The Plastic Forming & Manufacturing

Process: Top 7 Techniques

by Chris Williams | Plastic Injection Molding Services

Plastic objects are of course found everywhere in our daily lives, but many people don’t know
that there are different ways to form it for commercial or industrial use. Here are the seven most
common methods, and what you need to know to decide which one is best for your next project.

Plastic Injection Molding

Plastic injection molding accounts for about 80% of the durable plastic items we find every day.
Injection molding uses a mold or die made from aluminum or steel. The mold consists of a core
side and a cavity side that is placed into a plastic injection molding machine. This machine heats
the raw plastic resin pellets until they’re molten, injects them into the empty cavity of the mold
under great pressure, and then opens to eject the finished part.

Blower molding made with large capacity molding machine from Semco Plastic Co.
The advantage of PIM is that millions of identical parts can be made quickly, with excellent
surface finish and at low cost. Molds however can be expensive and complex, depending on the
part geometry. Careful engineering design of the mold is required to prevent defects and
optimize part quality and processing speed.

Rotational (Roto) Molding

Rotational molding also uses a core and cavity mold tool, but the manufacturing process is quite
different.

Plastic powder is poured into the cavity of the mold, and the mold placed in an oven. While
being heated, the mold is slowly rotated on two axes. Gravity is used to stick the plastic to the
tool walls and build up the correct thickness.

Rotational molding is best for large containers with thick walls.

Then, the mold is removed from the oven and slowly cooled to prevent warpage. Full cooling
can take several minutes, after which the tool is opened and the part removed for the next cycle.

Rotational molding is ideal for making large, hollow or concave shapes, often for outdoor use
like canoes and tubs.  The finished parts are stress-free and have no seams so they’re strong, and
the tools are relatively simple and inexpensive to make.The downside is that tools don’t last
more than a few thousand cycles before they need to be replaced, and the part finish quality is
average at best so it’s not suited for precision forming.

Extrusion Blow Molding

This is the most common way to make thin-walled, inexpensive containers like disposable
drinking cups or bottles. It’s fast and the tools are easy to make, but the parts cannot be very
complex or made with high precision.

Extrusion molding is used for plastic bottles.

Molten plastic in the form of a large droplet, called a parison, is placed into a two-piece
clamshell mold. After the mold closes, the parison is inflated like a balloon until it fills the empty
cavity.  Because the walls of the mold are water- cooled, the plastic quickly solidifies and the
bottle can be ejected.

Injection Blow Molding

During injection blow molding, gas pressure is used to force molten resin into a mold cavity. The
process is easily controlled and repeatable, and is commonly used for transparent plastic drinking
bottles. It makes for excellent surface quality but it’s not ideal for thin walls.
PET water bottles

PET (polyethelene terephthalate) or PEEK (polyether-ether-ketone) are the typical choices resin
choices for drinking bottles, due to their clarity and durability, and because they are rated as safe
for consumables.  They are also easily recycled.

Reaction Injection Molding (RIM)

RIM is most often used in the automotive industry because it produces lightweight parts that
have a rigid skin. This skin is easily painted to make body panels, dashboards and other car parts.
However, thermoforming plastics won’t work in this process. Instead this process requires
thermosetting plastic.
Rotational molding was used for this lightweight aircraft door. Courtesy RIM Mfg. LLC.

Thermosetting plastics undergo an irreversible chemical reaction inside the mold. This usually
causes them to expand like a foam, filling a mold cavity. When the chemical reaction is done the
plastic sets into its final form.

Tooling costs for prototypes are relatively low, while production tooling is moderately
expensive.  The main cost is in the material, bearing in mind that the resulting part must always
be finished, usually with a urethane-based gel coat or by painting, so the process is more labor
intensive which increases the piece price.

Vacuum casting
Vacuum casting is a great choice for making a small number of high-quality rapid prototypes
without a big investment in tools or material.
Polyurethane vacuum casting was used to make this case at Star Rapid.

A master model of any rigid solid (often this is a 3D printed master pattern) is placed into a
sealed box that’s then filled with a flexible urethane or silicone. When the master is removed, a
cavity is formed inside the mold that can now be filled with plastic resin to form a copy of the
original. Vacuum pressure is used to pull air out of the mold so that it fills completely with no air
bubbles.

In this process, the surface finish quality and detail are excellent and pourable resins can imitate
many engineering grades of plastic. But the molds are not durable and will degrade after 20 or so
copies.

Thermoforming
This is a type of vacuum forming, where thin or thick gauge plastic sheet is placed over a die,
heated to a temperature that allows the material to become pliable, then is stretched over the
surface of the die while vacuum pressure pulls the sheet down and into its final shape.
Thermoforming is useful for clamshell packaging

This process can also be done with simple dies and very basic equipment. It’s often employed
with samples and prototypes of thin-walled, hollow-bodied parts.  In industry, it’s used for
plastic cups, lids, boxes and plastic clamshell packaging, as well as for auto body parts in thicker
gauge material. Only thermoforming plastics are suitable for this process.

Compression Molding
The raw material is pre-heated and placed inside the open cavity of a die. A cap or plug is used
to close the die and apply heat and pressure, causing the plastic to cure. This process is great for
rubber keypad switches, gaskets, O-rings and other soft, pliable thin-walled parts.
Silicone rubber O-rings made with compression molding

It’s relatively inexpensive and wastes little material, although controlling the consistency of the
finished piece can be difficult and much care needs to be taken in the preparation of the initial
mold design.

Properties of plastics

1. Most plastics are light, chemically stable and do not rust

2.Good impact resistance

3.Good transparency and wear resistance

4.Good insulation, low thermal conductivity

5.General formability, good coloring, low processing cost

6.Most plastics have poor heat resistance, high thermal expansion rate and easy combustion.

7.Poor dimensional stability and easy deformation

8.Most plastics have poor low temperature resistance, brittle at low temperature and easy to
aging.