Injection molding companies offer their services to those who need bulk amounts of specialized parts. Large orders are typically required by most of these companies, but some will also produce small custom orders for clients. Small custom orders are typically created by hand, while large orders of parts are created with the help of injection molding machines. Rubber, plastic, and metal are the three main types of materials used by injection molding companies.

Types of Injection Molding Companies

Most injection molding companies will specialize in working with certain materials. For instance, some injection molding companies will only work with metals, while others will only work with plastics and rubbers. The main reason for this is that the process is different when working with different materials. However, companies that work with many different types of materials do exist and they can be found easily online.

Liquid injection molding companies only work with plastic and rubber materials. These materials can be melted into a liquid before being injected into a mold. After the liquid has cooled, the mold can be opened and the part can be removed. Plastics such as nylon, acrylic, polycarbonate, ABS, polyurethane, polystyrene, and PVC are commonly used for injection molding. Silicone and neoprene rubbers are desirable choices of rubber materials for this process.

Metal injection molding is a unique process because the metal is not melted into a liquid before being injected into a mold. The mold is injected with fine metal powder and a small amount of binder. The mold is then heated to extreme temperatures. The heat causes the metal powder to shrink, which minimizes pores on the surface and causes the metal to harden. Because metal injection molding is so different from liquid injection molding, companies that specialize in each method typically remain separate.