The Injection molding process application is to manufacture plastic parts in large production volumes. You can find countless injection molded plastic parts around you. This article covers the advantages and disadvantages of injection molding to manufacture plastic parts.
Advantages of Injection Molding
Most plastic parts used in day-to-day products such as automobiles, mobile phones, and kitchenware are injection molded plastic parts. Plastic parts manufactured using injection molding have the following advantages compared to other plastic manufacturing processes.
- High Efficiency.
- Complex part design,
- Design flexibility.
- Ability to use multiple plastic materials simultaneously.
- Flexibility in colors.
- Reduced waste.
- Good dimensional consistency and control.
- Ability to insert molding.
Here are more details on the advantages of injection molding compared to other plastic manufacturing processes.
High Efficiency
The injection molding process is fast compared to other plastic manufacturing methods. Therefore high production rates can be achieved using injection molding.
Complex Part Design
Injection molding offers the advantage of manufacturing complex plastic parts with quality and consistency.
Design Flexibility
A wide variety of materials (clear, opaque to flexible) are available for injection molding.
Ability to use multiple plastic materials Simultaneously
Injection molding has the advantage of using multiple plastic materials simultaneously to manufacture one part. For example, the molding of TPU or metal inserts with plastic parts is also possible.
Flexibility in Colors
Multi-color part manufacturing is also feasible using Plastic over-molding.
Reduced Waste
We can reuse excess plastic(runner/gate material) after injection molding. But consider the degradation of material properties after injection molding before reusing plastic material.
Good dimensional consistency and control
Injection-molded parts have good dimensional consistency compared to other plastic manufacturing processes.
Ability to insert molding
Metal or plastic Part/insert can be over-molded during injection molding of plastic parts.
Disadvantages of Injection Molding
Along with so many advantages, the injection molding process has the following limitations.
- High initial tooling cost
- Plastic part design restrictions
- Not economical for low production volumes.
Here are more details on the disadvantages of the injection molding process.
High initial tooling Cost
The limitation of injection molding is the high initial tooling cost. Therefore injection molding is not recommended for small production volumes.
Part Design Restrictions
Follow Plastic part design guidelines to achieve good quality and consistency during plastic part manufacturing.
Not economical for low volumes
Commercially Injection molding is not recommended for small quantities because its tool development cost and lead-time are very high. We recommend Plastic prototyping techniques for low production volumes.
We will keep adding more details on the advantages and disadvantages of injection molding. Please add your suggestions, comments, or questions to the advantages and disadvantages of the injection molding process.
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