As the name suggests, a plastic molding machine makes thermoplastics or thermosets into plastic products of various shapes using plastic molds.
Injection molding machines produce plastic parts for everything, from medical devices to tools, from the aerospace to the automotive industry, where they are most intensively used.
This method is also used for manufacturing everyday household items and children’s toys, many of whose components and even whole parts are produced by plastic injection molding.
One of the main features of plastic injection molding is the speed and efficiency with which the same plastic product can quickly be produced in large quantities. Materials such as thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers, or metals are mainly used to make plastic molds.
With the advancement in technology and materials science, high-performance plastics that can withstand high temperatures are gradually replacing the metals used in traditional plastics production, giving them the hardness of metal and the toughness and plasticity of plastic.
In the past, there was a single type of injection molding machine, but with the change in technology and applications, there are many different types of injection molding machines available on the market, such as extrusion molding machines, blow molding machines, hot presses, vacuum machines, etc. Depending on the size of the object you need, there will be a particular weight of the injection molding machine.
The basic manufacturing process of injection molding is not complicated, but the requirements for product design and equipment are relatively high. The raw material is plastic in granular form. First, the plastic is melted in a plastic injection molding machine and injected into the mold under high pressure. The material cools and cures in the mold, and the product is removed. This technique will produce a plastic product with a fixed shape.
To streamline production, engineers must carefully design those parts that play a part in the plastic injection molding process. Products manufactured using plastic injection molding machines are designed by an industrial engineer or designer, who then passes a sample of the design to a mold manufacturer to create the mold, usually in steel or aluminum.
The mold maker takes into account all the fundamental conditions, such as the material to be used in the final product, the product’s function, etc., along with the material of the mold and the characteristics of the plastic injection molding machine. The injection molding machine is a precision manufacturing machine, of which there are several types.
The mold is placed into the injection molding machine, which remains closed during plastic injection molding by the action of the clamps. The plastic in the form of pellets or micropellets is fed into the injection molding machine.
The injection molding machine heats the plastic until it becomes liquid. It then injects the melted plastic into the mold (injection pressure). At this point, the mold cavity is filled with a plastic liquid, which then cools and forms a solid product.
Finally, the injector (linked to the injector system) discharges the cooled product from the machine as a finished part. It completes the injection molding process.