How Injection Moulding is Shaping the Future of Car Manufacturing

The automotive industry has experienced a major shift since the creation of the first mass-produced vehicles at the beginning of the 20th century. Henry Ford’s launch of the assembly line in 1913 marked an important milestone in the way cars were produced, enabling the manufacture of vehicles at an unparalleled scale. This innovation reduced the time required to produce a vehicle, while also making cars much more affordable for consumers.

Throughout the decades, the industry has continued to evolve, driven by shifting consumer demands, technological developments, and the need for greater sustainability and efficiency, and manufacturers have adapted by embracing sophisticated materials and techniques. While cars were almost entirely made of metal in the early days of the industry, meaning they were extremely heavy and clunky, manufacturers began experimenting with plastic car parts. In the early 2000s, automotive manufacturers introduced the first plastic structural components for vehicles, which were lighter than their metal counterparts, resulting in improved fuel efficiency and much lower production costs. A key process at the core of this shift is injection moulding, which remains a dominant production technique for manufacturing plastic parts in the automotive industry.

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What Are the Production Applications for Injection Moulding in The Automotive Industry?

To put it simply, injection moulding is the process of injecting molten plastic into a mould to generate parts with complex geometries and precise dimensions. HSV TMP specialist explains the process in detail, so visit https://www.hsv-tmp.com/ to learn more about how injection moulding works.

One of the most noteworthy features of the process is that it’s incredibly versatile, which is precisely what makes it ideal for the production of numerous components:

Interior Components. Manufacturers can use injection moulding to produce interior vehicle parts, including instrumentation components, dashboard faceplates, glove compartments, door handles, interior surfaces, air vents, and more. But that’s not all: they also leverage this technique to create decorative plastic elements.
Exterior Components. Injection moulding also helps create exterior automotive components, such as floor rails, fenders, door panels, bumpers, and light housing, to name a few. Splash guards serve as an excellent example to demonstrate the durability of the moulded parts. In addition, the components that safeguard the vehicle from road debris and reduce splashing are made from durable, flexible materials like rubber.
Components Under-the-Hood. For the past two decades, manufacturers switched from using metal for under-the-hood components to embracing plastic. Robust polymers like Nylon, ABS, and PET are common for these applications, but manufacturers are now making parts such as oil pans and cylinder head covers via injection moulding, which provides lower weight and cost compared to metal parts.

What Benefits Does Injection Moulding Bring to The Automotive Industry?

We have already made it clear that manufacturers are now relying heavily on injection moulding, but why? There are quite a few compelling reasons:

Repeatability. In the automotive sector, the ability to create identical parts consistently cannot be overstated. Because injection moulding usually relies on strong metal moulds, the final parts are essentially identical, which makes the process highly effective and ensures the mould has good finishing and design.
Material Availability. Shortage of materials isn’t something to worry about in the injection moulding process, because there’s a wide range of flexible and rigid plastics compatible with it. Manufacturers can use polymers such as polypropylene, acetal, polycarbonate, and nylon for various automotive applications.
Scale and Cost. The injection mould-making process can be quite expensive, and that’s because of the cost of the mould itself. But despite that, it is a highly scalable process, and its cost can decrease as the manufacturer produces more parts. In short, this means that injection moulding is perfectly suited to mass production applications, bringing only benefits to manufacturers. But to ensure high production speed and consistent quality alongside lower labour costs, manufacturers should partner with an injection moulding company that has the necessary expertise to meet their unique needs.
Colour Options. Plastic injection moulding in the automotive industry makes it easy to change the colours of moulded parts to ensure they match the vehicle’s colour scheme. Compared to other processes, injection moulding enables you to mix dyes with the raw material pellets before moulding, ensuring consistent, solid coloration without the need for tinting or painting after moulding.
High Precision and Surface Finish. Injection moulding is the go-to solution for producing plastic parts with simple geometries and achieving high surface finish quality. Manufacturers can choose from a variety of finish options during part production, including glossy, matte, or rough finishes, which can be applied directly to the mould rather than the moulded part. However, it’s worth noting that various plastic materials also affect the final surface finish.
Quick Prototypes with Rapid Tooling. Automotive manufacturers don’t just use injection moulding for mass production of car parts, but also as a prototyping tool. By producing low-cost and fast aluminium moulds with rapid tooling, automotive mould manufacturers can successfully turn around short runs of the moulded car components quicker than traditional (steel) tooling.
Reduced Waste and Environmental Impact. Unlike other manufacturing methods, injection moulding doesn’t have a large environmental footprint. In fact, the process produces little to no waste, and any excess plastic from the injection process can be reused or recycled easily. This means there’s less material that ends up in landfills, and at the same time, it helps save resources. Additionally, using plastic parts in automobiles makes them a lot lighter, which in turn, contributes to fuel efficiency and lower emissions. While metal parts are heavier, this isn’t the case with injection moulded parts, which are lighter, but come with the same strength and durability. Because the automotive industry is being more focused than ever on embracing sustainability, the demand for injection moulded parts made from bio-based or recycled plastics will likely rise.

The Bottom Line

Automotive injection moulding is a dynamic and necessary process in the creation of vehicles, generating high-quality parts that meet the evolving needs of the industry. As technology improves, the role of automotive injection moulding will continue to develop as well, driven by smart manufacturing, mould innovations like multi-material moulds, and other exciting advancements.

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