Manufacturers worldwide are thankful for thermoplastic purging compound. This compound plays an important part in keeping the cost of manufacturing injection molded parts low, as well as improving the functionality and tolerances of these sometimes vital parts.
Injection molded plastic parts are all around us in daily life. Every vehicle is filled with meticulously designed, injection molded parts. In the home, injection molded parts are in appliances, toys, sporting goods and even shoes.
The reason these items are affordable by the public is because of the existence of thermoplastic purging compound.
What is the Purpose of Thermoplastic Purging Compound?
The injection molding industry deals mostly in plastics. Plastic parts are low-cost, durable, and able to be easily and permanently colored. And there several types of plastic used in the industry depending on the end-use of the injection molded part. Some plastics result in tough and pliable parts that bounce back to their designed shape. Some plastics are used for intricately designed parts because they maintain a finer definition.
The varying types of plastic are all used in the same injection molding machine for separate manufacturing runs of different kinds of parts. One of these machines may use many different types and colors of plastic in a single day. Every time a manufacturing run is concluded, the machine has to be thoroughly cleaned of the plastic material so that it isn’t mixed with the next manufacturing run. And that’s where the thermoplastic purging compound comes in.
A thermoplastic purging compound is used to meticulously clean all the interior parts of the injection molding machine that come into contact with the plastics used in the manufacturing process.
Quicker and More Efficient Cleaning
This thermoplastic purging compound is invaluable to the injection molding industry and to the manufacturers that use plastic parts to create their products. The compound mimics the plastic material’s consistency in that it reaches all the areas that the plastic reached during the production run.
The compound is in pellet form when not in use and resembles the plastic material used in injection molding. It’s able to be heated up until it reaches a liquid state. This heat helps in its cleaning capabilities as well.
The thermoplastic purging compound is added to the material hopper at the end of the production run. It gets heated up and forced through the machine.
It quickly and effectively rids the machine of any plastic residue that would compromise the structural integrity of the parts to be injection molded next on the production schedule. Mixed colors also used to be a problem in injection molding. Parts at the beginning of the production run would often be streaked and discolored by the colors used in the previous run.
By using thermoplastic purging compound between production runs, injection molding becomes faster and easier for the injection molding company and saves time and money. Clients are happy with the lack of flaws in their products and the speed of the completion of their orders. It’s become a crucial part of the injection molding industry.
