Learn More About Plastic Injection Molding

By Ann Foster


Fundamentally, injection molding refers to manufacturing processes in which plastic granules are heated to melt and forced through some mold cavity. The process is commonly utilized in producing plastic parts. In addition, plastic injection molding enables the production of various products. Such products usually differ in size, application and complexity. The process nevertheless needs raw plastic materials, machines as well as molds.

Usually, raw plastics are initially melted inside a machine prior to infusion into the mold to cool and solidify. In Cobourg, ON, this technique generates thin-walled parts made of plastics normally put to various uses including making plastic casings. The casings are generally used in sealing various items including power tools, automotive dashboards, household appliances and even consumer electronics. Open containers including buckets are also other products that are manufactured.

The injection molding cycle is usually very short lasting between 2 seconds to 2 minutes, and the cycle consists of four stages. The first stage is known as clamping. Before injecting the material into a mold, you must close the two halves securely using a clamping unit.

During the injection stage, every half is attached to the machine and one half is made to slide. The clamping unit is normally hydraulically powered and pushes these mold halves together while exerting enough force to ensure the mold is closed securely while injecting the material.

The second phase is the injection stage where raw plastics usually in pellet forms are constantly inserted into molding machines before being advanced to a foam unit. The materials are usually made to melt at this stage through heat and pressure. The molten materials are quickly infused to the molds where the build-up of pressure compacts and holds them. The amount of infused material is normally called a shot. The duration taken at this stage remains tricky to determine. Nevertheless, an estimate may be arrived at using the quantity of shot, the injecting power and injecting pressure.

The other phase is the cooling phase. Here melted materials enclosed in the casts are cooled when they adhere to the interior cast surfaces. They become solid and take up the shape a part is determined to take. However, shrinkages may happen as cooling occurs, even though material packing at this phase allows some additional materials to get into the casts hence lessening the extent of shrinks.

The final stage is the ejection stage. This takes place after enough time has passed and the cooled parts can, therefore, be ejected by the ejection system from the mold. Once the mold is opened, a certain mechanism is used to remove the part from the mold. Normally, force is applied in ejecting the part since the part shrinks and sticks to the foam during cooling. To facilitate the ejection process, a mold release agent may be used and sprayed on mold cavity surfaces before injecting the material.

Once this cycle elapses, post-processing procedures are undertaken. This is as the cast held materials usually become solid on cooling and stick onto the parts. Nonetheless, any extra materials as well as flashes that might have occured ought to be clipped off from the part.




About the Author:



Commentaires