Are you looking to design, develop, or produce a component that needs to be injection molded to complete the project? Do you know what key aspects you need to identify as you go to design molded plastics?
When going into this process, you need to identify both the obvious and not so obvious! Below are 7 items for you to consider before launching your project.
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Define physical properties and consider the following
- Caliber of strength
- Degree of stiffness
- Electrical needs
- Does it need to be flame retardant?
- Scratch/Mar/Wear
- How impact resistant should it be?
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Environment
- What type of chemical exposure will it face?
- UV-Define Failure-Color, Stress Cracking, Material/Property Degradation
- Temperature-operating requirements
- Temperature-Failure analysis
- Humidity
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Aesthetics
- Surface appearance
- Color
- Decorations
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Regulatory/agency compliance to consider
- FDA
- NSF
- RoHS
- UL
- USP
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Cost target
- What is the cost of the product?
- How will you price the product for sale?
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Mold ability
- Does it fit injection molding capabilities
- Include a mold flow analysis
- Will identified resin lend itself to design?
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What is the Project origin?
- New Product or application
- New Product replacing alternative material
- New Project design
- Metal-to-Plastic conversion
These are some of the things you must look at when deciding to injection mold a component. The key to a successful project launch is doing the homework up-front during the conception and design stage. Work with your engineering, molding vendor, resin suppliers, and other resources to properly identify and work through all aspects. THIS WILL LEAD TO A TIMELY AND SUCCESSFULLY PRODUCT LAUNCH!
