The Injection molding machine is the machine which is used for manufacturing the plastic molding products through an injection molding process. This machine consists of two major parts, which is the clamping unit and the injection unit. It has three primary components which are the feed hopper, heated barrel, and the screw. It has the plastic granules which are the part that is fed into a heated barrel using the hopper. The plastic which is normally placed in a hopper is in granular or powder form even though some of the resins, for example, silicone rubber, can be in liquid form which means it will not require heat.
The molding material is after that melted using the action of friction that reciprocated the screw which is accompanied by the heater bands. The plastic material which is molten is injected through a nozzle and into the mold cavity which can appear very easy, but the injection molding is the complex process. When in the mold cavity, the material cools and then solidifies to a configuration of a cavity. Once the entire part has been hardened, a moveable platen which the mold is left opens is ejected using the ejector pins.
The size of the injection molding machine can be from the clamping force of 5 tons to above 6000. If the tonnage is higher, the machine will also be higher. Actually, an injection molding machine is classified according to tonnage, or sometimes can be classified according to pressure or clamping force.
Types of injection molding machines
Hydraulic machine
In the historical perspective, hydraulic presses have been the only choice available to the molders until the Nissei Plastic Industrial Cooperative LTD which was introduced the first in 1983 to the all-electric injection molding machine. Hydraulic machines, even though not nearly as exact, are the major type in many parts of the world but with the exception of the country of Japan.
Mechanical machine
Mechanical type machines normally use a toggle system to build up the tonnage on a clamping side of a machine. The tonnage is needed on every machine so that the side of the clamp that is there in the machine doesn’t open because of the pressure of the injection. When the tool has open up half, it can create the flash in a plastic product.
Electric machine
The electric press, which is also called the Electric Machine Technology reduces the operation costs by reducing the energy consumption and even addressing some of the environmental concerns which surround the hydraulic press. The electric presses are known for being faster, quieter, also have a high level of accuracy, even though the machine is expensive.
Hybrid injection molding machines
It takes the advantage of being the best features in both the hydraulic and the electric systems but is normally used in an almost similar amount of the electricity for the operation of the electric injection molding machine which depends on the plastic molding manufacturer.
In conclusion, the injection molding machine uses the technology of finished production on a massive scale. It’s also very useful for the finalized prototypes which are used for the product and consumer testing.
