Sunday, January 1, 2017

General Information About Plastic Injection Molding

By Dennis Foster


With the improvement in technology manufacturing industries are on the verge of growth. Plastic injection molding is not left behind even as new technology is being invented in the manufacturing industry. This is a process which deals with the fabrication of plastic parts. Many products are manufactured by this process. These products differ in size, complexity, and their application.

The process requires the application of an injection molding machine, a mold, and raw material. During the process, the plastic is melted in the machine and the injected into the mold. It is then allowed to cool and hence solidifies into the final product.

The process has four steps the first one being compaction. Here, the two halves of these molds are clamped together in the clamping unit. Clamping takes place before injection, and it ensures that the halves of the mold are securely closed. During the clamping process, the two parts produce a force which is sufficient to keep it shut for the whole process.

Secondly, is injection process. During this process, the raw materials which are in form of pellets are usually fed into the machine. After feeding the raw material, they subjected to heat and pressure so that they can melt. The molten materials are put into the molds very fast. Pressure is created which is responsible for packing and holding the materials in place. The quantity of raw material injected is referred to as the shot volume. It is possible to estimate the injecting time using the shot volume, injection power and pressure.

Thirdly, is cooling. The molten plastic which is inside the mold starts to cool immediately it comes in contact with the interior mold surface. As it cools, it solidifies to the shape of the required part. However, it is important to know that during cooling, some shrinkage may occur. As a result, the packing of material in the previous stage allow additional material to flow into it thus reducing the visible shrinkage. The frame remained opened until required cooling is obtained.

After the material is cooled enough, they are removed from the molds. The process of extracting the materials from the molds is called ejection. This process is achieved by the ejection system which is attached to the rear part of this machine. A given amount of force is applied to remove materials which adhere to the surface of the mold as a result of shrinkage. Sometimes, a mold release agent gets to be sprayed on the surface before feeding the raw materials to facilitate ejection.

This manufacturing process is applied in the making of thin walled plastic parts. The most common one being thin walled plastic housing. This housing is used in several products such as consumer electronics, household appliances, power tools and automotive dashboards.

One of the benefits of this process is that it is accurate. It is a precise method which can be used to fabricate any type of part. There are some design restrictions. However, the molds made allow the finished part to be very precise thus very accurate which is made possible by the skillfulness of the designers.




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