The Emergence of Injection Molding in Plastic Industry

To those less familiar, plastic Injection molding may be defined as a manufacturing process for creating

products from plastic materials. The plastic is fed into a heated barrel, mixed, and forced into a mold

cavity where it loses the heat and solidifies to the configuration of the mold cavity.

Plastic injection molding industry has had a fascinating history. Plastic material was invented in Britain

in 1861 by Alexander Parkes and he called the material as Parkesine. People found Parkesine to be

extremely useful that it could be heated, molded, and made to retain its shape when cooled. In 1868,

American inventor John Wesley Hyatt developed a plastic material he called Celluloid that was an

improvement over Parkesine’ as it could be processed into finished form.

Together with his brother Isaiah, Hyatt patented the first injection molding machine in 1872. This

machine was however far too simplistic compared to the plastic injection molding machines widely used

today. The present day plastic injection molding machines consist of a material hopper, an injection ram

or screw-type plunger, and a heating unit. Also, some advanced plastic injection molding machines have

built-in sampling and approval process for stringent quality control.

The plastic injection molding industry began to boom in the 1940s as the World War created a demand

for inexpensive, mass-produced products. Six years hence, American inventor James Watson Hendry

constructed the first screw injection machine, which provided greater control over the speed of

injection and the quality of articles produced.

During the ensuing decades, the plastic injection molding industry has evolved and started producing a

wide range of plastic goods ranging from combs and buttons to an array of technological products for

several industries including automotive, medical, and aerospace, consumer products, toys etc. Though

there are several different methods used in the manufacture of plastic goods, plastic injection molding is

the most popular.

Plastic is durable, lightweight and unlike metals, plastic is resistant to corrosion and wear and tear.

Some striking advantages of plastic injection molding are high production capability, repeatable high

tolerances, low labor costs, minimum scrap losses, and hardly any need to finish parts after molding.

Injection molding is the most common method of plastic part manufacturing. It is ideal for mass

producing of the same product. The demands for plastic products are growing at a rapid pace and, today

we need plastic injection machines in almost all industrial sectors.

Earlier, the plastic injection molding machines were manually and automatically operated but now the

machines can be operated in a computerized way. While the earlier versions are known just as plastic

injection machines, the latter is called as CNC plastic machine. CNC plastic machine has succeeded in

solving some of the problems associated with conventional plastic injection molding processes. For

more information about our injection molding services, visit plastic injection molding.