Custom plastic injection molding is a widely utilized manufacturing process for producing complex plastic parts. Manufacturing complex injection molded parts involves several key steps and considerations to ensure high quality and precision.
The injection molding process usually includes the following 7 stages:
Closing the Mold: In order to start injection molding, you first need to move the molds to the injection molding machine and get them properly aligned and closed. During this process, the mold is powered by a hydraulic system.
Mold clamping: Carry out the mold clamping procedure in the injection molding machine and ensure that the mold is completely closed and locked. Once the mold is locked, other production steps can continue.
Plastic injection: In this step, the injection molding machine feeds plastic raw materials into the injection molding cavity. After the plastic melts, it enters the mold through the nozzle and fills the mold cavity until a part or product of the desired shape is formed.
Pressure maintenance: After the part fully fills the mold cavity, the injection molding machine applies a certain pressure between the barrel and the mold to ensure the appearance and performance quality of the part.
Plastic cooling: After sufficient pressure maintenance, the injection molding machine continues to apply pressure for a certain period of time (cooling time), and through the cooling system in the mold, the surface temperature of the part is rapidly reduced below its initial hardening point to achieve the desired plastic Cool and solidify.
Mold opening: After the machine has completed all the steps of manufacturing the injection mold, it can open the mold through the hydraulic system and push the part out of the mold.
Part Shrinkage: When parts are removed from the mold, they are exposed to air and begin to cool. At this time, due to the influence of plastic shrinkage, the size of the part may be slightly reduced, so the size of the part needs to be appropriately adjusted according to the design requirements.
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