What is injection moulding?
Injection moulding is a technique in which liquid plastic (granulate or powder) is injected under high pressure into a mould. This then cures, creating an application. With this technique, it is possible to mass-produce identical products quickly. This is useful, for instance, when creating product packaging.
Why injection moulding?
Injection moulding applications use a mould, also known as a die. This is designed once and can then be reused thousands of times to get the same result every time. It is widely used for making plastic packaging, as it is precisely here that it is important that they are identical every time. It is also a very sustainable technique, especially for large runs.
Advantages of injection moulding
Injection moulding technology gained considerable popularity from 1950 onwards thanks to advanced piston screw machines. The advantages of plastic injection moulding:
- Cost-effective: After the mould (die) is made, it becomes very cost-effective to produce. As a result, the cost per pack falls with higher runs.
- Identical packaging: With injection moulding, you can be sure that every injection-moulded packaging will look the same. There is zero chance of deviations, so the result is always the same (professionally and accurately).
- Shape freedom: The mould offers a lot of freedom in terms of shape, making it possible to produce detailed and complex packaging.
- Choice of plastics: Various plastics are suitable for injection moulding, such as ABS, Polypropylene (PP) and Polyethylene (PE). It is possible to manufacture waterproof, airtight or temperature-resistant packaging.
- Sustainable: 100% recyclable plastic can be used.
Disadvantages of injection moulding
Injection moulding is very precise and the moulding possibilities are vast. Nevertheless, it is important to know that injection moulding is not the best technique for every application. In this respect, there are not necessarily disadvantages to injection moulding, but there are factors to consider:
- Relatively high start-up costs: The mould has to be made once, making injection moulding less interesting in terms of cost for small runs.
- Less suitable for continuous design modification: Design modification requires a new mould, making it less interesting in terms of cost for applications that are regularly modified in terms of design.
From which quantities do you need to start injection moulding?
Because injection moulding involves making a mould, it is particularly interesting for large runs. But what is large? That depends on the type of product and the design. The technique is often only recommended from 5,000 pieces onwards.
Injection moulding of packaging? SFA Packaging!
Would you like to know whether packaging injection moulding is of interest to you? And are you curious to get an impression of the costs? Then get in touch with SFA Packaging!
We specialise in plastic injection moulding of customised packaging materials. We value sustainable solutions and work exclusively with 100% recyclable plastic. Because we have several production sites and rely on innovative machinery, we keep product and transport costs low.
