Injection Molding

Injection molding is a replication involving injecting molten plastic under pressure into the cavity of a mold followed by cooling and removal of the solidified part that retains a replica of the mold. Injection molding is usually created by large injection molding machines and is used to make parts out of plastic.

Products that have been made from injection molding can be tiny and barely visible to the naked eye, or as large as an exterior body panel on an automobile. Injection molding is an expensive process because a heavy duty mold must be created for each type of part. Due to this expense, injection molding is typically used when a certain product is needed in bulk.

Injection molds can cost a thousand dollars for a small mold, or hundreds of thousands of dollars for a large complex mold. The benefit of injection molding is that thousands of identical items can be produced simply because they came from the same mold. This means that with injection molding consumers are guaranteed to have a consistent, predictable product.

By Chris Welsh