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How does a Blow Molding Machine Works?

There are three kinds of blow molding and each of the types has a separate process. A single blow molding machine can work in 3 separate ways for each of the respective processes. We will be discussing the types of blow molding and the process for each one of them in detail.

Extrusion blow molding: In this kind of blow molding, the plastic is melted and then poured or extruded into a parison (also called pare). This parison is then captured and closed into a chilled metal rod. After this, the air is circulated into the paring which inflates the inside of the hollow container. Once the plastic has sufficiently chilled down, the mould cracks open and the part is separated. There are two different versions of extrusion blow molding. They are:

Continuous: In this kind of extrusion molding, the pare is continuously extruded and each part is cut with the help of a knife.

Intermittent: This kind of extrusion molding again comprises two separate processes namely, accumulator method and straight intermittent method. In the former, an accumulator collects all the melted plastic and when the mould cools down sufficiently, a rod is passed through the melted plastic. This forms the parison. In the straight intermittent method is somewhat similar to the injection molding process where the screw moves intermittently and pushes out the melted plastic. In both these forms of intermittent blow molding, the reciprocating screw or the hydraulic accumulator mainly use the hydraulic system to quickly push the pare out and reduce its weight. They allow for systematic control over the thickness of the wall by adjusting the gap with the help of the parison programming equipment. In both these forms of intermittent extrusion molding, the screw may turn continuously or intermittently. In case of the former, the weight of the pare drags it along and makes calibration difficult.

Injection blow molding: This is another variant of the blow molding process. It is mainly used in manufacturing hollow plastic and glass bottles or objects in huge quantities. This is a simple process whereby the polymer is injected and moulded on to a core pin. This core pin is then rotated to a molding station where it is left to be chilled and inflated. This is the least used process of blow molding and is used mainly for manufacturing small bottles or medical syringes.

Injection stretch molding: This process again tales two forms namely, single-stage and double-stage molding process. In both these stages, the plastic is first melted and shaped into a preform with the help of the injection blow molding process. The preforms are made with the bottlenecks which include threads at one of their ends. The preforms are then packaged and fed into a heat stretch blow molding machine. In this process of blow molding, the preforms are exposed to infrared heaters at temperatures above the glass transition temperature. They are then blown using very high-pressure air into the bottles with the help of metal blow moulds.

Among all the three processes, the first and the last one are the most used in the industry.

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HISTORY OF BLOW MOULDING

The process of blow moulding originated from the idea of glass blowing. It started on a commercial scale in the year of 1938. The variety of products that could be produced with blow moulding was highly limited during the 1940s. The process did not gain popularity until the later years of the decade. As the popularity was not immense, the rates that blow moulding yielded were also less. Once the production rates boosted, the rates started increasing as well.

As glass is a fragile and easily breakable component, it was replaced by plastic in the later years. Plastic bottles were the first mass-produced in America in the year 1939. Germany adopted this technology a lot later. In the US itself, the number of plastic containers shot up a great deal. They went up from 0 in 1977 to more than 10 billion in the year 1999. It expected that this industry will grow more In the coming years.

In the recent years, more and more efforts are being made to extend the use of blow moulding to BMGs or bulk metallic glasses as well.

PROCESS OF BLOW MOULDING

The process starts with melting the plastic and then moulding it into a pare (also called parison) in case of extrusion blow moulding. In case of injection stretch and injection moulding, a preform is formed in place of a parison. The pare is basically a tubular component with a single hole at one end which provides a passage for air. This parison can be easily clamped into the mold. Air is then allowed to pass through it. The pressure of air is such that it pushes out the plastic in the mold. The mold cracks open as the plastic cools down and gets hardened. This part is now ejected from the mold.

TYPES OF BLOW MOULDING

There are three types of moulding, namely:

Injection stretch moulding: There are types of injection stretch moulding namely, single-stage process and double-stage process. The outline of both these processes involves moulding the plastic into a preform and then using the traditional injection moulding process.
Injection blow moulding: In this, the polymer is molded with an injection onto a pin which is then rotated to a BRE moulding station where it is allowed to be inflated and chilled.
Extrusion blow moulding: In this, the plastic is melted at high temperatures and then poured into a parison which is then allowed to cool down in the metal mold. Air is circulated through the parison which inflates them to take up the shape of a hollow vessel. After the plastic sufficiently cools down, the mold cracks open and the part is separated.

Among these, the injection blow moulding process is the least preferred one. The other two are extensively and widely used by different manufacturers throughout different industries.

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