3K Injection Molding Case Study
Get Quote
Customer's scenario
The Need for Three-Shot Injection Molding Solution
Customer faces challenges with development and manufacture of a multi-component part that requires incorporation of 3 different thermoplastic polymers.
Key Problems that customer faced
The key challenges faced by the part development and production are
- The appropriate thermoplastic polymers selection for the part that would satisfy the exacting cosmetic requirements and functionalities
- The assembly/bonding of the 2 separate hard plastic polymers with different mechanical characteristics
- The assembly of the soft thermoplastics to the hard frame
- Passing of the lifetime and waterproofing test of the part
Our Proposed solution
3K Injection Molding Approach is the Best Way Forward
After reviewing the part geometry and its requirements, the most cost-effective and robust approach to build the part is to develop and produce the part, is a single injection molding cycle with a single triple-shot injection molding process.
The multi-shot injection molding engineering team at Kore Industries proposed and implemented geometric modifications to the part CAD that makes it feasible to build the part with a single 3K injection molding process.
Challenges faced
One of the challenges we face for building the part with 3K injection molding process is the risk of the second shot material melting the first shot in the second shot molding cycle. Therefore the processing and material selection is of key importance here.
Another major potential problem we might face would be the delamination of the individual components after the injection molding process; this is particularly so for the soft thermoplastic bonding to the hard.
Since the assembly of the component is confined within a very tight package, the bonding area between the hard and soft thermoplastics is very limited and that runs the risks of the 2 material delaminating during cycle tests or even failure. The Kore team has to review the entire assembly with the internal electronics and add more contact
The objective of selecting this approach is to simplify the build process and reduce the production costs as well as the enhancement to the functionality of the end part with this innovative triple-shot injection molding process.
Results
- The part is successfully developed and produced with 70% reduction in validation costs and 100% elimination of moisture leak.
- The production costs of the part was reduced by 25% process reduction of more than 70%.
- With the elimination of unnecessary material handling and assembly by injection molding the part in one single process, the quality yield of the production process improved more than 100%.
Conclusion
A cost-effective solution has been found to this technically demanding and potentially labor intensive challenge faced by our customer.
With the 3K multi-shot molding approach, we are able to achieve tremendous costs savings and production quality repeatability.
Kore Industries - We Are Not Just a Reliable Supplier, We Are your Solutions Provider
Interested to find out more about the 3K injection mold and molding technology?
Reach out to us and we'll be most happy to have a discussion with you.