The Manufacturer

Mold Tooling Technique

Some common products, such as cases and containers, usually need the products with lower accuracy demand; the mold tooling method is one of the more popular solutions in this situation. Especially for some products with the request of fast delivery and bulk quantity order, suppliers usually choose to cooperate with the manufacturers having the production line based on mold tooling as well.

 

Parts to be injection molded must be very carefully designed to facilitate the molding process; the material used for the part, the desired shape and features of the part, the material of the mold, and the properties of the molding machine must all be taken into account. The versatility of injection molding is facilitated by the breadth of design considerations and possibilities.

The Use of Injection Molding

Plastic injection molding is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting plastic material into a mold. Injection molding can be performed with a host of materials, including metals, glasses, confections, and more commonly thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers. Material for the part is fed into a heated barrel, mixed, and forced into a mold cavity where it cools and hardens to the configuration of the cavity. After a product is designed, usually by an industrial designer or an engineer, molds are made by a moldmaker (or toolmaker) from metal, usually either steel or aluminum, and precision-machined to form the features of the desired part. Injection molding is widely used for manufacturing a variety of parts, from the smallest components to entire body panels of cars.

 

Parts to be injection molded must be very carefully designed to facilitate the molding process; the material used for the part, the desired shape and features of the part, the material of the mold, and the properties of the molding machine must all be taken into account. The versatility of injection molding is facilitated by the breadth of design considerations and possibilities

Manufacturing Process for Car Bumper

       A car bumper is made by a process called reaction injection molding (RIM), which basically consists of making a special polyurethane compound and introducing it into a large bumper moulding. RIM is a process that conserves raw materials and reduces costs. It is similar to injection molding except thermosetting polymers are used, which requires a curing reaction to occur within the mold. Common items made via RIM include automotive bumpers, air spoilers, and fenders.

       As to automobile's bumper, it is the front-most or rear-most part, ostensibly designed to allow the car to sustain an impact without damage to the vehicle's safety systems. They are not capable of reducing injury to vehicle occupants in high-speed impacts, but are increasingly being designed to mitigate injury to pedestrians struck by cars.

       In the process of making car bumper, there are two steps. The first step is making a Polymer. Liquid plastic precursors are mixed with a catalyst that causes them to combine and polymerize rapidly. The materials then are poured or injected into a large mold, where they combine rapidly, according to Gusmer Decker. And the next step is using the car bumper mould. The result is a polymer of polyurethane. With the help of gas, the polyurethane expands to fill the bumper mold, according to History.com. The lightweight product then is removed. 

The Invention of Thermoplastic Injection Molding

       The thermoplastic injection molding industry churns out literally thousands of products and supports hundreds of industries. As of the 1990s, nearly 20,000 different types of thermosetting and thermoplastic materials were used for injection molding. Industrialists commonly use dyes and other agents to alter the properties of the molten plastic resin, such as its color, hardness, and springiness. The molds used to shape the molten plastic generally must be precut in a separate process, using sophisticated tooling procedures to properly prepare them. A device called a sprue allows the molten resin to enter the mold and fill up the cavity. Molds also are typically designed to allow air bubbles to escape. Otherwise, during compression and heating, the air bubbles might deform the plastic and even create internal burning of the finished components.

       Manufacturers can experiment with literally dozens if not hundreds of variations in the thermoplastic injection molding process to optimize their processes. Changes can be made to the pressure applied to the mold, the speed of the injection of the resin plastic or to the geometry and structure of the molds. Other alterations may include the cooling time of the plastic, the pressure in the cavity, the composition of the dye, and the variety of plastic resin additives. Most standard components such as ejector pins, ejector sleeves, sprue bushings, and leader components are not prefabricated which mean they will only be manufactured when you order them. They are not mass produced thus they are expensive. The cavity and core are mold components which make the mold really expensive. It involves careful design engineering and processing. Most of the tools used in making these components are very expensive.

       Besides, the mold tooling is kind of process able to make goods in bulk quantity rapidly. As the requirement of plastic parts and accessories is getting more and need higher processing speed to achieve the demands of customers, the mold tooling process becomes so popular due to this change. Considered as the major trend of plastic manufacturing industry, mold tooling is a specific kind of process able to make goods in bulk quantity rapidly. As the requirement of plastic parts and accessories are getting more, with the need of higher processing speed to achieve the demands of customers, the process becomes so popular due to this change. 

For Mass Production, Plastic Tooling is the Better Way to Manufacture Plastic

       Injecting tooling is complicated and expensive to make. Custom injection molding and plastic tooling is designed and built by skilled workers. When designing the tooling, elements such as the part’s material thickness, part tolerance, number of parts expected to be produced, and the injecting molding machine requirements are considered.

       Mold or die are the common terms used to describe the plastic tooling used to produce plastic parts in molding. Since molds have been expensive to manufacture, they were usually only used in mass production where thousands of parts were being produced. Typical molds are constructed from hardened steel, pre-hardened steel, aluminum, and/or beryllium-copper alloy. The choice of material to build a mold from is primarily one of economics; in general, steel molds cost more to construct, but their longer lifespan will offset the higher initial cost over a higher number of parts made before wearing out. Pre-hardened steel molds are less wear-resistant and are used for lower volume requirements or larger components.

       Injection mould tooling became the most common method for manufacturing plastic parts, and it is considered ideal for mass production. It has a high rate of production and is able to use a variety of materials. Injection molding also has a low labor cost because it can generally produce finished products. The primary disadvantages of this process include the requirement to design the mold and the high start-up cost.