What are the materials used in Injection Molding Service? makenica.com/what-are-the-materials-used-in-injection-molding-service February 11, 2021
There's a lot to know when selecting the suitable material for injection molding service; it's essentially a science! This guide lists all of the materials in injection molding service offered by many plastic injection molding companies, from commodity resin to high-tech manufacturing classes. There are 1,000s of materials suitable for use in plastic injection molding service, and it may be a challenging task to decide the optimum material for your unique use. If you don't know what material you need or even where to start the selection process, Makenica, one of the top plastic injection molding companies, is here to help. To pick the best molding material for your injection molding service and production project, the following questions will help you choose the suitable material.
What is the expected end-use of the part? – Would the component have to be rigid or flexible? – Would the component have to withstand pressure or weight? – Would the components have to tolerate certain temperature variations?
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– Would the components be exposed to other elements or chemicals?
Are there any special appearance considerations? – Is a particular finish required? – Does a color need to be paired, such as branding and corporate colors? – Is there a consideration of embossing?
Are there any regulatory criteria applicable? – Would the commodity be exported and required to comply with Hit standards? – Would the component need to be safe for food? – Are children going to use the product?
Commonly used injection mold materials by top injection molding companies. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) ABS resins are hard, robust, and tough, even at low temperatures is used for plastic injection molding services. ABS plastics provide a strong combination of tensile strength, impact and abrasion tolerance, dimensional toughness, surface stiffness, rigidity, heat resistance, low-temperature properties, chemical resistance, and electrical characteristics. Acetal Copolymer Polyoxymethylene Acetal copolymers have lower melting temperatures, allowing them simpler and quicker to process than traditional homopolymer grades for injection molding service. They have good tensile and flexural resilience, fatigue resistance, and durability, along with excellent lubricity: Creep-resistance, long-term reliability, high-temperature operation, and moisture resistance. Acetal Homopolymer Polyoxymethylene Acetal homopolymers provide strong tensile strength, stiffness, durability, fatigue tolerance, and mild resistance to repetitive effect. They have excellent creep tolerance and the best fatigue resistance of all unfilled thermoplastics. The low friction coefficient makes their abrasion resistance superb—low absorption of moisture. Acrylic Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) Acrylic thermoplastics are known for their crystal clearness and superior weatherability. Acrylic plastics transmit and monitor light, are weather tolerant, stable against discoloration, dimensional stability, and a mixture of structural and thermal properties.
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Acrylics are among the most scratch-resistant thermoplastics and have very low haze, making them suitable for optical applications with plastic injection molding service. Polyolefin Polypropylene (PP) Polypropylene is a low-density resin that has excellent thermal, chemical, and electrical properties. Polypropylene has low heat tolerance, but heat-stabilized grades can be used at high temperatures. While it's less tough than LDPE, it's much less fragile than HDPE. This makes the use of polypropylene as a substitute for engineering plastics, such as ABS. Polypropylene has a very high fatigue resistance, meaning that most plastic living hinges, such as those on fliptop bottles, are made of this material. Polyolefin High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) HPDE resin is suitable for applications needing strength, rigidity, and strength, making it a popular alternative for blow molding and injection molding service. HDPE resins provide: Hardness and stress crack resistance for blow molding applications. Making them a versatile application for personal care. Household. Automotive containers. HDPE pipe resin provides hardness and stress crack tolerance, making it a good option for pipes' extrusion. HDPE resin offers the strength and processability that is necessary for plastic injection molding service. Polyolefin Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) LDPE resin is simple to produce and increases production efficiency because it provides excellent printability, strength, tear-resistance, and elasticity, making it a cost-effective alternative for a range of film applications in injection molding companies. It is useful for the manufacture of a wide range of products, including liners, containers, shrink and laminate films, extrusion coatings, and caps and closures. It is strong enough to manufacture a wide range of items, such as power cables and toys. Nylon 6, 6/6, 4/6, 6/12, 12 Polyamide (PA) Nylons have excellent fatigue tolerance, low friction coefficient, strong durability, and resistance to many fuels, oils, and chemicals. Nylon 6/6 has higher strength, stiffness, and endurance. It also resists high temperatures and abrasion. Nylon 6 resins are harder and more stable and have a longer production window.
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Nylon 6/12 absorbs less moisture and maintains better mechanical and electrical properties in high humidity environments. Nylon 12 has low absorption of moisture combined with excellent resistance to liquids, hydraulic oils, and other automotive fluids. Nylon 4/6 has the most significant melting point in the polyamide family. This leads to faster set-up and, therefore, faster injection molding cycles (30 percent faster than 6/6). Nylon 4/6 absorbs more moisture than 6/6 but keeps dimensional stability close to nylon 6/6 due to its high crystallinity. Polyolefin Polyethylene (PE) Polyethylene resin is useful for applications requiring chemical resistance, low or no moisture absorption, and flexibility. Polyethylene properties range from flexible to rigid, low impact strength to almost unbreakable and clear to opaque. Its use is constrained to temperature applications below 200 degrees Fahrenheit and can carry light loads for a long time. Polyetherimide (PEI) Polyetherimide is an amorphous thermoplastic that resists high temperatures and has excellent electrical properties that remain stable over a massive array of temperatures and frequencies. Polyetherimide gives outstanding chemical resistance, high strength, and unmodified PEI resin, which is translucent and has natural flame resistance. Creep-resistant and malleable enough for snap-fit styles, but is notch sensitive. The material is also suitable for applications requiring short-term or repeated exposure to steam. Polyketones Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) Polyketones are a family of partly crystalline engineering thermoplastics, including polyaryletherketones (PAEK), polyether ketones (PEEK), and polyether ketone ketones (PEKK). Polyketons are heavier and more stable than other manufacturing plastics with plastic injection molding companies. They can be used in high temperatures and have exceptional chemical resistance. They have strong intensity, too, and they withstand fire. They are tough and impact resistant to a wide range of temperatures. The coefficient of friction and wear is very low. Polyketons also have strong dielectric properties and high dielectric power. Sulfone Polysulfone (PSU) Sulfones are amorphous engineering thermoplastics renowned for high temperatures of heat deflection and excellent dimensional stability. Heat tolerance is the excellent efficiency attribute of sulphone. The temperature of thermal deflection limits the service temperature. Sulfone resins provide exceptional value and high consistency.
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Properties provide outstanding thermal resilience, ranging from 345 to 400°F, high reliability and resilience, strong environmental resistance to cracking, and combustion resistance. The strength and toughness of the PSU and PES are virtually unchanged by their glass transfer temperature. Besides, the substance is approved for interaction with food and drinking water. Polystyrene (HIPS) Polystyrene is noted for its transparency, resilience, ease of processing, and excellent colorability. Polystyrene is a low-cost amorphous thermoplastic. Heat tolerance is poor relative to other thermoplastics. The recommended continuous operating temperature is well below 200°F. Electrical properties are strong at room temperature and are only mildly influenced by higher temperatures and humidity conditions. It is economical and is used to manufacture plastic model assembly kits, plastic cutlery, CD "jewel" cases, and many other items where a reasonably rigid, economical plastic of any color is needed. Polycarbonate (PC) Polycarbonates are amorphous engineering thermoplastics that provide extraordinary resilience over an extensive range of temperatures. Polycarbonate resins are available in general-purpose molding and extrusion grades and exceptional grades with unique properties or processing characteristics. They include flame retardant formulations and grades that conform with the Food and Drug Administration requirements for components used in food touch and medical applications. Polycarbonates are distinguished by a combination of strength, transparency, heat and flame resistance, and dimensional stability. Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) Polyphenyl sulfide (PPS) is a crystalline, high-performance engineering thermoplastic characterized by excellent high-temperature stability, inherent flame resistance, and broad chemical resistance. Some PPS compounds are used to balance high-temperature stability, chemical resistance, dimensional reliability, and flame retardance. The compounds have exceptional stability at extremely high temperatures. Injection moldable PPS compounds need a processing temperature of between 600 and 650°F. To regulate crystallinity, mold temperatures will vary from 100 to 275°F. Due to its intrinsic flame retardance, PPS is suitable for high-temperature electrical applications. Polyphenyl sulfone (PPSU) Polyphenyl sulfone (PPSU) provides the best performance of sulfone polymers. It has greater impact tolerance and chemical resistance than polysulfone (PSU) and polyetherimide (PEI). PPSU's high heat resistance and outstanding hydrolytic stability
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make it an excellent alternative for hot water fittings and medical instruments needing repeated steam sterilization. Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) Liquid-crystal polymers are a particular class of aromatic polyester polymers that provide previously inaccessible high-performance properties. LCPs have exceptional mechanical properties at high temperatures, excellent chemical tolerance, intrinsic flammability, and good weatherability. The resins' simple processability is due to their liquid-crystal molecular composition, which offers a high melt flow and quick assembly of the molded pieces. The molded components are strongly anisotropic (displaying properties of varying values when calculated in different directions), and the knitted lines are much weaker than other regions. LCPs are highly inert. They prevent the cracking of tension in the presence of most chemicals at elevated temperatures. Polyester Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT) Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) is a crystalline, high molecular weight polymer. It has an outstanding combination of properties and handling characteristics. Since the material crystallizes quickly, the mold cycles are short, and the molding temperatures can be lower than in many manufacturing plastics. PBT has high mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties with strong chemical resistance and poor water absorption, resulting in high dimensional stability. Polyester PolyethyleneTerephthalate (PET) Polyethylene terephthalate is a hard, solid, compact, dimensionally stable material that absorbs less water. It has considerable gas barrier properties and good chemical tolerance except for alkali. PET functions as both an amorphous (transparent) and a semi-crystalline (opaque and white) thermoplastic substance. Generally, it has a strong tolerance to mineral oils, solvents, and acids, but not to the base. The semi-crystalline PET has good strength, flexibility, stiffness, and resilience. Amorphous PET has greater ductility but less stiffness and endurance. Polyphenylene Oxide (PPO) Polyethylene Oxide is a powerful engineering plastic with excellent mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties. Low absorption of moisture and low thermal expansion make (PPO) one of the most dimensionally stable thermoplastics available. It is commonly used for electrical housings and structural parts as it has outstanding insulating properties, flame tolerance, and dimensional flexibility over a wide range of service temperatures. Polyethylene Oxide is mainly used for fluid handling applications 6/7
due to its low absorption of moisture, high impact strength, and stiffness. Acrylic-Styrene-Acrylonitrile (ASA) Acrylic-Styrene-Acrylonitrile (ASA) is a two-phase thermoplastic material that incorporates styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer and acrylic rubber. It has outstanding weather tolerance, making it the perfect option for outdoor applications. ASA is used in outdoor applications that need long-term color consistency. ASA shows greater tolerance to breaking environmental tension than ABS. ASA components have a high gloss, strong chemical and heat resistance, and high impact strength, even at low temperatures. Thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) Thermoplastic Vulcanizates (TPVs) are high-performance elastomers that blend the best characteristics of vulcanized rubber – such as durability and low compression set – with ease of processing of thermoplastics. TPV properties and ease of processing provide better efficiency, good quality, and lower cost of production. Parts made from TPV give a steady service temperature from-80°F to 275°F without cracking or tackiness. TPVs bring consumer appeal to light touch applications and cost-effective market value for plastic injection molding companies.
Conclusion Given the complex structure and shape of plastic molds, the different specifications and the low surface roughness requirements, and the manufacturing difficulties, it is necessary to consider the working conditions, failure, performance, etc., of plastic injection molding service materials. A good selection of plastic injection molding services and materials can increase service life and reduce the cost of manufacturing injection molds for many injection molding companies.
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