3 Common Injection Moulding Techniques and their Applications
If you are looking to manufacture and supply precision plastic parts to different industries, then choosing the right manufacturing method is crucial. Leveraging on plastic injection moulding is a great place to start from if you consider the strides the knowhow has made over the past few decades. That said, there are various injection moulding techniques that you should familiarize yourself with since they have varying strengths. Understanding which technique is best for specific products helps you to produce components based on customer requirements. Read on.
Foam Injection Molding
According to industry players, foam injection moulding is arguably the most efficient and cost-effective injection moulding procedure in the industry. The method involves injecting nitrogen gas or a chemical blowing agent into molten resin. The mixture is then injected into the moulding cavity without overfilling it. As nitrogen gas or the blowing agent expands, it pushes the molten resin to the cavity's extremities, thereby filling the die cast. Some of the benefits of foam injection moulding are high resistance, superior thermal isolation, excellent chemical resistance, better strength to weight ratio, and most importantly, higher acoustic schemes. Notably, plastic parts that are made from the foam injection moulding technique are mostly used in the automotive and aviation industries.
Thin Wall Injection Molding
Just as the name suggests, thin-wall injection moulding is the best for plastic parts that require thin walls. It is vital to point out that some products require thin walls that are under a millimetre in thickness. Therefore, it is impossible to substitute the injection moulding technique with another procedure and achieve similar results. It makes thin-wall injection moulding a highly specialised technology that is ideal for producing lightweight products that are structurally strong. For instance, portable electronic parts such as smartphone casings are primarily generated through thin-wall injection moulding. For the technique to provide the required results, changes in the processing requirements are inevitable. Therefore, higher pressures, fast production speeds and gating arrangements are key attributes of the technique.
Gas Assisted Injection Moulding
The technique is best suited for large plastic parts with intricate designs such as large handles, equipment covers, bezels and skins. The main characteristic of gas-assisted injection moulding is the low pressure required to ensure molten resin gets into each cavity in the mould. It is made possible through the various nitrogen gas channels that are strategically placed in the moulding equipment to displace molten plastic, thereby forming hollow sections. Injection of molten resin under high pressure achieves products with tight dimensions and complex curvatures.