plastic: Molding of Plastic

Plastics are available in the form of bars, tubes, sheets, coils, and blocks, and these can be fabricated to specification. However, plastic articles are commonly manufactured from plastic powders in which desired shapes are fashioned by compression, transfer, injection, or extrusion molding. In compression molding, materials are generally placed immediately in mold cavities, where the application of heat and pressure makes them first plastic, then hard. The transfer method, in which the compound is plasticized by outside heating and then poured into a mold to harden, is used for designs with intricate shapes and great variations in wall thickness. Injection-molding machinery dissolves the plastic powder in a heating chamber and by plunger action forces it into cold molds, where the product sets. The operations take place at rigidly controlled temperatures and intervals. Extrusion molding employs a heating cylinder, pressure, and an extrusion die through which the molten plastic is sent and from which it exits in continuous form to be cut in lengths or coiled.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Development of Plastics
• Environmental Considerations
• Molding of Plastic
• Composition and Types of Plastic
• Bibliography

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