Most plastic products are created using a common manufacturing technique called ‘plastic injection moulding‘. During this process the raw material, some form of plastic, is completely melted and then inserted into a special mould. Then the material is cooled and expelled immediately.
Most of the plastic items and products we use in our everyday lives are made of using plastic injection moulding. Here are five real-life examples:
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- Your Home
Most of the plastic items used in and around the home are crafted using the injection moulding technique. You may not be aware but the dust bin you use, the sink cover; bottles, toys, artificial flowers, decorative items, soap cases, containers, laundry baskets and a lot more are made using this process. Furthermore, the whole concept of product design relies heavily on the ability to create realised prototypes with plastic injection moulding.
Many items – such as disposable razors and the plastic plug in your sink – would not be produced at all were it not for plastic injection moulding.
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- Food Industry
The food industry as we know it would struggle to operate without this process of plastic injection moulding. Can you imagine a supermarket or a restaurant making do without plastic containers, disposable cutlery and related items? Certainly not!
The food storage containers by which the food is delivered to supermarkets, and in many cases, to your doorstep, ice cream containers and many more products rely on the plastic injection moulding process. Without this process, it’s hard to imagine how the modern food industry would cope!
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- Travel
Odds are that when you catch a train or sit down in your airline seat, the absolute last thing on your mind is plastic injection moulding. But believe it or not, without plastic injection moulding, our very transport system would grind to a halt! Trains have plastic interiors. The same is true for cars and planes, most of the crucial interior parts are made with plastic.
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- Sports
Most sports related items are engineered to precision using plastic injection moulding. The hulls of water sport vehicles like boats and jet skis are made from plastic. Soccer shoes, mouth guards, skateboard wheels – all of these items are manufactured by plastic injection moulding.
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- TechnologyTechnology is also heavily reliant on plastic injection moulding. Let’s imagine for a moment what you would have to give up if we stopped using plastic injection moulding:
- Your computer relies on plastic parts that are created from plastic injection moulding.
- Your printer also relies on crucial plastic components
- It is inconceivable to have a digital camera without some form of plastic injection moulding.
- All digital music players – like your iPod – have parts that can only be created by plastic injection moulding.
- TechnologyTechnology is also heavily reliant on plastic injection moulding. Let’s imagine for a moment what you would have to give up if we stopped using plastic injection moulding:
These four examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Nearly every product with a plastic component would not function without the use of plastic injection moulding.
As you can see, plastic injection moulding plays a very important part in our everyday lives. Hopefully this article has shed some light on this underreported process.
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