Discussing the Injection Moulding Process to Help You Understand
Do you want to start a business venture that requires mass production of toys? Your priority should be engaging a manufacturer who can carry out this production for you with the least expenses possible. However, creating millions of similar parts or products at low cost shouldn't come at the expense of compromising on quality. You need to work with someone whose production processes enable you to manage costs while still delivering quality products to your customers. Manufacturers who use an injection moulding process are a good bet.
Defining Injection Moulding
Injection moulding is a manufacturing process used to produce parts and goods in large volumes. It is essential for creating thousands of parts in succession, making it reliable for products that must have consistent quality.
The Process Cycle of Injection Moulding
Injection moulding is quite a short process involving four stages. These stages are as follows:
- Clamping – This is the first stage of injection moulding. It involves closing the clamping unit, an action that also secures the two corresponding parts of the mould. One half of the mould attaches firmly to the injection moulding equipment while the other one can slide from one point to another.
- Injection – Injection involves feeding ready-to-be-mould plastic material into the moulding machine. Usually, the manufacturer introduces this material as small pellets from where it moves to the mould area. During this process, pressure and heat act on the plastic materials so that the moulding machine can modify it into the desired shape.
- Cooling – After injection, the molten plastic has to cool back into a solid state that forms the final product. The cooling process enables the plastic to solidify into the same shape as that of the interior surfaces of the moulding machine. One thing you need to know about the cooling process is that the material will shrink to some extent. However, injection moulding machines permit additional molten plastic to flow into the cooling chamber so that there is no visible shrinkage of the end product.
- Ejection – The ejection unit sits at the rear end of one of the halves of the mould. When the operator opens the mould, a special mechanism is used to push the final product from the mould.
Benefits of Injection Moulding
You need to engage a manufacturer who uses injection moulding to benefit from mass production. After you've paid the initial costs, the subsequent price per unit of the other parts produced is significantly low. Additionally, injection moulding encourages better use of raw material because it produces low levels of scrap.
Find a provider of injection moulding near you in order to learn more about this beneficial process.