Plastics 001

Injection Blow Molding

Injection Blow Molding

 Plastics 001
Injection Blow Molding

Introduction
This lesson will cover the injection blow
molding process, which is closely related
to extrusion blow molding, and which
can make tight tolerance, hollow parts
without a seam. These parts can be
highly oriented to provide strength and
better barrier properties, as well as
being able to create parts quickly.
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Injection Blow Molding

Topics
What isInjection Blow Molding
Basic Injection Blow Molding Process
Variations in the Process
Common Materials and Key Processing
Parameters
Advantages and Disadvantages
Competing Processes and Future
Development
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Injection Blow Molding

Introduction
It is closely related to Extrusion Blow
Molding.
This process can make tight tolerance,
hollow parts without a seam.
The parts can be highly oriented to
provide strength and better barrier
properties.
It can create parts quickly.
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Injection Blow Molding

Current Areas of Use

Containers
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Injection Blow Molding

Product Range
Less than 1 oz to Slightly Greater than 5
gallon
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Injection Blow Molding

The process is a variation on

Extrusion Blow Molding. Instead of
an extruded parison that was used in
Extrusion Blow Molding,a preform,
which is a test tube shaped,
injection molded part, is used in
Injection Blow Molding. This preform
is injection molded first in either the
same machine or on a separate
injection molding machine prior to
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Injection Blow Molding

Before the preform can be molded

into the shape of the final part, it
needs to be conditioned. The
conditioning either heats or cools the
preform so it is the correct
temperature to blow into the shape
of the mold. If the preform is made
on the same machine, heat has to be
removed to give the polymer some
strength so it can be blown into
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Injection Blow Molding

If the preform is made on a separate

injection molding machine, it needs
to be reheated to decrease its
viscosity. In this case, the preform is
usually brought to the blow molding
machine at room temperature.
Once the preform is at the correct
temperature, it is moved into the
blow mold.
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Injection Blow Molding

Air is introduced into the neck of the

part, blowing it out against the mold
surfaces to form it into shape. Once
the preform takes the shape of the
mold, it is held under pressure to
allow good contact with the mold.
This is done to get better cooling of
the part. The part is then ejected
from the machine.
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Injection Blow Molding
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Injection Blow Molding

Injection Blow Molding is used to

make seamless bottles than do not
need high strength or barrier
properties.
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Injection Blow Molding
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Injection Blow Molding

Injection stretch blow molding is

used for bottles that need higher
strength and good barrier properties.
This strength and barrier properties
are a result of the orientation in the
axial and hoop direction. This biaxial
stretching is accomplished by a
stretch rod that stretches the
preform down to the bottom of the
blow mold before air is introduced.
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Injection Blow Molding

The orientation in the hoop direction,

around the circumference of the part,
results from the air pressure
stretching the preform as it is molded
into the shape of the mold.
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Injection Blow Molding
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Injection Blow Molding

When the preform is injection

molded in the same machine as it
is blown, it is called a single-stage
machine. Such machines usually
have three stations: injection,
blow, and ejection. In the
conditioning phase, the injection
mold is cooled to reduce the
viscosity of the material before it
moves to the blow mold.
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Injection Blow Molding

These machines are typically slower

that the reheat machines because
both injection and blowing are done
together. If the injection cycle is
longer than the blowing cycle, it can
slow the process down. There is
usually a limit to to the number of
parts that can be molded in each
cycle.
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Injection Blow Molding

There is a limit on the size of the

machine that can be used to make
both preform and parts, so that also
limits the number of parts than can
be produced in each cycle.
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Injection Blow Molding

In a reheat machine, the preforms

are made on a standard injection
molding machines. In high-speed
production, it usually takes four
injection molding machines to feed
one blow molding machine.
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Injection Blow Molding

Since the preforms are made on a

separate Injection Molding machine
and the blow molds are usually on a
rotary table with multiple molds, the
production of parts is very fast. The
fastrotary table machines are
capable of producing around 15 parts
per second.
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Injection Blow Molding

Common Materials
PET
Polycarbonate
Polyethylene
Polystyrene
Polypropylene
PVC
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Injection Blow Molding

Key Processing Parameters

Blow Molder
The temperature and temperature profile of
the preform is critical to the thickness of the
final part. Changes in viscosity will change
how the air pressure moves the preform
against the mold wall.
The blow pressure determines how the
preform is blown and holds the part to the
mold wall for better cooling.
The blow time is used to hold the part
against the mold wall for cooling.
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Injection Blow Molding

Key Processing Parameters

Injection Molder
The injection speed determines the filling
time of the mold.
The melt temperature determines the
viscosity of the material as it is injected into
the mold.
The packing pressure and time determine
the amount of material that is pushed into
the mold to compensate for shrinkage as the
material starts to solidify.
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Injection Blow Molding

Process Advantages
With stretch injection blow molding,
biaxial orientation gives strength and
improved barrier properties. When the
polymer is highly oriented, itgives the
part some extra strength. This can be
easily seen with plastic soda bottles.
Because the soda has CO2 dissolved in
the liquid and the CO2 wants to come
out of the liquid, it creates pressure
inside the bottle.
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Injection Blow Molding

Process Advantages
If the bottle did not have any
orientation, the pressure would be high
enough to distort bottle. The bi-axial
orientation give the bottle extra strength
to withstand the pressure and keep the
bottle in its original shape. Because the
polymer is highly oriented, it reduces
the space between the polymer chains,
which reduces the openings for the CO2
to migrate out or oxygen to migrate into
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Injection Blow Molding

Process Advantages
Because the injection molds are
basically hot runner molds and there is
no need for a pinch-off as in Extrusion
Blow Molding, there is no scrap
generated.
Because the preform is injection molded
and has the shiny, smooth surface finish
of the injection mold, it creates a good
surface finish on the Injection Blow
Molded parts.
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Injection Blow Molding

Process Advantages
In addition, tighter tolerance parts can
be made versus Extrusion Blow
Molding. The threads around the neck
are injection molded and this is
responsible for better tolerances. In
Extrusion Blow Molding, the threads are
either blown into shape or compressed
into shape by the blow pin.
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Injection Blow Molding

Process Disadvantages
Because the preform is injection molded
first, there is a practical limit to the size
that can be produced. This limits
ultimate part size. In Extrusion Blow
Molding, the die that produces the
parison can be constructed for a fraction
of an Injection Molding mold. With the
intermittent Extrusion Blow Molding
process, parts up to 1,000 gallons can
be made. In order to make parts over 5
gallons, the mold would have to very
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Injection Blow Molding

Process Disadvantages
There are higher tooling costs than
with extrusion blow molding. There
are multi-cavity injection molds that
have to be createdand even the
blow molds are generally more
complex than an equivilent Extrusion
Blow Molding mold.
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Injection Blow Molding

Process Disadvantages
Containers with necks offsetto the
center of the bottleare difficult to
produce in this process. In Extrusion
Blow Molding, the blow pin can be
positioned just about anywhere as long
as it can get coverage with the parison.
In Injection Blow Molding, the preform is
always created in the center of the neck.
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Injection Blow Molding

Competing Processes
Injection Molding
Hollow parts can be made, but they must be
molded in halves and assembled. The parts
will have constant wall thickness and tighter
tolerances.
Rotational Molding
Parts will have more uniform wall thickness,
but will have a looser tolerance.
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Injection Blow Molding

Competing Processes
Twin Sheet Thermoforming
Parts will have an external seam/weld.
Extrusion Blow Molding
Parts will be cheaper to produce and can be
more structural.
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Injection Blow Molding

Future Development
One future development includes
creating lighter, more cost-effective
bottles. Aluminum cans are still about a
penny cheaper to purchase than an
equivalent sized plastic bottle. The
industry is trying hard to find ways to
decrease the amount of material in each
bottle.
Because of newer policies about limiting
soft drinksin schools, single-serve sized