In injection molding, the material is heated to a molten point. The molten material is fed into an already-designed mold that defines the shape of the item to be produced.
The plastic material is melted first melted in the heating chamber and poured into a mold, where it’s left to cool before it’s finally ejected from the mold and becomes a finished product.
Injection Molding Construction or Parts:
The construction of the plastic injection machine consists of the following parts:
- Clamping Unit
- Crossheads
- Ejector Mechanism
- Nozzle
- Injection Unit
- Barrel
- Heater
- Hydraulic Unit
Each of these parts will be explored in subsequent paragraphs:
- Clamping Unit:
The injection machine has a clamping unit (hydraulic or toggle type). The clamping unit is installed to pressure the mold and resist forces and stresses.
- Crossheads:
The clamping mechanism installed on the molding machine has a toggle link, a crosshead connected to the toggle link, and a driving device for moving the crosshead. A ball spline is provided to drive the crosshead parallel to a ball screw. Also, a ball spline nut in the crosshead is linked with the spline shaft so that the ball spline shaft controls the crosshead.
- Ejector Mechanism:
After the production process, the rod on the injection machine will press against the ejector plate and push the product out of the mold.
- Nozzle:
The nozzle is situated at the bottom of the machine’s ejector system. It feeds molten plastic from the barrel into the mold. The nozzle is supported by sprue bushing and locating ring, which helps balance the nozzle on the mold. Nozzles provide many functions, including filtering, mixing, and shut-off of melt flow.
- Injection unit:
The injection rate controls the overall appearance of the moldings, the measures against sink marks, and the reduction of size unevenness between the molding shots and flash. When the injection rate holds pressure, the molten plastic can spread fully into the mold.
- Barrel:
The barrel heats the plastic material into a molten state and allows the plastic to flow through the barrel. The screen inside pushes the plastic into molds in the clamping unit. Hence, the temperature in the barrel needs to be adequately controlled to keep the temperature regulated for different plastic materials.
- Heater:
A plastic injection machine can have many heaters for regulating temperatures in conduits and nozzles. A heating element can be attached to the barrel to melt the hopper’s molding material into molten plastic. Some heaters include band heaters, coil/nozzle heaters, cartridges, and strip heaters.
- Hydraulic Unit
A hydraulic unit is constantly running during production cycles. Granular plastic needs a steady motion to move seamlessly through the heated molten state as it’s poured into the mold during the screw rotation and plunge phase. The quality of the molded plastic can be affected if the hydraulic motions cause any deformities.
These components are what make up an injection molding machine. Without these parts, the injection molding machine cannot produce plastic products.
