How Your Favorite House Decoration Is Made Through Plastic Injection Molding

Designing The Mold

The planning process is crucial to any manufacturing company because it saves up on preventable costs. The reason why planning is so important is so that problems can be predicted and solved before they even happen. In terms of mold design, how the product will be assembled is taken into consideration. The necessary adjustments will be made if the computer-aided design software spots an error or a possible misalignment.

After the necessary designs have carefully been created, the manufacturing process can begin.

Turning Recycled Plastic Into Pellets

Before the plastic gets fed into the injection molding machine, it must first be turned into plastic pellets. You may not know it, but your favorite house decoration may be created from recycled plastic. After being collected from the recycling centers, these plastic products first undergo an extensive cleaning process. After this, they are fed to a grinder and subsequently turned into plastic pellets.

The next step would be the actual plastic injection molding process that creates the finished products. Plastic injection molding goes through four steps: clamping, injection, cooling, and ejection.

Step 1: Clamping

Before inputting the material into the mold, the two parts of the mold must first be secured. This is what the clamping unit is for. First, the two halves are attached to the plastic injection molding machine. Then, the unit powered by hydraulics pushes the two halves together with sufficient force. This is in order to keep the molds securely closed as the plastic material is injected inside. 

After the mold has been secured shut, the raw plastic can then start to be injected into it.

Step 2: Injection

In order to be injected into the mold, the raw plastic pellets must first be melted down. This is done through the injection unit that is used to insert it into the mold. The unit is made of a series of screws that constantly turn, producing high levels of heat and energy, effectively melting the pellets down. After this, high pressure is used to quickly inject the material into the mold. The quick insertion of the material causes a buildup of pressure that holds the material together. 

After the molten plastic has been injected into the mold, the cooling process can begin.

Step 3: Cooling

Once the molten plastic makes contact with the interior of the mold, it will immediately start to harden. The plastic will cool in the form of the mold, creating the pieces of the product. In order to prevent any errors due to shrinkage in the cooling stage, the injection process allows for extra material to flow in and reduce shrinkage. The mold will be kept closed until the set cooling time is over. In order to calculate the exact cooling time, the thickness and the type of plastic used will be taken into consideration.

After the product has cooled, it can now be ejected from the machine.

Step 4: Ejection

Once the part has cooled down, the plastic injection molding machine will then activate its ejection system on the rear of the mold. High force is used to eject the piece as it has a tendency to shrink and stick to the mold. To further help its ejection, a releasing agent may be sprayed onto the mold cavity before the process starts. Once the product is ejected, the mold will then close once more to prepare for the next injection.

These are the steps to create your favorite house decoration made from plastic injection molding.

Key Takeaway

Chances are, your favorite plastic house decoration is made through plastic injection molding in China. In order to better understand how it is that your decoration is so intricately detailed, take note of the step-by-step manufacturing processes found in this article. Thinking of purchasing even more plastic house decoration? You should do it if you want a kind of decor that will last you through the years. 

These are the basic processes of plastic injection molding that create your favorite house decoration.