto the first section of the mold cavity such that en edge portion of the substrate, defined by a distance d e , a length d l , and a thickness d h , is disposed within the mold cavity and the edge portion is disposed in the mold cavity at a distance d w from the upper or tower walls, wherein d w is at least 10% of the cavity height at any point on the side surface of the substrate; d) closing the second section of the mold cavity, sandwiching the substrate therebetween, wherein the edge portion of the substrate is unsupported and protrudes into the mold cavity; e) injecting a flowable polymer into the mold cavity creating a polymer flow until the cavity is substantially filled with the flowable polymer and the edge portion is entirely sealed by the polymer, the polymer flow is further defined as having a flow front, wherein the flow front at least partially fills the clear zone before filling the substrate zone and a front surface that is angled between the clear zone and substrate zone at an angle α, wherein α has value between about 5° and 60°, and a pressure gradient of the flowable polymer above and below the edge portion is less than what is required to force the edge portion to either of the cavity walls; f) holding the mold closed until the polymer solidifies; g) opening the mold sections; and h) removing the over-molded article.