What You Need To Know About Plastic Moulding
To be able to produce a finished product, the manufacturing industry has to go through a lot of complicated and lengthy processes. One of the things that actually shortens the time in which a product is finished is moulding.
What Is Moulding?
Moulding is a process of creating a rigid frame in which plastic is injected to create a final product. Usually, the moulds are made of metals such as iron and aluminium, but recently industries also use silicon moulding. It is a very popular method in the manufacturing industry, and it is mostly used for car parts.
Which Are The Main Types Of Molding?
Rotational moulding
This is a method used to manufacture thin pieces of plastic, mainly for toys, shipping drums and storage tanks. In this type of moulding, the object is made by coating the mould from the inside and rotating it creating a thin plastic film that will eventually harden.
Compression moulding
It is used for large-scale production for objects that do not have to be mass-produced. This is because it is a very labour-intensive process.
Blow moulding
In this process, plastic is heated until molten and then injected inside a mould which takes a particular shape when it is inflated, hence the name blow moulding. This kind of moulding is mainly used for piping and plastic bottles.
Injection moulding
The melted plastic is directly injected into a tightly closed and cold mould. Over time it hardens and takes the shape of the mould. The most common objects produced with injection moulding are butter tubs, bottle caps, yogurt pots, etc.
Casting
It is the easiest moulding process and requires the least amount of effort and technology. It is used and performed under low pressure and is a common process used for making plastic sheeting.
Advantages of Plastic Molding
There are a lot of advantages to plastic moulding. Creating a well-designed mould will give you the benefit of mass producing. With one single mould, you can create as many products as is required in a very short amount of time. This is why plastic moulding is also time efficient, and remember time is a precious asset when dealing with mass production.
Plastic moulding also serves as a great product tester. Samples can be easily created and then put into the market for consumer testing and evaluation, and this is the best way to have a great final product.
To learn more about plastic moulding manufacture, get in touch with a company near you.