Injection molding is a process of shaping plastic by melting it and injecting it into a predesigned mold. The process was first designed in the 1930s and was originally based on metal die casting designs. It offers many advantages to alternative manufacturing methods, including minimal losses from scrap (since scrap pieces can be melted and recycled), and minimal finishing requirements. This process differs from metal die casting in that molten metals can simply be poured; plastic resins must be injected with force.

The process uses large Injection Machine , which advance the resins through six major processes to produce everything from computer parts to plastic Halloween spiders. Although this machine is a complex piece of equipment, it consists of two basic elements: the injection unit and the clamping unit.

The injection molding process requires some complex calculations. Every different type of resin has a shrinkage value that must be factored in, and the mold must compensate for it. If this value is not precisely determined, the final product will be incorrectly sized or may contain flaws. Typically, this is compensated for by first filling the mold with resin, holding it under pressure, and then adding more resin to compensate for contraction. Other complications may include burned parts resulting from the melt temperature being set too high, warpage resulting from an uneven surface temperature, or incomplete filling due to a too slow of an injection stroke.

Injection molds themselves can be surprisingly expensive, sometimes upward of $100,000 US Dollars. If the desired part quantity is great enough, however, the mold cost becomes relatively insignificant, and the resulting plastic parts are very reasonably priced. Some molds are made with more than one cavity; these multicavity molds cost more than their single cavity counterparts, but due to increased production efficiency, the cost per part is minimized. More information please visit Injection Machine Manufacturer