What is Plastic Injection Molding?
Plastic Injection molding is one of the most common methods of mass producing plastic products. Examples include chairs, disposable cutleries, crates, toys, consumer electronics casing, lego bricks and many others.
Injection molding machine comprising of three main parts - the injection unit, plastic injection mold, and the clamp. The barrel heats up the plastic pellets (as shown below). These molten plastic will be moved forward within the barrel via a screw system. Once it's fully melted, it will be "injected" into the mold cavity and it will take shape. It will cooled and hardened to form the plastic part.
Plastic pellet
So, Why Should We Use Injection Molding For Mass Production?
Plastic Injection Molding automates the process for mass production. A single shot could lead to the production of many parts depending on your mold design. There are also many types of molds that can further increase the productivity of a single shot of the molten plastics, such as Stack Mold, Tandem Mold as well as Multi-cavitation Mold.
When we opt for mass production, we will definitely favor predictability, efficiency and less trouble-shooting. Plastic injection molding is undoubtably an established manufacturing method. Highly sophisticated, engineered plastic materials to advanced injection machines are readily available in the market, to fulfill different manufacturing requirements.
Automotive Tandem Mold - one layer can be filling while the other layer is ejecting its parts. Thus, increasing productivity and saving time for cooling.
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Plastic Injection Molding Has Its Many Advantages
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Higher Efficiency
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The use of injection molds for mass production is great for achieving higher efficiency. Once designed for a specific purpose based on a customers choice, molding process doesn't take long. This makes it a lot more effective in mass production and also a lot more efficient in output rate.
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It Has Enhanced Strength.
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The use of additives such as fibre glass in plastic material is very common. These highly engineered compounded plastic materials carry characteristics of durability of its raw materials. And, there are thousands of different types of materials in the market to suit different needs.
On top of that, the density of plastic just as it is being molded gives it greater strength. Strong and durable parts are very much needed in the market place, and plastic injection molding gives you the flexibility that not a lot of other molding processes can offer.
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Gives Products Detailed Features
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The injection molds are a great way to give you mass-produce a good and detailed feature, and since they are subjected to high pressure. Thanks to this extreme and excessive-high pressure, it tends to provide great detail and design on all parts of your parts or products. Secondary processes can be saved such as texturing, and through 2K or 3K molding methods, you save a lot of labor costs on assembly and the finishings are a lot more impressive.
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Making Simultaneous Multiple Parts
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Another major advantage when it comes to the use of plastic injection molding is that you can actually simultaneously manufacture different parts within the same mold. One shot of the molten plastic produces different parts to be assembled. Consistency in colors for different parts, is also a great determinant in designing the mold this way.
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Saves Cost.
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Thanks to the automation in plastic injection molding processes, mass production most often leads to the lowering of manufacturing cost. Injection moldings are usually automated, and it is all done by machines, robots, and/or an operator for all the quality control and management. The automation helps with significant costs savings in the manufacturing process.
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It Is Cheaper than Plastic Machining, and More Lasting.
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It is a lot cheaper as mentioned and give you the best without having to pay a large sum of money. As we know, the initial creation of mold can be very expensive but with mass production, each parts will cost significantly lower than say, a metal part. It is actually not economical to make low volume parts with plastic injection molding due to the high initial cost of making a mold.
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Global Usage.
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Plastic injection molding is one of the most popular plastic producing processes around the globe. Anywhere you look, anywhere you are, you will see lots of products made through this process.
Conclusion
Plastic Injection molding method makes more sense for production on a larger scale. In fact, the high initial cost of the mold may not make sense for low volume production. There are also different types of plastic injection molds such as stack molds, tandem molds, as well as multi-shot injection molds which can offer more time-saving and increase in productivity.
Due to its many advantages, plastic injection molding is the most common choice for mass producing products nowadays.
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