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Top 4 Plastic Injection Molding Quality Standards You Should Know

plastic mold manufacturers

High-efficiency plastic molding allows you to manufacture customized parts for a wide array of applications. However, just going through the basic motions is not enough to ensure the durability and longevity of produced pieces. That is why specific plastic injection molding quality standards should be applied through the process so that every piece meets a client’s needs and use cases.

With modern technology and experienced experts working with the machinery, you can get a strong, precise, and cost-effective solution for your part needs. Here are some more insights into the various standards that should be followed for the best outcomes, including how plastic mold manufacturers make sure each mold is precise.

plastic mold manufacturers

Factors that May Affect Quality

No plastic injection molding quality standard is going to be 100% effective. That is because there are so many moving parts in the process. However, a quality manufacturer will include standards that reduce the error rate to an almost minuscule amount. This translates into no problems on the client end and a high-quality piece. Factors included in this calculation include:

  • Proportions and Dispersion of Materials and Additive Contents

The point of quality material fillers and fillers is to reinforce the final product with stronger, more durable solutions. This can be a challenge because you must find the correct measurements to create a balance. You need a producer that uses plastic injection molding quality standards for material and additives that can be measured to ensure the right amounts.

  • Plastic Melting Temperature

Temperature plays a critical role in precision plastic injection molding. It can affect the resin viscosity, molecular weight, and any part shrinkage. This critical plastic injection molding quality standard must be observed and accounted for during every production.

  • Pressure

Pressure is used to push the melting plastic resin into the predetermined mold cavity (without about 95% capacity). This is balanced against any clamping pressure. The goal of this plastic injection molding quality standard is to reduce production costs by maximizing the number of parts made per hour without sacrificing quality of any kind. Again, an experienced manufacturing team will understand how to walk this thin line the best.

  • Cooling Time

Cooling is the most time-consuming part of the injection molding cycle because it requires a part to be fully cooled before refining and moving on to the next production phase. The piece must have moved from liquefied resin to a solid form inside the mold cavity. Then it can be properly ejected and worked into the precise measurement requirements of the client.

plastic injection molding quality standards

Standards of High-Precision Plastic Injection Molding

When a piece has been made, it must meet the different plastic injection molding quality standards not only for the manufacturer but those set for the client. These are created so that everyone in the production process understands the target end goal with precise measurements that could include:

  • Correct Size

Most mold tools are designed to be slightly oversized in case of material shrinkage. Deciding on the correct material and tolerance standards will help ensure the correct final output size. That includes working with angles, leftover material, and other refining elements to finish the piece production. Many clients require highly precise parts to the thousandth degree of accuracy.

  • Accurate Color

Not only does color represent safety or aesthetic value to differentiate a product from competitors, but it can change the material value of the part. That is why selecting the best possible color is an integral plastic injection molding quality standard – especially on the part of the client. Remember, a color can be to make a product attractive to downstream users just as much as serving a practical purpose (orange for safety, red for warning, etc.).

  • Suitable Luster

Many clients require a surface finish or luster to their part design. This can affect the flow, texture, and mold material as it moves through manufacturing. Suppose this is a consideration of the client. In that case, an experienced team should offer advice on how these lusters will affect the final product design so compensations and corrections can be made to lower any risk of defect or quality control issues.

  • No Molding Defects

Probably the most important plastic injection molding quality standard from the client is the idea of no molding defects. They require a part without weld lines, sink marks, short shots, burn marks, flashing, or anything else that could ruin the aesthetics or functionality of the piece. As these defects can impact precision, it makes sense that this is critical to quality outcomes.

Trust the Team at Abery

For years, Abery has focused on meeting plastic injection molding quality standards set internally and by the vast array of national and international clients who return time and time again to this professional team. With a well-trained and motivated set of technicians, Abery is capable of meeting any quality needs, so the final product created meets the aesthetic and functional value proposed by the client. To get started on your business, reach out to us today and begin the process of getting the parts you need for moving forward.

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Top 7 Tips to Maintain the Custom Injection Mold

Plastic molding is critical in any injection molding industry as it is the backbone of many manufacturing processes. Companies have to maintain their custom injection mold frequently as it will help them make the perfect products at an affordable price. As custom injection molds are supposed to work under extreme temperature conditions, only the timely maintenance can increase this machinery’s lifespan and the products’ preciseness.

Why Should You Maintain the Custom Injection Mold?

To be more specific, the reasons why maintaining the mold are as follows:

● To reduce the abrasion of parts

Without maintenance, custom injection molds will get abrasive, resulting in a poor end product. An abrasive nozzle of the mold will not only impact the flow rate of the outgoing material but can also result in the adulteration of the plastic, eventually diminishing the quality of the manufactured products.

● To prolong the service life

Lack of regular or improper maintenance harms the custom injection mold itself, increasing the rate of cracking, deforming, or partial wear, reducing the mold’s lifespan. So, you have to do proper maintenance in order to increase the service life of your molds.

● To save extra expenses for a company

If your molds expire sooner than expected due to poor maintenance, it will be a major setback for any company. Thus, proper maintenance is the only way to increase the life period of any machine and save your company big money.

 

How to Maintain the Custom Injection Mold

Always take care of the following steps whenever you start your mold maintenance:

1. Clean the surface of the injection mold before installation

First of all, always clean the surface of the injection mold before installing it to ensure that no foreign matter is stuck to the surface. Any abnormality at the surface should be immediately removed as it will disturb every batch of the process otherwise.

2. Check all parts of the injection mold after production

You must ensure whether all the parts of the injection mold are being screwed properly or not after production. This is because any ignorance at this stage can even dismantle the machinery during working, which can have hazardous consequences.

3. Clean the injection mold after production

Once you are done with the production, clean every part of the machine to prepare it for the next batch. As injection molding is a batch process, this post-production cleaning is necessary to make the production of the next batch perfect. Without this, the next batch can get messy.

4. Provide rust removal regularly

Providing rust removals to your custom injection mold is crucial as the machine would be rusted otherwise. As the corrosion rate of the metal doubles with every 10-degree increase in the temperature, you must take this step seriously as plastic molding is a heat-intensive process. With so much heat involved in it, rust removal should be a routine activity.

5. Provide burr removal regularly

To make the manufacturing process smooth, you need to remove any dirt, burr, or plastic remaining in the injection molds. The formation of burr in the custom injection molds is normal, typically happening at the mold’s sharp edges. So, you must apply burr removal tactics in order to keep the process perfect.

6. Lubricate corresponding parts of the injection mold

Just like any other machine, lubrication helps custom injection molds as well. When you lubricate the corresponding parts of the injection mold, it minimizes any friction, excessive heat, and even the corrosion of the machine, resulting in a longer life span of the machine and precise injection products.

7. Replace or repair damaged parts

Whenever you see any damaged part in your custom injection mold, the first thing you have to do is to either replace that part or repair it. If you do not do that, the damaged part will destroy other parts of the machine. Worse, you cannot get the precise products in the presence of any damaged part, which makes their repair important.

 

ABERY’s Custom Injection Mold Meets Your Expectation

Abery brings highly precise injection molds that can be used in various applications. Even with tight tolerances of up to +/-0.001MM, the cycle time of these molds is short, increasing the working efficiency. Abery takes the detailed input of every client before manufacturing these molds, making our products custom injection molds in the true sense. We use LKM’s steel, which is one of the most qualitative steel manufacturers. We also provide high dimensional accuracy for products which makes us stand out from the crowd.

Wrapping Up

We at Abery are impacting the decisions of the global industries, as our injection molds are exported to the likes of Europe and America. Our in-house production team manages to inspire the global manufacturers by providing continuous high-profile molds needed for the success of any plastic molding business. Being a mold manufacturer that always pursues perfection, Abery believes that our rigorous designs and high-quality products can win every client’s trust.

 

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6 Tips to Avoid Cracking in Custom Plastic Injection Molding

Custom plastic injection molding requires a lot of attention to detail. It is common for cracks to appear on the molded part if one does not know how to avoid them. But knowing those can be difficult without a lot of experience in the field.

One needs a thorough understanding of the reasons behind the appearance of these cracks. Only then can they successfully avoid them. You will find everything you need to know about injection molding cracks here.

What Is Cracking in Injection Molding?

Cracks are not uncommon in custom plastic injection molding, and they appear on the products in different ways. Some cracks are more problematic than others – but all of them are equally annoying. There are internal cracks, corner cracks, and even cracks that start at the gate.

These cracks are exceedingly harmful to the molded object because they cause integrity issues. It gets even worse if you need to fit that molded part to something larger. A competent manufacturer should never allow a compromised piece to pass through their production line.

 

Reasons Why the Molded Parts Crack

Contrary to popular belief, the custom plastic mold design has little to do with the formation of cracks in molded objects. The true culprits of custom plastic injection molding are the ones we have listed below:

  1. Machine

The plasticizing capacity of the machine is a crucial part of crack-free injection molding. A low-capacity machine cannot handle mixing the inserted material volume, leading to cracks. An overly large machine will also degrade the quality as there is a chance of over mixing. So, select the right machine according to your production to ensure optimum efficiency.

So, be vigilant about the plasticizing capacity of your injection molding machine according to your production volume and type.

  1. Mold

The molds play a significant role in custom plastic injection molding. It is usually the most important thing after the main machine. A bad mold can mess up the ratio and distribution of the molten plastic. That will usually lead to cracks and other issues for the finished object.

Burrs and other undercut conditions in the mold can cause cracks too. Ejector designs can also be probable culprits. In other words, you need a professional plastic injection mold design for your products.

  1. Material

Material integrity is essential for custom plastic injection molding. The quality of a molded part depends heavily on the material used in the manufacturing process. High-quality material naturally produces better results.

Reclaimed or recycled plastics usually have lower quality. That can lead to cracks. The moisture content of the material also plays a role. Too much moisture can cause cracks during the cooling process.

  1. Molding operation

Some molded parts require more cooling time than others. A short cooling time usually causes cracks and other defects to these parts. That is also true for molding under too much pressure. Some plastic molds need to work under less residual stress to show the best result.

How to Avoid Cracking in Custom Plastic Injection Molding

Now that you know what’s causing the cracks, we believe you are ready to fix them. Follow these tips to avoid cracks:

  1. Remove Burrs

Burrs are always a nuisance. They can cause deformity and cracks if left untreated. Do a regular inspection to identify and remove burrs to get crack-free molded parts.

  1. Install More Knockout Pins

You need to distribute the stress evenly to avoid agitating any part of the molded object. Try installing more knockout pins. They should help maintain even stress.

  1. Use Less Reclaimed Materials

Reclaimed or recycled materials or pallets tend to have poorer quality compared to new plastic pallets. The reuse of plastic over and over again does slowly wear its polymeric structure every time it is reused.

So, using reclaimed plastics that have gone through too many cycles can cause imperfections in the finished product, leading to cracks. Reduce the amount of reclaimed material you use. If possible, avoid them entirely to get better results.

  1. Remove Moisture

Removing moisture content from custom plastic injection molding will reduce the cracking issue since the moisture inside the materials does harm to the full mixture inside the mold. Dry all your plastics before starting the process.

  1. Increase the Cooling Time

If your cooling time is too short, consider increasing it, and it will give you a much better result. A longer cooling time will keep the mold confined longer, leaving more time for the injection parts to fuse together. That will help create a better outer layer.

  1. Reduce Holding Pressure

Use accurate material volume to reduce the pressure of the molding process. Less pressure will reduce the cracking. You could try with a 50% holding pressure to get a uniform packing. Holding pressure is usually set around 70% for most projects.

Conclusion

Custom plastic injection molding depends a lot on the materials and tools you use. That’s why we always advise people to look for the best plastic injection mold supplier. We at Abery use the latest technology to create the best injection molds in the industry that ensure 100% crack-free injection molding.

Contact us to learn more about how our molds can improve your production.

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Problem About Molding Flash & Flashing

Flash can occur during injection filling or during the pack/hold stage, and it can occur any kind of conventional parts ,especially easy happen of thin-walled parts with high MFI material . Discovering in when flash occurs helps to be responsible for the problem simplification . A simple test is to bring the pressure to the minimum the machine allows, Limitations lie is the plastic pressure should be below 500 psi . The aim is to see the effect of just barely filling the cavity. First step is injection fills 92% to 99.9% of the part, but the cavity is full then stop there. At the minimal pressure level we can easy to inspect If there is flash happen on the short shot,then we should do is focus on parameters adjust during injection. If no flash happen after a short shot, then we should go to another way to adjust the transfer point to avoid over-filling the cavity.

molding flash

When designing your plastic parts, as far as possible to reduce the thin-walled section, resulting in a thicker wall section, the entire product into a uniform wall thickness of the parts.

The rapid change in wall thickness is the most common cause of flash, due to the production process of plastic materials under pressure, through the liquid state to fill the injection mold.

If the product design in the thick and thin wall thickness of the part is necessary to exist, the use of different injection point to help the flow of materials.It is very important to control the location of the gate, especially in the tight tolerances of the plastic parts.

Flash of an injection molded part can happen for several reasons – slight variations in the material, pressure, speed, injection mold process and/or problems with the tooling itself.

For example,The sprue bushing is one of the reasons that can not be ignored.Need to know is that nozzle contact forces can range from 5 to 15 tons.If the thermal expansion makes the critical distance sleeve “growth” out of the parting line, the nozzle contact force enough to move the mold side, resulting in flash generation not only mold precision will produce flash operation,The operation of the injection molding is the same as the source of the problem, the mold should take advantage of the length of the hot runner bushing inspection, into the standard of each production.

Through analyze every stag of the injection molding process at our company, and ensuring consistent stress free manufacturing of your custom plastic parts.Our process engines allow us to produce tight tolerances parts for all of our customer.

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