Thursday, February 6, 2014

How Thermoformed Plastic Packaging Products Are Made

By Jerri Perry


The primary duty of custom thermoforming industries is to produce quality thermoformed plastic items. Examples of such products include; custom plastic radomes, thermoformed medical devices and thermoformed plastic enclosures. Generally, thermoforming industries deal with various thermoforming needs of their clients. Thermoformed plastic packaging products are also among these and can as well be made according to the specifications of a client.

Normally, the companies use in-door tools and machinery to meet the different requirements of thermoforming business. This may include temperature-controlled aluminum molds, fixtures and trim jigs that are custom designed to handle different projects. Virtually, all custom thermoforming companies use the same process of manufacturing thermoformed products.

The thermoforming process begins with transforming flat sheets of plastics. The companies have machinery which can use different sizes of flat plastic sheets. The flat sheet is then mounted into clamps and placed into ovens. After heating for a specified period of time, the sheet is removed and prepared for forming. While still hot, the sheet can be placed over or under the forming tool as it brought up to the sheet.

In the next step, a seal is made around the sheet and a combination of vacuum and pressure is used to force the sheet to form the shape of the mold. After the sheet has been molded, it is held in place until the cooling process is over. The next step involves removing the sheet from the clamping and preparing it for trimming. The trimming can be done in a number of ways such as drilling, saw cutting, hand routing, and 3 or 5-axis machinery.

After the completion of the thermoforming process, the finished part of the sheet is cleaned and packed in polybags for distribution. Most of these companies also engage in other thermoforming services. Some of these are; heavy gauge thermoforming, thermoforming mold making, twin sheet thermoforming, pressure forming and vacuum forming. The vacuum forming process is best suited for manufacture of medical products.

Pressure forming is still regarded as another version of vacuum forming. It uses the traditional techniques of molding to close the appearance gaps. Whilst it is mainly used the thin-gage plastic packaging industries, pressure forming is mainly viewed as an ancient mode of thermoforming. In a twin sheet thermoforming, however, two sheets are formed at the same time through heating. They are usually preformed into different molds before being quickly pressed together.

During the molding process a pin is attached to one of the sheets and air is blown to enable them form through pressure. The pressure and heat are then used to form the sheets as one unit. Most products made through this process normally look like those made from rational molding or blow molding.

Heavy gauge thermoforming can be used for the manufacturing of electronic, medical and industrial products. The process is used to make sturdy rigid enclosures used in equipment such as medical devices, computers, electronic enclosures, radomes, exercise equipment, and outdoor equipment. The products made through this process have a wide range of thickness because it uses machines that can accommodate thicker sheets. If in need of thermoformed plastic packaging then it would be best to approach the custom thermoforming companies in order for you to get exactly what you need.




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