Advantages claimed for rotational molding include low initial investment, a flexibility that allows a variety of parts to be made

on the same equipment, low tooling costs,totally enclosed and open-end pieces, fine detail ,excellent surface finish, and low cost per unit produced . products made by powder rotational molding are often of considerable size, such as childerns chairs, 55-gal (0.2 m3) drums for food storage, phonograph cases, machinery guards, garbage containers , and gasoline tanks. The same equipment can be used for either thermoplastic powder or plastisol molding.

Potting and embedding

It is sometimes desirable to protect electrical or mechanical parts in blocks of plastic. potting refers to the insulation and positioning of such parts , whereas embedding (encapsulation ) is the enclosing of parts in a transparent plastic for preservation and display. These procedures are usually accomplished by casting or dip coating with a liquid material, but other processing methods such as transfer molding can be used.

Blow molding
Blow molding is used primarily to reproduce thin-walled hollow containers from thermoplastic resins. A cylinder of p;astic material ,known as a parison ,is extruded as rapidly as possible and positioned between the jaws of a split mold, as shown in figure 10.14 as the mold is closed in pinches off the parison and the product is completed by air pressure forcing the material against the mold surfaces. Molds should be adequately vanted to eliminate poor surface finish. As soon as the product is cooled sufficiently to prevent distortion, themold opens and the product is removed. The entire operations is similar to that used for forming bottles in the glass industry. Figure 10.15 illustrates an eight-station machine for continuously blowing bottles by the pinch-tube process. A tube of thermoplastic material is extruded from a plasticizer into an open mold. Each end of the plastic tube is pinched shut by the crosshead of the mold. The air pressure expands the plastic to conform with the walls of the mold. After a short cooling cycle, during which air pressure is maintained, the pressure is released.the mold open . the bottle is ejected, an the mold is made ready to begin the cycle again.for some plastic the bottle must be cooled to room temperature by a water spray, the top and bottom of the bottle must be trimmed to remove the scrap, but no further processing in necessary. This process in continuously repeated for each of the eight mold station. Blow-molded products include cosmetic packaging, bottles, floats, automobile heater ducts . liquid detergent containers, and hot-water bottles. Polyethylene, polypropylene, and cellulose acetate are some of the plastic that can be formed by blowing.

Film and sheet forming

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The basic methods for producing film or thin sheet are calendering, extruding, blowing, and casting. The one chosen depends on the type of thermoplastic resin selected., which in turns governs the required properties of the product. Calendering is the information a thin sheet by squeezing a thermoplastic material between rolls (figure 10.16) the material, composed of resin, plasticizer, filler, and color pigments,is compounded and heated before being fed into the calendar, the thickness of the sheet produced depends on the spacing, between the rolles that stretch the plastic. Before the film is wound it passes through water-cooled rolles. Vinyl, polyethylene,cellulose acetate films and sheeting and vinyl floor tile are products of calendaring,the same process is used for rollingout uncured rubber stock in tire manufacture. In making sheets of polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene or ABS, an extrusion process is used. Figure 10.17 is a schematic diagram of this process. After the material has been compounded, it is placed in the feed hopper. The material heated to not over 600F (315C) and forced into the die,area at pressures of 2000 to 4000 psi (14-28MPa) by the screw conveyor, by the combination of the choker bar and die opening, the thickness of the sheet is controlled. After extrusion the sheet passes through oil-or water-cooled chromium-plated rolls before being cut to size. Oil cooling is recommended, because the temperatures should maintained at approximately 250F (120C) for proper curing. Sheet material made in this manner can vary in thickness from 0.001 to 0,125 in (0,03-3,18 mm) Blown tubular extrusion produces film by first extruding a tube vertically throught a ring die and then blowing it with air into a large-diameter cylinder. The blown cylinder is air-cooled as it rises vertically and is ultimately flattened by driven rolls before it reaches the winder. This process permits the extrusion of thin film used for items such as trash bags and packaging materials. In film casting the plastic resins are dissolved in a solvent, spread on a polished continuous belt or a large drum, and conveyed through an oven where they are cured and the solvent is removed.

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