Plastic Injection Moulding Flashcards
Where is plastic injection moulding commonly used?
Plastic injection molding is the most commonly used manufacturing process for the production of small, medium, and large-sized plastic parts. The process utilizes an injection molding machine, raw plastic material, and a mold.
What is the injection moulding proccess?
Injection moulding process is producing plastic products by inserting the plastic granules, heating them, cooling them and finally giving the shape and size of the required plastic products. It is the rapid method of producing a large number of plastic products with high precision. The majority of the plastics we use in everyday life are produced from the injection moulding process.
What are the advantages of Plastic Injection Moulding?
- Plastic as a product has many advantages. It is durable, flexible and very easy to shape into the exact form that is required.
- Many thermoplastics can be recycled, and plastic products can usually be strong enough to be reused many times over, even if they cannot be fully recycled. Plastic is hygienic, making it a great option for food and drink packaging and for medical applications.
What are the dis-advantages of Plastic Injection Moulding?
- Disadvantages include higher initial set-up costs, as an injection moulding machine can cost a lot to install, set up and maintain. There are some design restrictions too, as they rely on the ability to be able to create a mould with the desired shape.
- Plus, smaller runs of parts can be less cost-effective than larger ones due to running costs and labour. There also needs to be adequate space and ventilation to operate such a machine safely, and training is required to ensure its correct use and reduce the risk of injuries.
What products can be made from Plastic Injection Moulding?
We can make lots of plastic products from injection moulding process. Some of the examples are Household utensils, Laptops and desktops, Toys, Medical Equipment, Packaging, Agriculture, Interiors of cars, Vending Machine components, Electrical Switches, CDs and battery casing, Automotive components, etc.
How does a plastic injection moulding machine work?
Plastic injection machine has three major parts i.e, feed hopper, heated barrel and screw. Once the plastics granule is feed through the hopper into the heated barrel. The granule is then heated using the heated barrel and the friction of the reciprocating screw. Now the heated plastic is injected into the mould cavity to cool down and is given the required shape and size. This is how injection moulding process in machine works.
