In China, plastic products are produced using a variety of manufacturing techniques. Depending on the type of method used, the strength, precision, and finish of a plastic product can vary significantly. The most common method used for plastic prototyping and production is injection molding. In this blog, we will discuss injection molding in detail so that you can pick the plastic manufacturing process for your project wisely.
What is Injection Molding?
Injection molding is a process used to manufacture solid components, usually from plastic. The process of injection molding involves obtaining molded products by injecting plastic material in molten form into a mold, and then cooling and solidifying the part.
When it comes to manufacturing plastic products with complicated shapes in large amounts, the one method that most manufacturers recommend is injection molding in China.
How does Injection Molding Work?
The process of injection molding is typically divided into 6 main steps, namely:
· Clamping
· Injection
· Dwelling
· Cooling
· Mold Opening
· Product removal
First of all, the plastic granules are fed into a heated barrel where they are melted to transform the solid plastic material into the liquid or molten state.
Then, the molten plastic is guided through a nozzle (clamping) of the injection molding machine and injected into the mold (injection). The molten plastic gets stored and retains the shape of the mold (dwelling).
The molten plastic is then cooled rapidly and becomes solid in the desired shape in only a few seconds (cooling). Once the molded plastic cools off fully, the mold opens (mold opening) and ejects the newly formed, molded plastic product (product removal).
The speed of the cooling and efficiency of the process allows large-scale manufacturers to produce plastic components in bulk.
What is the injection molding used for?
When one needs plastic components with complex shapes in bulk, injection molding is an ideal process. It is the most practical solution when a business needs identical parts. It helps with maintaining the consistency and reliability of plastic parts of a brand.
What are the benefits of using injection molding?
The main advantage of injection molding is that the process allows you to scale production in mass. Once the initial costs have been paid, the price per unit is very low during injection molding manufacturing. Besides, the price also tends to decrease significantly when more parts are produced. When compared to CNC machining, it can result in low scrap rates. It allows you to produce practically identical parts in high-volume production.
Is there any downside of injection molding?
Upfront costs can be very high because of the design, testing, and tooling requirements. Hence, when you need to produce parts via injection molding, you need to get the design right the first time. However, you get the compensation in terms of price when you need plastic parts in bulk.
Besides, it also comes with large lead times because the tooling phase can take up a lot of time. Sometimes, large parts cannot be made through injection molding as a single piece because of the limitations of injection molding machines and the mold tools.
Thus, the next time you need the production of plastic parts, keep in mind the pros and cons of injection molding to determine whether you should hire injection molding in China or some other service.