In our daily life, each of us uses products involving injection molding applications on a daily basis. 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 usually granular plastic. The plastic is melted in a plastic injection molding machine and then injected into the mold under high pressure. The material cools and cures inside the mold, then the two half-molds are opened and the product is removed. This technique will produce a plastic product with a predetermined fixed shape. There are these main steps.
1 – Clamping: The injection molding machine contains 3 components: the injection mold, the clamping unit and the injection unit, where the clamping unit keeps the mold under a certain pressure to ensure a consistent output.
2 – Injection: This refers to the part where the plastic pellets are fed into the hopper located at the top of the injection molding machine. These pellets are loaded into the master cylinder where they are heated at high temperatures until they melt into a liquid. Then, inside the injection molding machine, the screw will turn and mix the already liquefied plastic. Once this liquid plastic reaches the desired state for the product, the injection process begins. The plastic liquid is forced through a running gate whose speed and pressure are controlled by the screw or plunger, depending on the type of machine used.
3 – Pressure-holding: It indicates the process in which a certain pressure is applied to ensure that each mold cavity has been completely filled. If the cavities are not filled correctly, it will result in scrap of the unit.
4 – Cooling: This process step allows the time needed for the mold to cool. If this step is performed too hastily, the products may stick together or become distorted when they are removed from the machine.
5 – Mold opening: The clamping device is opened to separate the mold. Molds are often used repeatedly throughout the process, and they are very expensive to the machine.
6 – Demoulding: The finished product is removed from the injection molding machine. Generally, the finished product will continue on the production line or be packaged and delivered to the production line as a component of a larger product, for example, a steering wheel.
Post time: Sep-21-2022
