People are always trying to create with injection molding something better. This is the same for design teams. They are constantly looking for better designs, better materials, and better performance. On top of that, a better cost is what design teams constantly strive for. If they can find a way to give their specific product an edge over its competitors, the designers will do everything in order to make this happen. This, for example, can be done by hiring an injection molding service instead of buying all the machines, materials, and other necessities yourself. This will, obviously, be much cheaper.
Limited
There are lots of things designers can create with injection molding. For example, it can help solve some challenges. If a product is designed to be one component instead of multiple, you could save significant costs and time during assembly and production. On the other hand, it is difficult to be creative when you are limited by material choices. This is especially the case when it comes to metal. Due to this, many manufacturers today are exploring metal to plastic conversion options.
Benefits
By exploring and using the metal to plastic conversion options you will be able to experience multiple benefits. When you compare engineered plastics to metal you will find these advantages. For example, the plastics have an up to 50 percent lighter weight. On top of that, both the manufacturing costs and the production costs will significantly decrease by using plastics, which will also result in lower packaging and shipping costs. The process is also highly repeatable and will result in less scrap, while the design will have a great flexibility. The tensile strength is comparable between the two materials, while the part will have a much longer life. Furthermore, you can replace multiple metal parts by one plastic part that is made with the help of injection molding.
Switch
Even though plastics obviously have some great benefits, metal to plastic conversion is still quite unknown. However, the automotive industry does use engineered plastics quite a lot already, which they do to improve strength, reduce weight, and resist corrosion. The components used by this industry are mostly injection molded made of polyphenylene sulfide. They can be found in essentially all parts of a car. On the other hand, other industries are still slacking behind. There seems to be a switch going on, however. More and more companies are starting to use plastic instead of metal to manufacture their products.
