SILICONE INJECTION MOLDING

METHODS OF SILICONE INJECTION MOLDING

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Injection molding is a part of the manufacturing process. It’s the most popular and common method used to melt the raw material for transforming into goods or products. This method is suitable for mass-producing high-quality parts for home, commercial, or business use.

The injection mold makers manufacturing process begins with selecting the raw plastic pellets, then melting them into a heated barrel. The molten plastic liquid starts to inject into a mold where it gets cooled and hardened inside it. The final finished plastic parts remove from a mold and come out strong.

There are two types of plastic preferred in the injection molding method, including thermoplastic and thermosetting. This kind of plastic chooses on the specification of the product or the client’s request.

Silicon Injection Molding Services:

When it comes to injection molding, there are different types of injection molding methods selected based on the desired product’s manufacturing. Silicon Injection Molding is a type that produces molded parts or components. It prevails by using silicon.

The custom molder develops and manufactures injection molded rubber parts using silicone elastomers. Silicone rubber consists of two components, synthetic rubber and flexible rubber. These materials prepare from silicone elastomers that turns into solid elastomers at room temperature.

Injection Molding of Liquid Silicone Rubber:

Silicone rubber is a durable, plus chemical-based and heat-resistant material.  Liquid Silicon Rubber (LSR) contains grease-like viscosity, different uses and characteristics. It’s a silicone-based polymer that includes two-part raw material joined together by a chemical bond.

Thermosetting material is the ideal choice used in the liquid silicone rubber injection molding method. That’s why this method requires extra treatment of intensive distributive mixing at low temperatures. These all take place to maintain the material’s physical and chemical properties.

The popularity of this method is increasing day by day. This method is suitable for producing automotive, medical and industrial rubber parts. LSR offers huge advantages of using different materials based on the desired parts.

Characteristics of Silicone Injection Molding:

  • It has an elastic texture that is odourless and tasteless.
  • It’s heat, UV rays, chemical, and temperature resistant.
  • This process is suitable for making rubber-like parts and components.
  • It takes place to manufacture medical devices & instruments, auto & mechanical parts, and industrial equipment.

Methods of Silicone Molding:

Silicone molding is an injection molding manufacturing process. It uses to transform silicone rubber into a desirable shape. Types of molding for using silicone material depends on the product’s shape, complexity, size, texture, volumes, or budget.

These three kinds of molding is far popular for silicone rubber making to mold the rubber into parts or components. Here are the following 3 kinds of silicone rubber molding:

  1. Injection Molding:

The injection molding process for silicone starts with injecting liquid silicone rubber through a nozzle into a mold. It fills into the mold cavity, travelling through gates, runner, and sprue.

This method offers the benefits of high dimensional tolerance, low costs, and a short production cycle.

  1. Compression Molding:

The compression molding process for silicone is a simple method used for producing

low-volume products. This method starts with using pieces of silicone according to the size and weight of the product. All these processes take place by hand.

  1. Silicone Extrusion:

Silicone extrusion process for silicone used to produce cross-sectional and tube-like products. This process starts with feeding silicone material into an extruder through the die. The tube-shaped parts need to be cut or trimmed to get into the final shape.

Uses of Silicone Rubber in Injection Molding:

Silastic’s silicone rubber have shear rating because it’s a shear material. The viscosity of silicone rubber depends on the shear rate. The viscosity of the product will fall if the shear rate will raise.

When it comes to injection molding, the volume flow of the injection speed should be high to fill the mold cavity using liquid silicone rubber (LSR). The uses of LSR considers in injection molding due to the following characteristics:

  • It contains low and versatile viscosity.
  • It’s suitable to support extrusion coating.
  • LSR is rapid processing.
  • It’s easy to mix and blend.

Author Bio

The article is written by Sana Ali works as a content writer at Fugen Services. She has working experience of two years of writing on various industries.

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