At HLH Prototypes, we offer injection molding to aid our customers’ product development and end-use manufacturing requirements. As a leading manufacturer of China injection molds, we have encountered various challenges in the process, including ensuring color consistency. This usually happens in small production runs. To overcome this, we apply careful quality and process control throughout manufacturing.
In this blog, we will discuss the challenges in ensuring injection molding color consistency and how we overcome them. Color consistency issues during injection molding Many factors can impact the consistency of colors in injection molding, but the most significant is the volume of parts. This is because plastic resin is supplied at minimum order quantities, especially for pre-compounded resins. Unfortunately, restrictions in MOQs can impact decisions when preparing colors in China injection molds. This is why some coloring processes do well in low-volume manufacturing but won’t work with large-scale production. Improving color consistency One of the ways to improve injection molding color consistency is by looking at the coloring technique. Compounding and master batching deliver good consistency in almost every project, so we will share techniques to enhance color consistency when using secondary finishing and pigment mixing. Use a standard color. No matter the coloring technique, use a color from the RAL or Pantone chart instead of a custom one to achieve the same color between batches. This will also allow us to maintain consistency when you re-order parts from us. Additionally, compounds will be faster and cheaper to obtain if you use a stock color because our supplier can readily supply them to us. Consider a family mold. Using a family mold can keep colors consistent for all parts in an assembly. It’s a multi-cavity injection molding tool where every cavity results in a different component. Since each component comes from the same plastic, everything should match consistently. That said, we only recommend this for geometrically similar components. Otherwise, we will provide a complex gating system that can increase the mold cost. Manage humidity We control the humidity around the powder and resin when introducing powdered pigment to the injection molding machine’s hopper to let the resin dry immediately before we mix the pigment. Plus, we add the pigment quickly to reduce air contact. We have other solutions to improve color consistency in injection molding. Chat with our experts in China about injection molds or request a project review. Source URL: www.hlhprototypes.com/the-challenges-and-solutions-of-injection-molding-color-consistency/
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AuthorHLH Prototypes Co. Ltd. Provides rapid part manufacturing solutions like 3D printing, CNC machining, rapid tooling, rapid injection molding, and SLS 3D printing service, vacuum casting (urethane), and sheet metal work. Categories |