Everything You Need to Know About Thermoforming

an plastic injection mold shop

Thermoform is a plastic sheet that’s heated through, after which it’s stretched over a piece of mold to shape into whatever design the manufacturer desires.

Let’s look as our injection mold maker outlines 3 things you probably didn’t know about the process of thermoforming.

Considerations

While the idea of thermoforming sounds great, there are certain things one should take into consideration when getting ready to form. It’s important to notice corners and how they might change during the molding process. To ensure the edges and corners won’t thin when forming, try and keep a radius on these areas.

Don’t ignore the depth of a cavity—it can’t exceed a particular limit because creating every feature requires the material to stretch. If the draw is extremely large, the material won’t be able to form the shape because it would be too thin. A draft is also needed to ensure the mold can release the part.

If one side of the part requires better dimensional accuracy than the other, specifying this early on is important since using a male vs. female mold can assist in bringing this out.

When to use

Straightaway. Comparing thermoforming to injection molding is easy because both of these processes are somewhat related. Thermoforming stretches uses flat material and stretches it into a part, while injection molding uses molten rubber or plastic and injects into a cavity.

plastic injection mold

There’s one big benefit that comes with thermoforming, and that’s size – it can allow for bigger parts. For instance, if you have a big part with uniform thickness, thermoforming can help. With injection molding, a large mold would be used, and more force would be required to hold it shut. However, there’s no such problem in thermoforming.

When it comes to making thin-gauge parts, thermoforming does well. It can easily create trays, lids, containers, and disposable cups in a cost-effective manner, and that’s why it’s used extensively in the packaging industry.

PTMS uses 100% brand new materials to make high-quality plastic injection molded parts

PTMS holds extensive experience in custom injection molding, offering top-quality plastic injection molding to its customers since 2002. With experienced employees and advanced injection machines, PTMS know how to control cost in a reasonable range.

Contact them directly for more information; they offer custom plastic injection molding with top-notch results!

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