Choosing the Right Plastic Manufacturing Process

Consider the following factors when selecting a manufacturing process for your
product:

Form: internal features, complexity and tolerance.

Volume/cost: some manufacturing processes have high front costs for tooling and
setup, but produce parts that are inexpensive on a per-part basis. In contrast, low
volume processes have low startup costs, but due to slower cycle times, less
automation, and manual labor, cost per part remains constant or decreases only
marginally when volume increases.

Lead time: time of production, taking in consideration he tooling setup and the
process duration

Material: the stresses and strains your product will need to stand up.

Types of plastics

Thermoplastics: can be reshaped.

Termosetting plastics: cannot be reshaped due to the chemical bonding.

Manufacturing processes

Extrusion

Extrusion molding works by pushing plastic through a die. The shape of the die is a
cross-section of the final part.

Extrusion machinery is relatively cheap compared to other industrial machines like

CNC or injection molding as it is less complex and does not require such high levels
of machine accuracy. Much like injection molding, extrusion molding is an almost
continuous process.

Forms and shapes that can be manufactured with extrusion are limited to products
that have continuous profiles, such as T-sections, I-sections, L-sections, U-sections,
and square or circular sections. Typical applications include pipes, hoses, straws,
and window frame moldings.
Blow Molding

Blow molding is a manufacturing technique used to create hollow plastic parts by

inflating a heated plastic tube inside a mold until it forms into the desired shape.

This process operates at far lower pressures than injection molding. Blow molding
is a continuous process that can be fully automated, resulting in high production
rates and low unit costs.

Blow molding is the most common process for creating hollow plastic products at
scale. Typical applications include as bottles, toys, automotive components,
industrial parts, and packaging.

Vacuum Forming

Vacuum forming is a manufacturing method where a plastic is heated and formed,

typically using a mold.

Tooling costs for vacuum forming are low compared to other molding techniques,
due to low forces and pressures involved. Molds are made from wood, plaster, or 3D
printed resin for short production runs and custom parts. For high production
volumes, manufacturers use more durable metal tooling.

Given the wide scale of thermoforming and vacuum forming machinery available and
the possibilities for automation on the high end, thermoforming is ideal for any
application from custom products or prototypes to mass production. However, the
process offers only limited form freedom and can only be used to manufacture parts
with relatively thin walls and simple geometries.

Commonly vacuum formed parts include product packaging, shower trays, car door
liners, boat hulls, and custom products like dental aligners.

Polymer Casting

In polymer casting, a reactive liquid resin or rubber fills a mold which reacts
chemically and solidifies. Typical polymers for casting include polyurethane, epoxy,
silicone, and acrylic.

Flexible molds made from latex rubber or room temperature vulcanized (RTV)
silicone rubber are inexpensive when compared to hard tooling, but can produce
only a limited number (around 25 to 100) of castings as the chemical reaction of
urethanes, epoxies, polyester, and acrylic degrades the mold surfaces. RTV silicone
molds can reproduce even the smallest details, yielding high quality cast parts.

Polymer casting is relatively inexpensive, with little initial investment, but thermoset
polymers for casting are usually more expensive than their thermoplastic
counterparts and molding cast parts is labor-intensive. Each cast part requires some
hands-on labor for post-processing, making the final cost per part high.

Rotational Molding

Rotational molding (also called rotomolding) is a process that involves heating a

hollow mold filled with powdered thermoplastic and rotated around two axes to
produce mainly large hollow objects. Processes for rotomolding thermoset plastics
are available as well, however, they’re less common. Rotational molding requires
less expensive tooling than other molding techniques as the process uses centrifugal
force, not pressure, to fill the mold.

Rotomolding creates parts with nearly uniform wall thickness. Once the tooling and
process are set up, the cost per part is very low relative to the size of the part. It is
also possible to add prefinished pieces, like metal threads, internal pipes, and
structures to the mold.

These factors make rotational molding ideal for short-run production or as an

alternative to blow molding for lower volumes. Typical rotomolded products include
tanks, buoys, large containers, toys, helmets, and canoe hulls.

Rotomolding has some design constraints and finished products have looser
tolerances. As the entire mold has to be heated and cooled down, the process also
has long cycle times and is quite labor intensive, limiting its efficiency for higher
volume applications.

CNC Machining

CNC machining includes mills, lathes, and other computer-controlled subtractive

processes. These processes start with solid blocks, bars, or rods of metal, or plastic
that are shaped by removing material through cutting, boring, drilling, and grinding.

Unlike most other plastic manufacturing processes, CNC machining is a subtractive

process where material is removed by either a spinning tool and fixed part (milling)
or a spinning part with a fixed tool (lathe).
Machining is ideal for low volume plastic part applications that require tight
tolerances and geometries that are difficult to mold. Typical applications include
prototyping and end-use parts like pulleys, gears, and bushings.

CNC machining has low to moderate setup costs, and can produce high-quality
plastic components with short lead times from a wide range of materials.

Machining processes have more part geometry restrictions than 3D printing. With
machining, cost per part increases with part complexity. Undercuts, pass throughs,
and features on multiple part faces all contribute to increased part cost.

Orlando Miguel Alvarez Alfaro Group 501 (8 – 9)

Teacher Luis Briseño Level 5