Go to any store, office or home and you will find a wide variety of items created from plastic. Of course, there are many different types of plastics and many different ways to create products made of plastic. Here are some different methods that are used to process plastic and some examples of the products created by each method.
Injection molding is one of type of processing, and in this process plastic is heated and then injected into a mold. Injection molding also can be used to create products out of metal or glass, although the use of thermoplastic granules is the most common. Thermoplastic comes in many varieties, and in general, refers to a type of plastic that can be melted and molded and then returned to the original state when cooled. Injection molding is one way to process thermoplastics, and while the finished product generally is of a high quality, this method is quite expensive and many companies prefer to use thermoforming instead.
Thermoforming is a very common method that is used to process plastic and transform it into something highly useful. The process begins by creating a mold of a specific product. Sheets of plastic, rather than granules, are created out of specific polymers and will then have heat applied to them in order to make them easy to shape. The plastic is placed into the mold and any extra plastic will be trimmed away. Some examples of thermoformed plastic include many types of packaging, from food packaging to the packaging of virtually millions of products that we can buy at the store.
Of course with injection molding, it is easy to understand that melted plastic is injected into a mold. With sheets of thermoformed plastic, there are other ways to get the pliable sheets into a mold. One method is called vacuum forming, and this simply means that the heated, moldable plastic is basically sucked into a mold with the force of the vacuum.
Sometimes vacuum forming isn't enough and you need to add pressure as well to move along the formation process. This is known as pressure forming, and it is an ideal process when you are making plastic products with a large amount of detail, such as a molded texture or perhaps raised or recessed type on your product. The addition of pressure along with the force of the vacuum really pushes that plastic down into the mold.
Because this can be a complicated process, look for a thermoforming specialist that provides you with help at all stages. This includes assisting with development and design, as well as the actually production process. When calculating the total cost, many factors are considered including the type of plastic that you need as well as the amount of products that are being created. Whether you opt for injection molding, vacuum forming or pressure forming, this also affects the total cost.
Injection molding is one of type of processing, and in this process plastic is heated and then injected into a mold. Injection molding also can be used to create products out of metal or glass, although the use of thermoplastic granules is the most common. Thermoplastic comes in many varieties, and in general, refers to a type of plastic that can be melted and molded and then returned to the original state when cooled. Injection molding is one way to process thermoplastics, and while the finished product generally is of a high quality, this method is quite expensive and many companies prefer to use thermoforming instead.
Thermoforming is a very common method that is used to process plastic and transform it into something highly useful. The process begins by creating a mold of a specific product. Sheets of plastic, rather than granules, are created out of specific polymers and will then have heat applied to them in order to make them easy to shape. The plastic is placed into the mold and any extra plastic will be trimmed away. Some examples of thermoformed plastic include many types of packaging, from food packaging to the packaging of virtually millions of products that we can buy at the store.
Of course with injection molding, it is easy to understand that melted plastic is injected into a mold. With sheets of thermoformed plastic, there are other ways to get the pliable sheets into a mold. One method is called vacuum forming, and this simply means that the heated, moldable plastic is basically sucked into a mold with the force of the vacuum.
Sometimes vacuum forming isn't enough and you need to add pressure as well to move along the formation process. This is known as pressure forming, and it is an ideal process when you are making plastic products with a large amount of detail, such as a molded texture or perhaps raised or recessed type on your product. The addition of pressure along with the force of the vacuum really pushes that plastic down into the mold.
Because this can be a complicated process, look for a thermoforming specialist that provides you with help at all stages. This includes assisting with development and design, as well as the actually production process. When calculating the total cost, many factors are considered including the type of plastic that you need as well as the amount of products that are being created. Whether you opt for injection molding, vacuum forming or pressure forming, this also affects the total cost.
About the Author:
Lenna Stockwell enjoys blogging about how stuff is created. For further info about custom food packaging or to find out more about thermoform plastics, please check out the Indepak.com website today.
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