Have you ever looked at things around your house and wondered how they were made? You probably just picked them up from the store or ordered them online as finished products, and have no idea how they were manufactured, or even where they were made. You may not know that thousands of things, like your car door, the buttons on your computer, your comb, storage containers, and most plastic items are made from injection molding.
Injection molding is a process that injects materials into a mold to create a desired shape. This is done using different kinds of machines, such as metal injection molding machines, plastic injection molding machines, and ones that mold ceramic, liquid, and glass filled nylon. The material is first pushed into a heated barrel that mixes it, and then it is forced into a mold cavity where it cools and hardens into the shape of the mold cavity. Then it is ejected, and polished or chiseled to get the final product.
The processes differ slightly from one material to the next. For example, plastic injection molding is often faster, because it cannot sit in the heated barrel for a long period of time. Excess time in this barrel can cause the plastic to degrade, which will ultimately make it difficult to create molded products out of it. Also, the accuracy and linearity of the final product increases if you inject the plastic into the mold faster.
This process has been one of the most efficient ways of manufacturing products for decades. In 1939, during World War II, plastic injection molding machines became popular because of their ability to produce large quantities of products. Forty years later, metal injection molding machines and steel production usage was surpassed by plastic production processes. In addition to its contribution to mass production, plastic injection molding saves money, because of its low labor costs. This is why it is currently a popular production process in the U.S.
Most people do not know how important the plastic injection molding process is, and that every day things you see in the store, in your house, on the road, and in airplanes are made using this method of production. You may not think that it is important to know exactly how all these things are made, but consider where we would be without this process in place.