Thin Wall Injection Molding Manufacturer
Thin wall injection molding is a specialized plastic part fabrication process that produces parts with extremely thin wall thickness. The process requires, specialized mold and process control for consistent quality parts.
Advantages of Thin Wall Injection Molding
It helps reduce the weight of the plastic thus making the plastic product like cameras and cell phones become lighter.
The process makes the product easier to cool because they have less material to cool. This allows production to be faster and increasing the number of plastic production to be higher.
Production cost is lower than other types of injection molding mostly when producing large amount of parts.
Flexibility when designing the parts using thin wall injection molding. It provides designers with more freedom to design using different complex shapes to create efficient products.
The accuracy in this process makes the production to require less post processing, like trimming.
Polypropylene Thin Wall Injection Molding
It is a thermoplastic with good properties such as chemical resistance, low density and a lot of strength. These properties make it a suitable material for making thin wall containers and automotive components.
Thin Wall Injection Molding Polystyrene
Polystyrene, is known for its clarity and lower in cost production. It is used for thin wall injection molding for production of thin wall packaging, electronic housing and disposable utensils.
Thin Wall Injection Molding Polyamide
Polyamide it is also known as nylon, also used for thin wall applications due to its good mechanical properties, like high strength, abrasion resistance and toughness. It is commonly used to make electrical connectors and other automotive components.
Thin Wall Injection Molding Design Tips
If you want to get high quality thin wall injection molded parts, it is important to consider these key tips:
i. Checking the design model early enough if it has any issues and modify them before injecting the material.
ii. Making sure the material chosen is appropriate for the application in order to make it easier to flow through thin areas.
iii. Ensuring the wall thickness to be even throughout to allow uniform cooling.
iv. Ribs can also be included in the design to increase its rigidity. They should be designed properly to avoid defects such as warping, breakages and void. Most times ribs are usually designed to be half the thickness of the wall or less.
v. It is important to Including radii and round out in corners and edges when designing the mold. This ensures a clean injection results and easy flow of materials
vi. Temperature checking is one of the most important factor to consider during and after the process of thin wall injection molding. This will determine how the quality and consistency of the molded parts
Challenges in Injection Molding Thin Wall Plastic Parts
The reduced thickness of the walls also has its own challenges on the parts. Here are some of the main challenges:
- The thin walls has high rate of cooling time that can cause uneven cooling which may result to several defects like inaccurate in thickness dimensions and warping on the parts.
- It is difficult for material to uniformly flow in the thin mold cavity
- Deigning mold for this process require specialized techniques in order to come up with a mold that can withstand high pressure during injection period.
- Handling a thin wall part should be done with a lot of care to avoid damage because they are delicate compared to thick ones
- To maintain the same wall thickness throughout might be difficult when it comes to thin wall injection molding. Wall thickness need to be consistent because variations in thickness can create some weak points and damages.
Choosing Thin Wall Injection Molding Machine
Several factors must be considered to achieve the specific production needs. Considerations for a good thin wall injection molding machine include:
- Look for a machine has a capability to handle high injection speed and pressure. The machine should be stable and rigid in order to handle pressure.
- A machine with high clamping force is needed for thin wall molding to withstand the force generated during high speed injection.
- Advanced cooling technology should be considered when choosing a machine to reduce cycle times and high chances of defects.
- Consider machines that have advanced features like melt temperature monitoring to help in consistent melt quality during the process.
How Thin Wall Injection Molding Process Works
Thin wall injection process involves various steps in order to come up with the best possible results. Here are some of the steps on how the process works.
- The mold is carefully design according to the parts needed to be made with fine features and thin cavity. The mold is usually made of aluminum or steel.
- Best material preferred for the process is chosen according to the parts application.
- The material is then fed into the injection molding machine in the form of granules. After the granules are placed in the heating barrel in the injection molding machine, the plastic material is melted into molten state.
- In molten state, the material is injected into the mold under very high pressure to form the desired shape that was designed in the mold.
- The plastic is then cooled and solidify within the mold before opening it. This is the most crucial step for the part since it determines its strength and stability
- After the plastic material has solidified, the thin walled part is ejected from the mold by opening it.
Example of Thin Wall Injection Molded Parts
Thin wall medical devices like syringes and IV connectors.
Interior parts like center console trim, dashboard panels.
Electronics housing for devices like phones, tablets, laptops and desktop.
Food containers, lids, cups, trays, plates and beverage containers
Things like electrical connectors, electrical outlets and switches.
Yes, minimum thickness in injection molding typically depends on design requirements and material used. Recommended minimum thickness is 0.5millimeters.
Yes, there is a possibility but it comes with a lot of challenges to achieve a desired design. It’s important to analyze the material and design requirements to have a successful outcome.