INJECTION COMPRESSION AND TRANSFER

MOLDING
GROUP ONE
ABDULASIS MUSTAFA A. 160231001
ABDULRAHEEM RASHEED O. 160231002
ABDYAQEEN ABDQUDDUS O. 160231003
ABORISADE KEHINDE A. 160231004
ADEBANJO IDRIS T. 160231005
DAWODU OLUWABUKANLA 160231031
DENDE SAMUEL B. 160231032
DUMBILI RACHAEL I. 160231033
EKANEM PRINCE S. 160231034
IBRAHIM ISLAMIYAT A. 160231035
OLUWARUNA KEHINDE B. 160231062
OMOYENI KOLAWOLE T. 160231063

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
INJECTION MOLDING ------------------------------------- 2-6
COMPRESSION MOLDING -------------------------------------- 7-10
TRANSFER MOLDING -------------------------------------- 10 -14
REFERENCES -------------------------------------- 15

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 INJECTION MOLDING
One of the conceptually simplest methods of fabricating a
plastic component, though complex in geometry, is to make a
cavity or mold that is identical in shape and size to the desired
article and to fill it with a molten polymer, which then solidifies
and yield the desired product. This is the essence of injection
molding, machines are now available that can mass produce
items of different sizes and weight. As a consequence,
production cost are low, but start-up can be high due the cost
of injection molding machine and the mold itself.
Injection Molding is a process in which molten polymer is
forced under high pressure into a mold cavity through an
opening (sprue).
The process is versatile, though, and can be used to
mold thermoplastics as well as thermosets. In addition,
fillers can be added to make high- strength composite
materials and foaming agent can be added to reduce
density of the molded article. During injection molding, we
can inject an inert gas such as nitrogen into the mold so
that it channels through the less viscous sections of the
molten polymer. This result in weight reduction and also
allows us to produce curved, hollow sections. Examples of
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polymer used includes; poly ethane, poly propylene
,Polycarbonate (PC) ,Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene
(ABS) ,Nylon 6 (N6), polystyrene for making containers ,
toys and house wares, polyester (gears, bearing, etc) ,
acetals and other moldable polymers e.g. PMMA, etc.
A mold is typically composed of two parts, the cavity
and the core. The cavity gives the moldings its external
form, whereas the core gives it its internal form. Most
molds designed for long service life are made from alloy
steel and can be costly. To consistently make moldings
having correct shape and dimensions, it is necessary that
the mold material be wear resistant and corrosion resistant
and do not distort during thermal cycling; chrome and
nickel plating are common. Note that most molds are
water-cooled.
INJECTION MOLDING PROCESS
Injection Molding is the process of forcing melted plastic in
to a mold cavity. Once the plastic has cooled, the part can
be ejected. Injection molding is often used in mass
production and prototyping and is a relatively new way to
manufacture parts, the first machines appearing in the
1930’s. There are six major steps in the injection molding
process:
Clamping
An injection molding machine consists of three basic parts:
the mold, plus the clamping and injection units. The
clamping unit holds the two halves of the injection mold
together during the injection and cooling.
Injection

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During the injection phase plastic material, usually in the
form of pellets, is loaded into a hopper on top of the
injection unit. The pellets feed into a cylinder where they
are heated until they reach molten form. Within the heating
cylinder there is a motorized screw or ram that mixes the
molten pellets and forces them to end of the cylinder.
Once enough material has accumulated in front of the
screw, the injection process begins. The molten plastic is
inserted into the mold through a sprue (channel), while the
pressure and speed are controlled by the screw.
Dwelling
The dwelling phase consists of a pause in the injection
process. Once the molten plastic has been injected into
the mold, the pressure is applied to make sure all of the
mold cavities are filled.
Cooling
The plastic is allowed to cool to its solid form within the
mold.
Mold Opening
The clamping unit is opened, which separates the two
halves of the mold.
Ejection
An ejecting rod and plate eject the finished piece from the
mold. The unused sprues and runners can be recycled for
use again in future molds.

The figure i below shows the core and cavity mold for
bowl plastic production.

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Fig. ii The Injection molding machine

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 ADVANTAGES
 Injection molding is very repeatable i.e the second
you produce is going to be identical to the first one.
 High efficiency: the molding process is very quick
compared to other methods of molding. It hardly takes
time and this allows more parts to be produced from a
single mold.
 Enhanced strength: in the process, it is possible to
use filler which helps to reduce its density, hence
increases its strength.
 The bottom line: using injection molding also ensures
the parts manufactured hardly requires any work after
production. This is because the parts have more or
less a finished appearance after they are ejected from
the mold.
DISADVANTAGE

Even though there are lots of advantages of injection

molding, the major disadvantages includes;
 High initial tooling and machine cost.
 Part design restrictions.
 Small runs of parts can be costly.
APPLICATIONS
Injection molding is used to create many
things such as wire pools, packaging, bottle
caps, automotive dashboards,3-D printings
and other plastic product.

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 COMPRESSION MOLDING
Compression molding is one of the main techniques
for molding articles from thermosetting materials. In
compression molding, the material, thermoplastic or
thermoset material is heated sufficiently to soften or
plasticize the material to enter the mold cavity. The
softened material is held against the mold by pressure.
For thermoplastic, it is cooled below the glass transition
temperature (Tg), thus locking in its shape. For
thermosets, it is held until crosslinking occurs, thereby
locking in its shape.
The most widely employed process is compression
molding, where the material is placed in the bottom half of
an open, heated mold. The second half of the mold is
closed and brings heat and pressure against the material,
softening the material further and eventually allows it to
crosslink. If it is a thermoset when completed, the
pressure is released and the article is removed from the
mold.
Compression molding is one of the oldest materials
handling processes.
In compression molding, a pre-weighed amount of
material is loaded into the lower half of a heater mold or
cavity. The force plug (plunger) is lowered into the cavity,
and pressure, which can range from 20 to 100 tons, is
applied to the powder under heat and pressure, the melts
and flows into all parts of the mold cavity, the resin cross
link thus becoming irreversibly hardened. After an
appropriate time, the mold is opened and the part is
ejected while still hot and allowed to cool outside the mold.

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 ADVANTAGES
 Lower cost tooling: Given that the process does not
involve an injection or transfer cycle, the tooling has
less infrastructure requirements than tools designed
for other molding methods.
 Good for small production runs: The lower capital cost
of manufacturing a mold tool, setting up a press
means that it is the most cost effective method of
making smaller runs of parts.
 No gates, sprues or runners
 Good for large parts.
DISADVANTAGES
 Greater waste: It is not as precise a method of making
a product as injection molding, due to the fact that the
mold cavity has to be overfilled to some degree to
achieve the correct pressure to cure the part.
 Higher labour cost: It requires more man power than a
semi-automatic injection molding process to run.
 Slower process time
 Not suitable for complex molds
 Contamination: It is much easier to produce clean,
consistently coloured rubber parts by injection or
transfer molding.
 Mold can be damaged
APPLICATION
Compression molding has the largest range of
typically molded products from O-rings, gaskets,
diaphragms, seals, bearings, golf balls, shoe soles, to
highly valued critical components used in the medical,
fuel, cells, and printed circuit board industries
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 Compression molding common materials includes:
SMC - polyurethane
BMC - polyethylene
SBR – neoprene, e.t.c.

Fig. iii Compression Molding

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DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INJECTION
AND MOLDING COMPRESSION

TRANSFER MOLDING
This is a manufacturing process where casting material is
forced into a mold. It is a variant of compression molding where
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the injection of the resin is controlled by a transfer ram. it is
similar to compression molding, however, the material is first
place in a transfer chamber prior to entering the mold. In
transfer molding, the mold is enclosed rather than open. It uses
higher pressure to uniformly fill the mold cavity. This allows
thicker reinforcing fiber matrices to be more completely
saturated by resin.

PROCESS OF TRANSFER MOLDING

The mold interior surfaces may be gel – coated, the polymer
is then preheated in a holding chamber called the pot. A plunger
is then used to transfer the polymer from the pot into the closed
heated mold, then compressed into desired shape. The polymer
is preheated so as to enable lower pressure requirements for the
transfer operations and shorten molding cycle. If the polymer is
initially solid, the forcing pressure and mold temperature melt it.
The heated mold ensures that the flow remains liquid for
complete filling. Once filled, the mold can be cooled at a
controlled rate for optimal thermoset curing.
Most times, the charge of molding compound is heated to
300 – 350 f in a separate chamber, transferred by ram under heat
and pressure into a closed die where the shape of the part is
determined and cure takes place usually 45 – 90 seconds.
After heating and curing, the mold is opened and the cured
part is removed. The materials commonly used are thermosets
e.g polyurethanes and epoxy resins.

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 APPLICATION OF TRANSFER MOLDING
Transfer molding of thermosets is used for molding parts
encapsulating metal inserts, wear plates, pins, studs, electronic
components with molded terminals, used for manufacturing
radio and television cabinets and car body shells.

ADVANTAGES
 Multiple cavities can be used within transfer molding since
the material is entering the mold after the mold is closed.
 The cure time is faster since there is the presence of shear
flow which creates heat
 Lower cost due to simpler pot and plunger designs

DISADVANTAGES
 High mold maintenance as insert transfer tool requires
higher mold maintenance
 The tool design could get complex and expensive t6o
include inserts
 The overall operation could be cumbersome as each charge
is loaded manually.

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Fig. iv Transfer Molding

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 REFERENCES
 Anil Kumar, Rakesh k. “ fundamental of polymer
engineering, second revised edition 2003” page 657 -664.
 Charles E. carraher , Jr. “Polymer chemistry, sixth
edition revised , 2003.” Page 687 - 710
 Todd, Robert H.; Allen, Dell K.; Alting, Leo (1994).
Manufacturing Processes Reference Guide. Industrial
Press, Inc." Application Overview: Injection Molding".
Yaskawa America, Inc. Archived from the original on 2006-
04-12. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
 Malloy, Robert A. (1994). Plastic Part Design for
Injection Molding. Munich Vienna New York: Hanser

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