Introduction to Automotive Injection Molding
Injection molding enables manufacturers to design and produce plastic components for many types of cars. Manufacturers can produce complex parts for replacement as well as original equipment from manufacturers. New-age designers have the freedom to come up with futuristic designs. For car interiors, you can rely on injection molding design to produce center consoles and refine finishes on dashboard covers.
All car parts are meant to be durable. Therefore, you should follow industry standards in the design phase. Try optimizing design for manufacturing (DFM), which is a great way to cut costs. Additionally, it can help you produce high-quality products with a ready market.
Plastic injection molding reduces the overall weight of car parts. Load reduction in turn helps drivers save fuel. Since plastic manufacturing is much cheaper than metal production, you can save on manufacturing costs. By extension, you can price your products competitively.
Key Design Considerations for Automotive Parts
Producing high-quality parts starts with selecting the right material for the job. Working with reliable manufacturers who offer the best mold design services helps you avoid unnecessary costs. Here are some important considerations to help you streamline production of automotive parts:
Material Selection: Car parts are exposed to different environments during use. In light of this, you need to carefully balance between durability and functionality when selecting materials for production. Headlights must be transparent and should not discolor easily with exposure to UV light. Therefore, Polycarbonate is the best plastic-type to use in headlight manufacture since it can allow a high percentage of light to pass through. For bumpers, you need durable plastic like polypropylene, which can withstand exposure to moisture and harsh weather.
Part Geometry: Cars have many parts that must perfectly fit to achieve intended aesthetics. As such, your injection mold design should be geometrically sound to optimize aerodynamics without compromising quality. Car parts molded from your design should have a uniform thickness on all walls to prevent weak points. Well-designed parts help to minimize warping and can be used for a long time before defects start forming.
Features to Include: Plastic car parts are meant to fit into the greater structure of the car. Mold design should include functional parts to help parts fit in place firmly to prevent ejection when driving on bumpy roads. The recommended design for automotive injection molding should include inserts that fit in place without leaving gaps, smooth corners, and bosses to hold parts together.
Optimizing Mold Design for Injection Molding
Professional mold design optimizes the flow of molten plastic to the end. In addition, the mold used for production should allow easy release of parts to prevent breakage when the plastic cools down. You can optimize molds by ensuring effective gate placement with well-placed cooling vents and quick release points.
Gate Placement
Gates control where plastic material enters the mold and how resin flows to create even surfaces. As a result, gate placement is key to producing quality products that fit seamlessly. You can choose from 4 main gate types for molds. Edge gates come in handy when producing flat panels, while sub gates are perfect for producing parts that should be filled separately from the gate location. Hot tip gates are only fitted on hot runner molds and should be located near the top part of the mold for easy flow of molten plastic. Sprue gates are ideal for hollow and cylindrical-shaped car parts.
Cooling System Design
Cooling is an integral part of plastic manufacturing. Effective design places cooling vents close to parts that take longer to cool, allowing for even temperature changes across all surfaces. Additional cooling vents can be added as required to optimize cooling and shorten the cycle time.
Source Freepik
Ejection Mechanism
High-quality mold design done by experienced designers includes fast-release ejection points. Well-placed ejection points are important when removing the finished product from your mold. Common techniques used in mold design to prevent deformation and product damage ejection can include injector pins, sleeves extending from the edges of the product, and hydraulic systems that push products out of the mold.
Reducing Costs and Improving Efficiency
Manufacturers aim to reduce production costs in injection plastic molding. Automotive parts have a robust market that spans the entire world. Therefore, producing quality products that meet users’ needs at a reasonable price can help you tap into this market. Pay attention to these crucial steps in design and production to cut costs.
Tooling and Production Time: Prioritize working with companies that have efficient systems. That way, you can reduce cycle time by optimizing cooling. On the same note, work with companies that have the latest manufacturing and design tools for quick turnaround times and top-notch quality.
Automation Opportunities: Automation has greatly improved product consistency. Injection molding production by top-of-the-line manufacturers comes up with identical products that can be used on popular car models. In addition, mass-producing similar items opens up opportunities to cut costs.
Material Efficiency: Aim to have little wastage of raw materials by selecting the right materials from the start. Emphasize efficiency when contracting designers to get practical molds that help produce quality car parts within reasonable timelines.
Testing, Prototyping, and Final Considerations
Incorporating new technologies in design and testing helps to identify issues early, allowing manufacturers to swing into action to solve problems. Below are the latest technologies used to make improvements in different stages of production.
Prototyping: Molds can be scaled down to produce miniature 3D parts for prototyping. This method allows you to test automotive plastic parts and request changes to the design to fix errors before moving to full-scale manufacturing of parts.
IMG source Freepick
Quality Control: Automotive parts manufacturers have to implement high quality controls to prevent defective products from reaching the market. Give contracts to ISO certified companies, that can prove their dedication to quality control. In addition, check that the companies handling the production of your products meet automotive-specific requirements. So check for ITAF 16949 certification, which is provided to companies with efficient quality control systems for production, supply chain optimization, and defect identification.
Iterative Design Process: Technology in automotive injection molding keeps changing, with new ways of streamlining processes being introduced every year. Therefore, you need to keep up with trends in the industry to stay ahead of the curve. Adaptation to new trends and amendments in environmental regulations is the only way you can stay in business for the long run.
