4 Industries You Didn't Know Used Plastic Injection Molds
Plastic injection molding is a process that has been around for decades and is used to manufacture products from toys to automotive parts. It's a versatile manufacturing process that can be used in almost any industry, but many products are created with injection molding that most people do not realize.
The injection molding process involves injecting molten plastic into a pre-made mold, which then cools and hardens into the desired shape. It is quick, reliable, and can produce high volumes of identical parts with minimal waste. Plastic injection molding can also be customized to suit any industry's specific needs, making it a versatile option for many applications. In this blog, we will dive into how plastic injection molds are utilized in many industries and discover why it has become a popular manufacturing option.
The Pharmaceutical Industry
Plastic injection molding is a useful process in the pharmaceutical industry for https://stonermolding.com/blog/post/knowledge-base/2023/12/06/what-industrial-molding-process-is-this-made-from creating various products and components. It provides many advantages over traditional manufacturing methods, such as improved accuracy and repeatability, lower labor costs, and faster production times.
In the pharmaceutical industry, injection molds can be used to create many different products and components, including bottles, caps, syringes, vials, containers, trays, and blister packs. This technology also has applications for medical devices such as dialysis machines and insulin pumps.
For these items, precisely injecting the right amount of molten plastic is extremely important to ensure the accuracy of the device’s function. Equally important is ensuring that the finished product is released without defects. Pharmaceutical manufacturers can depend on our mold release agents to get whole parts that don’t stick to the mold surface. Injection molding’s streamlined process can provide the accuracy needed for pharmaceuticals with its high tolerance levels and consistent production results.
The Telecommunications Industry
Plastic injection molding has become an essential part of the telecommunications industry, with its usage expanding from basic components like housings and shells to complex parts. This process is used to manufacture a wide range of plastic parts necessary for telecommunications equipment such as routers, switches, base stations, cell phones, and other communication devices.
This industry has begun to rely heavily on the plastic injection molding process to create these parts because they are designed specifically for their intended use in electronic applications. The molded parts must withstand extreme temperatures and pressures without experiencing wear or tear over time and without compromising performance.
Injection molds allow manufacturers to create intricately detailed parts quickly, helping them meet customer demands while saving costs associated with manual labor time and energy consumption. Our mold sealers can help this industry by filling in the microporosity of the mold before applying mold release agents. This barrier allows the molded part to take the shape of the mold itself without pinpoint holes or cracks that lead to defective parts.
The Automotive Industry
Plastic injection molding is one of the most popular and widely used manufacturing processes in the automotive industry. It has been using this technology for decades, particularly for creating car parts such as bumpers, dashboard panels, headlamp housings, door trim panels, exterior body trim pieces, and interior components like instrument clusters. Using an injection mold to create these items also allows engineers to create intricate details on car parts that are impossible with traditional metal fabrication methods.
Injection molding plastic components for cars must meet very high standards for durability and performance. The carefully chosen plastic material must be able to withstand high temperatures and regular wear over time. It cannot lose its integrity or performance capabilities. Several thermoplastics such as polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) have become widely accepted in automotive applications due to their ability to meet these stringent requirements, while still being relatively lightweight compared to metal alternatives.
One unique advantage offered by plastic injection molding technology in the automotive industry is its high level of customization. Companies can choose from a wide range of colors, textures, finishes, and densities for their plastic components depending on their specific needs and design requirements. Furthermore, because each component is designed from the ground up rather than being cut from pre-existing materials like metal or wood, there’s no limit on how intricate or complex the final product can be.
To get that level of detail, automotive manufacturers must start with a clean mold. Build-up on the mold and vents can cause issues like discoloration, sticking parts, and other demolding issues that affect part appearance. But with a clean mold using our mold cleaners, manufacturers can reduce these issues and mold more highly accurate parts in less time.
The Food & Beverage Industry
Injection molding has become hugely popular in the food and beverage industry due to plastic’s ability to produce complex shapes and parts that are strong
and cost-effective. Using various plastic materials allows products of different sizes to be created quickly and efficiently while ensuring they meet the highest quality standards.
One of the main advantages of using this process for food and beverage production is its capacity for mass production with minimal human intervention. Using a plastic injection mold to create these products makes it ideal for large-scale items like food packaging containers, where precision and uniformity are key success factors.
In terms of hygiene requirements in the food industry, using these injection molded parts offers excellent levels of cleanliness since it does not need secondary processing after production, but secondary processing can occur if needed. The plastic injection mold can be built to highly precise specifications so that all plastic parts produced have dimensions and features that conform precisely to consumer safety standards and regulations.
Need a Mold Release Agent for Injection Molding? Talk to Our Team of Experts!
Whether you are ready to find the right mold release to help make your manufacturing line run smoother or have questions about how our products can help clean, seal, or prevent rust on injection molding machinery, talk to us at Stoner Molding Solutions. Request a sample of one of our products, or contact us here today!