What is injection molding? Injection molding is the process by which molten polymer is injected into a mold that has been cut to reflect the mirror image of a desired product. The injection molding industry has been around since the 1930’s and accounts for nearly 90% of the plastics manufactured today. It is a high-volume, fast paced plastics manufacturing process that is utilized by a variety of industries including: automotive, cosmetic, military, consumer products, aerospace, etc.
Why Would I Use Injection Molding?
Injection molding offers high volume repeatability and the flexibility of using a wide variety of plastics. Depending on the application, the type of plastic can be hand picked to suit your needs in the way of heat resistance, chemical resistance, food or medical grade, impact strength, colorant and much more.
Injection molds are made of reinforced steel and are cut to print to ensure the replication of your design and the longevity of your mold. Not only are they cut to your design but depending on the volume of your production and the size of your part, injection molds can be made to produce multiple parts at once so for every one cycle in an injection molding machine you could produce 2-30+ parts at a time. Since injection molds can run upwards of 10 million cycles with routine maintenance, your mold has the potential to produce 20-300+ million parts.
Advantages of Injection Molding
The advantages of injection molding when it comes to high volume, competitive production of plastic parts is very easy to see; not only do you get the freedom to tailor your material and mold to your application and run volume, but you also reap the benefits below.
Rapid Production
Once production is ready to start, the injection molding process is optimized to run the quickest, most efficient cycle time, limited only by part thickness and complexity. Cycle times typically range from 5-25 seconds while maintaining a precise finished product each time.
Efficiency
By utilizing multi-cavity molds and other methods of reducing scrap, such as a hot runner system, the injection molding process offers potential for efficiencies that lower overhead cost, reduce scrap and waste, and allow for thousands in cost savings.
Recyclable
In addition to supporting quick, efficient processes, plastic processing allows you to regrind any scrap produced and reintroduce it back into the process with little to no change in the process and no change in the final product. This supports recycling of all plastic being used in your process and ensures waste is kept to a minimum.
Flexcraft Injection Molding Capabilities
As leading experts in the field of injection molding in the United States, Flexcraft is a full-service plastic manufacturing company with the state-of-the-art technology and experience necessary to exceed today’s most complex requirements.
With over 100 years of combined injection molding experience, our dedicated team at Flexcraft will help lower your production costs and maximize product quality. In addition to injection molding and blow molding, Flexcraft offers multiple services to streamline the custom production process. It is because of our meticulous program management services, streamlined production times and consistency in delivering high-quality products that allows us to quickly and competitively produce high-quality solutions.
To learn more about our injection molding capabilities or request a quote, please call 732-502-9500 to speak with one of our representatives today.
