What Is Injection Molding?
Injection molding is a forming process using molds. Materials such as synthetic resins (plastics) are heated and melted, and then sent to the mold where they are cooled to form the designed shape. Due to the resemblance to the process of injecting fluids using a syringe, this process is called injection molding. The flow of the process is as follows: Materials are melted and poured into the mold, where they harden, and then the products are taken out and finished. With injection molding, diversely shaped parts, including those with complex shapes, can be continuously and quickly manufactured in large volumes. Therefore, injection molding is used to manufacture commodities and products in a wide range of industries.
Injection molding is used to create many things such as wire spools, packaging, bottle caps, automotive parts and components, toys, pocket combs, some musical instuments, one-piece chairs and small tables, storage containers, mechanical parts, an most other plastic products available today. Injection molding is the most common modern method of manufacturing plastic parts; it is ideal for producting high volumes of the same object.
How Does Injection Molding Work?
Star Machining offer a complete manufacturing solution that covers every aspect of raw material verification, tool making, part fabrication, finishing, and final inspection. Our team of manufacturing experts is committed to providing you with the highest level of professional support for plastic injection molding services of any size or complexity.
Normally injection mold manufacturing can be roughly divided into the following steps:
- 1. Process analysis of plastic products:
- Before the mold design, the designer should fully analyze and study whether the plastic product conforms to the injection molding processing principle, and needs to negotiate with the product designer carefully, and a consensus has been reached. Including the geometric shape, dimensional accuracy and appearance requirements of the product, necessary discussions, try to avoid unnecessary complexity in mold manufacturing.
- 2. Mould structure design.
- 3. Determine the mold material and select standard parts.
- In the selection of mold materials, in addition to considering the accuracy and quality of the product, the correct choice must be made in combination with the actual processing and heat treatment capabilities of the mold factory. In addition, in order to shorten the manufacturing cycle, use existing standard parts as much as possible.
- 4. Parts processing and mold assembly.
- 5. try out the molds.
- A set of molds only completes 70% to 80% of the entire manufacturing process from the beginning of the design to the completion of assembly. The error caused by the inconsistency between the predetermined shrinkage and the actual shrinkage, the smoothness of demolding, and the cooling effect, especially the influence of the size, position, and shape of the gate on the accuracy and appearance of the product, must be tested by mold trials. Therefore, mold trial is an indispensable step to check whether the mold is qualified and select the best molding process.
Injection Molding Applicatons
Highly reliable and efficient, plastic injection molding is one of the most cost-effective methods for producing large numbers of precise, consistent components.
Injection molding is used for making complex shape parts of various sizes having less wall thickness. Typical parts like cup, containers, toys, plumbing fittings, electrical components, telephones receivers, bottle caps, automotive parts and components.
Food and Beverage
When it comes to injection molding, the food and beverage industry relies heavily on plastic materials to create product packaging and containers. Since this industry must adhere to strict sanitization and safety regulations, plastic injection molding is an obvious fit to ensure various specifications are achieved, including BPA-free, FDA-certified, non-toxic and GMA-safe regulations. From components as small as bottle caps to the trays used in TV dinners, injection molding provides a one-stop-shop for all the food and beverage industry’s packaging and container needs.
Automotive Manufacturing
The modern automobile manufacturing industry will take reducing the body weight as the main measure to save energy.Internationally, the amount of engineering plastics in automobiles has been regarded as one of the important indicators to measure the level of a country’s automobile industry. It is expected that the growth rate of automotive plastics will be 10-20% in the future. At present, the amount of plastic used in domestic automobiles only accounts for 5-6% of the vehicle weight. At present, China’s automobile manufacturing industry is increasing year by year. It will continue to rise year by year in the future. Most of the plastic products used in automobiles are injection molded parts, such as front and rear bumpers, front and rear panels, instrument panels and their accessories, steering wheels and their accessories, radiator grilles, multiple rows, and color combination lamp shades.
Home Applicance/Energy Saving
Color TVs, refrigerators, water heaters, washing machines, batteries, solar cells, solar grids, garbage sorting boxes, outdoor tables and chairs, furniture, large plastic trays and turnover boxes, etc. These products are coming to the society, facing environmental protection, facing energy saving, and there is a huge demand for injection molding products. It is necessary to provide general injection molding machines with excellent performance and price ratios, structural foam injection molding machines, microcellular foam injection molding machines, and multi-layer composite injection molding machines.
Infrastructure construction demand market
The development of society is inseparable from infrastructure construction, and the most important part of infrastructure construction is pipeline construction. The market potential of various injection-molded pipe fittings and accessories related to construction, irrigation, water saving, telecommunications, cables and pipes is huge. The average annual growth rate of pipes in my country is 20%. By 2025, plastic pipes will account for 50% of the entire pipeline, and medium and low pressure pipes in cities will reach 60%. If the annual demand for plastic pipes is 80,000 to 100,000 tons based on 50% of the plastic pipes, it can be inferred that the demand for the huge injection pipe fittings market, and most injection molding machines can only produce injection molding of UPVC and PE below 250-300mm. Pipe fittings.
Why Choose Star Machining for Plastic Injection Molding
The finest production mold tools start with quality raw materials, strict process control, and expert toolmakers. Only a supplier with years of experience supporting Fortune 500 companies can ensure repeatable results for your production tooling needs. Here are some of the advantages that Star Machining offers for high-volume production tool making and injection molding services.
✓ A Complete Range of Services
We offer more than just tool making and molding services. Our complete package includes every manufacturing process you need for a total product development solution.
✓ Proven Success
Thousands of companies of every size from around the globe have chosen to work with Star Rapid to help them develop new injection mold tools and finished parts. Your success is the foundation of our reputation.
✓ Positive Material Identification
Your regulatory compliance and your peace of mind are assured with our industry-leading positive material identification department. People trust Star Rapid when the job absolutely must be right.
✓ Design Optimization
A comprehensive design for manufacturing review comes with every tool and product design project. You’ll receive superior results while saving time and money.
✓ Intelligent Quotations for Every Project
We support your development goals by having no minimum order volumes or value for our injection molding production. In addition, we have a proprietary AI quoting algorithm that provides fast, accurate, and transparent pricing on every project, every time.