Injection molding is becoming more and more widely used, particularly with silicone materials. Traditionally, injection molding goes hand in hand with thermoplastics, but as modern ecological issues become more pressing and technical developments much more advanced, silicone is gradually becoming a favorite for manufacturers. The global market for silicone products manufactured by injection molding has reached a massive valuation of $121.8 million in 2023. The number is expected to keep growing healthily.
As you receive more projects that require both injection molding and silicone materials, the optimization process will become more important than ever. We have recently received and completed a project involving these two elements, and we are excited to share the story with you so that you can have a better understanding of the optimization process.
Customer’s Requirements
The first step for every production project is to review the customer’s requirements thoroughly so that the design team has a comprehensive look at the product, enabling them to come up with a great conceptual design in their mind.
For this particular project, the customer is looking to create silicone protectors for paintball markers. The interior side sliding onto the barrel should be slightly tighter to ensure a secure fit, which means there is very little room for errors in measurements. The biggest challenge, however, is to offer a high level of precision as well as bespoke color options for individuals. This means that the team will have to optimize different processes to accommodate such an advanced design.
Why Choose Silicone?
Injection molding is generally paired with thermoplastic materials due to how flexible and malleable they are, but silicone is gradually taking the center of the stage. Silicone as a material is highly flexible and malleable as well, enabling it to take on new shapes with ease. It can also withstand high-heat environments with ease, making sure that it can stay consistent throughout the injection molding process. Finally, silicone has excellent insulation properties, which prevent electrical discharges or similar accidents.
Paintball markers are objects that are used by common people, so the designers have to take the safety of the users into account. With the silicone protector, these paintball markers will become considerably safer to use. Furthermore, the protectors can take on different colors for aesthetic purposes.
Why Choose Injection Molding?
Injection molding was chosen as the principal production method, as it offers amazing production outputs as well as accuracy. The finished products will look exactly like the mold itself, which means that the precision level is high, provided that the original design contains no fault. Thus, we expected a low margin of error, and the production side delivered within our expectations.
We also need to produce these silicone protectors en masse to fulfill the customer’s orders. Injection molding was the production method that could reliably deliver the best results without taking so much time. Thus, injection molding is the perfect production method for our needs.
Innovative Techniques for Precise Color Application
Color application was the major challenge we faced during the project, as we had to choose a color application method that actually helps the colors stick naturally to the silicone for long periods of time. Fortunately, with the use of top-notch pigments and computerized tools, we were able to get the correct colors and textures needed.
Tools such as spectrometers and colorimeters are almost indispensable for the color application process. They enabled us to simulate how the colors would look, providing a preview tool that helped us to make adjustments before the actual production started.
During the mixing process, pre-treatments for the colors were also taken into consideration. Pre-treatment steps ensure that the silicone materials can take on the pigments for long periods of time, as required by our client. The typical pre-treatment process would include checking for any contaminants inside the silicone, which can affect the overall quality of the finished products as a whole.
How to Guarantee the Quality of the Production
After the production process is finished, the team will initiate the quality assurance process. To ensure that all finished products were of high quality, our team employed the use of top-notch machinery alongside experts’ opinions.
The first step was to check the colors on the products, which are the most likely factors to be faulty. We would check all batches using stringent requirement sheets to make sure that the colors conform to our standards. Tools such as the spectrometers were incredibly helpful at this stage.
Next, we would check for the measurements and the fit of the parts. The requirements for fitment were strict because the parts needed to fit with one another for the paintball markers to work properly. If there was a batch that did not conform to the required dimensions, there would be adjustments to make sure that the next batch does not repeat the mistakes.
Strategy to Optimize the Injection Molding Processes
Through this project, we learned several strategies that could help you improve your own injection molding process:
- Implement pre-treatment processes for the majority of the production process
- Tighten the quality control process to reduce wastage
- Rely on modern tools to aid the design and the production process
With over 20 years of experience in injection molding, Art Tangent is able to deliver nothing but the best injection molding services to all of our customers. Our product range includes injection molds for agricultural machines as well as household items. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us for more information!
The key to optimizing your injection molding processes lies in controlling the quality of the process so that you will not have to waste so much time dealing with faulty batches. You could also rely on the latest technologies or advancements within the field to help you control the quality or to design better products as a whole.
References
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/liquid-silicone-rubber-injection-molding-cviqf
