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Rotational moulding is a process of making

hollow articles.

The part is formed inside a closed female mould.

In this process the mould rotates biaxially during

heating and cooling cycle.

Rotational moulded pieces are stress free

because the pieces are produced without any
external pressure.

The Process requires relatively in expensive

equipment and exerts on only small pressure on
the material being formed.
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PRINCIPLE

The principle of the process is that finely

divided plastic material becomes molten when
comes in contact with hot metal surface of
the mould and takes up the shape of that
surface.

As only female mould is used, the only

pressure exerted are those induced by gravity
and centrifugal force.
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 The polymer is then cooled while still in

contact with the metal mould to get the
solid copy of the surface.
Rotational moulding permits to make a
wide variety of fully and partially closed
items.

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Advantages

The major advantage of rotational

moulding as compared to other plastic
moulding processes is that it can make
very large parts.

It requires comparatively low cost input.

The products are stress free with strong

out side corners. There are no sprue or
gate marks.
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The external dimensional details can be easily

moulded with better surface glossiness.

The colour changes in the product can be made

easily. Similarly mould changes can also be
done rapidly.

Multilayer moulding is also possible for

providing chemical resistance and strength to
the part.

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Good control over wall thickness variation is

also achievable as compared to blow
moulding or thermoforming.

Moulding can be done with metal inserts and

minor undercuts.

No scrap or very little scrap is produced.

Low tooling cost.

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DISADVANTAGES
The

moulding cycles are longer compared to

blow moulding and thermoforming.

In

case of big parts loading and unloading is

very labour intensive.

The

process is not suitable for parts with wall

thickness less than 0.03.

The

conversion of plastic granules to powder

form increases the equipment and process cost.
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LIMITATIONS
1. It is an open moulding process and so there
are no cores inside the hollow parts
2. Surface details and dimensions can only be
provided and controlled on the side of the
part.
3. The process requires heating and cooling of
not only plastic material but also the mould as
well.
4. The long heating cycle increase the possibility
of thermal degradation.
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5. It is not suitable for materials with less heat

resistant to withstand the long heating
cycle.
6. The material must be capable of being
pulverised into fine powder that flows like
liquid.
7. Removal of plastic sticking onto the surface
of cavity requires careful application of
mould release agent.
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 Loading
Heating & Moulding
Cooling
Unloading
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LOADING

This step includes weighing of the charge for

a particular product then transferring it to the
open cold mould.

The mould surface usually coated with a

mould releasing agent.

The raw material can be in the form of

powder or liquid state.
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 The wall thickness can be controlled by

varying the amount of raw material
charged.
After the material is charged the mould is
closed and clamped to the arm of the
machine.
Then the mould is moved to an oven for
heating
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HEATING & MOULDING

The mould fixed to the arm now moved to a

closed chamber where it undergoes intense
heating.

During heating the mould rotates in two planes

perpendicular to each other.

The rotational speed varies in the range of 0-40

rpm on minor & 0-12 rpm on the major axis.

4:1 ratio is the most commonly used for

symmetric article.
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For moulding unsymmetrical products a

wide variability of ratios is necessary.

The revolving motion distributes the

plastic material uniformly over the inside
surface of the mould.

The plastic material fuses into layers to

form a hollow article.

In case of hot air oven the temperature

should be between 200c to 500c.
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The moulding cycle time varies from 2 to 20

minutes depending upon the wall thickness of
the article.

The wall thickness can vary from 2 to 12mm

or more.

The heating chamber should be large enough

to house the mould and rotate it freely.

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COOLING
For

cooling the mould is transferred to the

cooling station while still rotating.

The

cooling should be made as quickly as

possible to avoid the plastic part to shrink away
form the mould.

Otherwise

the part will get distorted.

Cooling

can be done by air or water. To provide

faster cooling cold water is sprayed over the
mould.
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UNLOADING

After cooling the mould is transferred to the

unloading station.

In this step the mould is opened and the cooled

part is taken out.

It can be done
assistance.

The ejection can also be done by forced air.

The mould is cleaned and the charge is loaded

for the next cycle.

manually or with mechanical

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THE HEATING TIME DEPENDS UPON

THE FOLLOWING FACTORS.
Part Size
Wall thickness
Resin

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THE SPEED DEPENDS UPON

THE FOLLOWING FACTORS

Part size
Geometry
Resin
Heating rate
Thermal conductivity of mould metal

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ROTATIONAL MOULDING MACHINES

Three basic types of machines are :
i.
ii.

Batch type
Continuous or rotary type

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Batch type is used in prototype or low

volume production. This method requires
less capital but most involvement of
manual labour.

Continuous or rotary type method include

three basic stations arranged 120 apart
from arms attached to a central hub
containing the drive mechanism.

Advantage of this system is minimal

labour and high production rate.
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ROTATIONAL MOULDING
BY CAROUSEL-TYPE MACHINES

The carousel type machine is a three-station

rotary indexing type with a central turret and
three cantilevered mould arms.

Individual arms are involved in different

operations simultaneously so that no arms are
idle at any time.

All operations are automated and at the end of

each cycle the turret is indexed 120, thereby
moving each mould arms to its next station.
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Newer carousel machines being offered

today have four arms.

The additional arm can be used in a second

oven, cooler or load station, depending on,
which is the most time-consuming part of the
over all cycle.

The four-arm carousel machines increase the

production by allowing the indexing from
station to station to occur more frequently
than could be managed on a three-arm
machines.

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MULTILAYER ROTATIONAL MOULDING

It is used to combine two different colours of
the same material or two dissimilar material
into one part.
It offers potential advantages of increased
stiffness.
When solid and foam are combined, improved
barrier properties and permeation resistance by
using thin inner or outer layer of low permeable
material.
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 It is a two staged process in which the skin

of one material is combined with an inner
layer of another material.
The first shot of material moulds in the
normal fashion and the material adheres to
the mould.

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 When adhering and curing of the layer is

completed the mould is removed from oven
and second shot material is added.
While producing very thick parts care
should be taken not to thermally degrade
the outer layers at the expense of
optimizing properties of inner layers.
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 Two materials
compatible.

must

be

chemically

They should have similar processing

temperature and similar co-efficient of
thermal expansion.

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MATERIAL CONSIDERATIONS
FOR ROTATIONAL MOULDING

All thermoplastic materials can be rotationally

moulded.

HDPE, LLDPE, LDPE,PVC,PC,ABS,PS,Acrylics,

Nylon , TPU, SAN Polyesters are the materials
which are commonly used.

The various properties considered in selecting

the proper material are grindability,particle size,
pourability, bulk density and fusability.
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MATERIAL PREPARATION
A process used to reduce the pallets or granules
to a smaller size is called grinding or milling.
In this process the granules fed into the centre of
two plates, each with a series of radially arranged
cutting edges.
One plate is held stationary while other is rotated
at high speed.
The gap between the cutting edges of the two
plates is narrower.
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Moulds are not so expensive, but entirely

depends upon the quality level of the moulded
parts and the method of heating to be used in
the process.

Three types of mould materials in common use

are
Cast aluminum
Steel sheet metal
copper-nickel

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Cast aluminium moulds are widely used for small to

medium sized parts requiring number of cavities.

Steel sheet is preferred where surface finish is not

critical and for the larger moulds of simple design.

copper-nickel moulds are most expensive but offer a

very smooth finish.

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PROBLEMS

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Raise the oven temperature.

Production rate is too low

Use a
(or the heating cycle too long) powder.

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higher-melt

index

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Raise the oven temperature.

Increase the heating cycle.
Use a higher-melt index powder.
Moulded piece
contains bubbles
Decrease the wall thickness, if possible by
Or
Piece has a rough decreasing the amount of powder in every
charge.
inside surface
Make sure the interior surface of the mould
is dry.

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Decrease the heating cycle.

Piece is yellow, brown or
other discolouration action.
Lower the oven temperature.
Check the mould wall for
contamination such as rust.

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Clean the mould surface and apply a

suitable mould release agent.
Increase the cooling cycle.

Piece sticks
in the mould

Modify the mould so that the part tapers

to a slightly larger dimension toward the
end of the mould through which it is
removed

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