The Incredibly Useful Injection Molding Products and Applications
If you can imagine a product or part, there is a good chance that it can be made using plastic injection molding. Many automobile parts, kitchen appliances, toys, and fishing lures are injection molding products.
Injection molding is one of the many options there is to produce plastic products. However, plastic injection molding products are one of the most popular.
Why? Injection-molded parts are of high quality and cost-effective to make.
If you are looking for an outside equipment manufacturer and want to know more about injection molding, then please read on.
Injection Molding Products
Plastics and plastic composites are improving. So with that, injection molded parts and products are being used more.
Automobiles parts use injection molding and have replaced metal parts.
Beyond the automobile there are many other industries taking advantage of injection molding:
Electronic Housings
You can find electronic housings in computers, televisions, electronic devices, and medical equipment. Customizing any enclosure is an injection molding company’s specialty.
Toys
Toys are an excellent example of the precision that injection molded parts can have. The perfect example is legos. They fit together precisely, maintain form, and come in several colors and sizes.
Plastic Bottles
We all know plastic bottles are used for water, but if it is liquid, there is a plastic bottle or container made for it. Dish soap, soda pop, even gasoline containers are made of plastic and are injection molded.
Agricultural Components
Plastic components are a low-cost alternative to metal. Often, the plastic part is better than the metal part it is replacing because it has better resistance to temperature extremes, impact, harsh weather, and corrosion.
Household
Household items like drinkware, container closures, components, and containers are some of the more common items you’ll find in most kitchens. They are just a small example of what is possible with customized injection molding.
Machinery & Automobiles
Just about anywhere you look in an auto you can find a part made with injection molding. Parts like control panels, consoles, headlight covers, bumpers, tailgates and many parts on and in the engine. Many parts are also in the drive train of machines and cars alike are a product of injection molding.
Healthcare
There are thousands of single-use disposable injection molded parts used in the medical field. The disposable but useful nature of the items like syringes and tools used in procedures keep sterility and prevent the spread of disease.
Residential
Roofing vents, deck fasteners, light fixtures, and railing gaskets are made from plastic.
Consumer Goods
Many everyday items we all use are better because of injection molding—things like toilet seats, bird feeders, tackle boxes, barbecue tools, and storage racks.
Foodservice
For foodservice items, injection molding parts are able to meet the high standards of the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Food Service Products. High-temperature serving pans and bread trays are also items that you’re most likely to have familiarity with.
What is Injection Molding and How Does it Work
Injection molding is the process of injecting molten plastic into a mold under high pressure. The key to highly repetitive precision parts and components is the mold.
An injection mold consists of two halves that have to be high precision and must match each other precisely to produce a seamless product. Without that precision, the proper control needed for material flow into the mold cannot be achieved.
Injection molds, typically made from aluminum or steel, are machined to precise specs to form the product desired.
By perfecting the mold, the process can produce high-quality products. The production will be in a high-volume manufacturing process.
All the effort to get the mold right might seem like overkill. Processes like a CNC machine are wasteful because it cuts away much material to make a product.
It is also very efficient due to the ability to produce several parts from a multi-cavity mold set up in one cycle of the machine.
You can use a wide variety of plastics and plastic composites in injection molding. This ability can help reduce material costs. There is minimal finishing required on a post-mold part.
A Few Disadvantages
It wouldn’t be fair to layout all the right things injection molding applications can bring without pointing out the disadvantages as well.
The first one is the cost of the initial mold design. Lead time, designing, testing, and tooling are going to drive the price.
Depending on the geometry of a part, there can be warping and surface defects. So it is essential to design pieces with careful consideration of any changes in the geometry as parts cool off as well as the material you are using.
The Only Limitation is Your Imagination
There are disadvantages but nothing that is a show stopper. You can fix issues that come up with warping and surface defects. You would prefer not to have to deal with those types of problems, but in the big picture, they are insignificant.
It is easy to take for granted how far the science of injection molding has taken our favorite products and helped in the creation of new products and, in many ways, our current society.
Items such as cell phones, televisions, automobiles, and water bottles have changed how we live our lives. Injection-molded parts have made our lives safer and more convenient to the point that we don’t give it much thought.
Dropping a jar or bottle used to mean shattered glass and possibly cutting your hands and feet. Now it means the container is going to bounce a few times before you pick it up.
Cars are lighter, safer and more fuel-efficient due to plastic composite parts made with injection molding.
Injection molding products are amazing and will only get better as the science behind it continues to improve.
Your Next Innovation
Your next innovation can be on the cutting edge of today’s material science improvement of injection molding products. However, to do this, you need the experts at your side helping you to do it right the first time.
Injection molding can seem complicated, but it is the most common method for manufacturing for a good reason.
It is one of the most efficient and effective ways to create functional prototypes to end-use products.
If you are a manufacturer looking to partner with a company that can deliver any plastic part or component, then contact us today to get started.
