Once a mold is finalized, our process engineering team begins the fabrication process as aligning and tuning of a mold requires special skill. The injection molding process starts with mounting the mold onto the clamping unit of the production machine. The plastic granulate (pellets) is fed by a hopper and heated inside a barrel, transforming it into a molten state. The reciprocating screw inside the barrel acts as a ram which rapidly moves forward to inject the plastic into the mold cavity. Ram pressure is maintained to pack additional melt into the cavity to compensate for contraction during cooling. After cooling, the mold is then opened and the product is ejected and removed. Injection pressure, cooling time, and ram pressure require the highly-specialized expertise and experience of a skilled process engineer. Before full production commences, a test injection is performed so that issues or defects can be identified and possible future production problems can be avoided. The plastic engineer evaluates the functionality of the mold and records any abnormalities. If the mold has to be improved or adjusted, it will be optimized by the mold design engineer. Another test injection is performed and, if the mold is functioning properly, the sampling process will begin. The samples are checked for quality and, when these are optimal, the samples will go to the client for approval.
Once our engineers have developed, built, and optimized our high-quality molds, the injection mold is mounted on one of our powerful, sophisticated precision production machines. The molten plastic is then injected into the mold under high pressure (with a clamping force ranging between 15 and 270 tons per centimeter) and the product is shaped. The water channels inside the mold initiate the cooling process, which causes the molten plastic to solidify, producing the end product. We are capable of injecting 0 to 800 grams (0-28.22 oz.) of material per cycle (shot capacity) with a maximum size of 30×45 cm (11.81×15.75 inch) in virtually any kind of plastic.