If you have a business that produces a lot of parts, chances are you’ve heard of the injection molding process before. Businesses worldwide use this manufacturing process to mass-produce parts of all sizes, complexities, and compositions.
But what is injection molding, exactly? How does it work? What are its benefits? As a business owner, here are four things you need to know about injection molding.
What’s Injection Molding?
Injection molding is a manufacturing process in which you inject molten liquid material (most commonly plastic, glass, and metal) into a mold and cool it down to create a part.
What Is It Used For?
Businesses use the injection molding process to mass-produce detailed, intricate parts. Because each part uses the same mold, the finished products are of consistent quality.
Why Use Injection Molding?
There are numerous pros to using injection molding over comparable manufacturing methods. Here are just a few of those benefits.
Minimal Waste
Injection molding produces little to no waste. You can grind and reuse most leftover material.
Combine Multiple Materials
You can mix materials in the mold to personalize your product. Mix soft plastics and hard plastics for additional strength or materials of different colors for a multicolored part.
Parts of All Shapes and Sizes
With injection molding, you can create parts of all sizes and complexities. Complex geometry is no problem—the molten material will conform to even the most unusual of shapes.
High Production Rates
Because the injection molding process is fully automated, you can produce sizeable production runs at a low cost. Alternative methods, like 3D printing, are expensive and can only handle small production runs.
The Alternatives to Injection Molding
Is injection molding the only process you can use to produce parts? No, of course not. 3D printing and spin casting are two common alternatives to injection molding.
3D printing is useful for businesses that need to produce small runs of small products, but for larger runs and more complex products, injection molding tends to be better. Spin casting is similar to injection molding in that it uses molds to produce parts. The main difference between the two is that injection molding uses a more durable steel mold while spin casting uses a weaker rubber one.
That’s everything you need to know about injection molding. If you’re not already using this remarkable process to produce your parts, we hope reading this has given you some reasons to consider it.