Mold Construction1. The injection molding and machine 1.1The injection molding Injection molding is principally used for the production of the thermoplastic parts, although some progress has been made in developing a method for injection molding some thermosetting materials. The problem of injecting a melted plastic into a mold cavity from a reservoir of melted material has been extremely difficult to solve for thermosetting plastics which cure and harden under such conditions within a few minutes. The principle of injection molding is quite similar to that of die-casting. The process consists of feeding a plastic compound in powdered or granular form from a hopper through metering and melting stages and then injecting it into a mold. After a brief cooling period, the mold is opened and the solidified part ejected. Injection-molding machines can be arranged for manual operation, automatic single-cycle operation, and full automatic operation. The advantage of injection molding are: (i) a high molding speed adapted for mass production is possible; (ii) there is a wide choice of materials providing a variety of useful properties; (iii) it is possible to mold threads, undercuts, side holes, and large thin sections.1.2 The injection-molding machine Several methods are used to force or inject the melted plastic into the mold. The most commonly used system in the larger machines is the in-line reciprocating screw . The screw acts as a combination injection and plasticizing unit. As the plastic is fed to the rotating screw, it passes through three zones: feed, compression, and metering. After the feed zone, the screw-flight depth is gradually reduced, forcing the plastic to compress. The work is converted to...
