4 Methods of Processing Plastics are explained in this article. Reading it will avail you of the necessary information you need.
Methods of Processing Plastics
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Plastics are materials that can be reshaped or remolded by applying heat and pressure. Most plastics are made from synthetic resins or polymers through the process of polymerization. Plastics are soft enough to be molded yet capable of hardening into a desired shape and form.
Methods of Processing Plastics
Production of plastics involves mixing some raw materials and heating them at a very high temperature. Raw materials for plastics are obtained as chemical compounds from crude oil. The raw materials are in an unrefined state.
Resin for the instance is one of the raw materials and it is a by-product of crude oil distillation. Resin is mixed with other materials and colors to produce plastic.
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The mixture is heated to become soft. It is then shaped and molded into any desired shape, cooled, and hardened. The cooling can be done using air, water, or solvents.
Furthermore, several methods are used in the processing of plastics. The method used depends on the type of plastics to be made, which will be used for the cost of production.
The Methods of Processing Plastics are:
1. Extrusion Moulding
This is the commonest method of processing plastics. In this method, an extraction molding machine is used. The raw materials for making plastics are fed into part of the machine called a funnel or feeder hopper.
Heat is used to dissolve the raw materials into a molten form. The molten form is cooled and gas into the forming die of the machine where the plastic is formed.
The shape of the opening in the forming die determines the form of plastic made. This method is used to produce plastic pipes and tubes.
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2. Injection Moulding
Injection Moulding is used to produce both small and large plastics but the machines are costly and this makes the process costly too. In this method, the plastic powder or granules are heated until there are soft and can flow.
There are then injected into a closed cavity where it is cooled to form the desired shape. The solid plastic is then removed from the mold. Due to the high cost of this method, it is mainly used where a large quantity of various sizes of plastics is needed.
3. Calendaring method
The calendaring method deals with the finishing and smoothening of a produced plastic product. It is the final stage in the process.
The produced plastic is passed between heated rollers in a calendaring machine in order to smoothen it and give it a shiny surface. Plastic materials like polyvinyl chloride are processed in this way.
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4. Compression molding
In compression molding, the powdered raw material is placed in an oven and heated at a very high temperature. The molten form is then forced into a mold and compressed into a specific shape by applying pressure.
In Conclusion, the compressed method is mainly used in the production of plastics. When it comes to plastic production every mold cavity has both female and male sections.
The female section contains the cavity where the materials are formed and pressure is used to force the male section into the production of plastics.
