Injection Blow Molding

It seems that everyday more and more plastic bottles made by injection blow molding show up in the marketplace. Even with the huge environmental impact of millions of bottles in the environment, consumers have come to expect and demand the never ending stream of new products packaged in plastic bottles.

These bottles have become increasingly energy efficient and environmentally "green", and some countries are making great progress. Yet, a great deal needs to be done. It is only a matter of closing landfills and govenmental legislation before dramatic change will take place.

This represents a great opportunity for plastic blow molding companies!

No doubt about it, the injection blow molding of plastic bottles is a growing industry. Now, with the corn based PLA plastic in the marketplace, a new arena has opened up, with new possibilities for profit. In Japan and Europe especially, there is tremendous pressure to use biodegradable plastics in the production of these millions of bottles.

Industry experts cite that blow molding is growing at a rate of over 4% a year, in spite of high resin prices, which are tied to oil prices. Consumer demand is so high that the industry is enjoying a steady growth. As in other plastics fields, such as thermosetting plastics, the push for offshore outsourcing is increasing.

Basically, there are 3 stages in the blow molding of bottles: Injection, blowing, and ejection.

Injection

An injection blow molding machine has a heated extruder barrel with a screw inside where the plastic is melted. This molten plastic is fed by the screw mechanism into a manifold which then injects the plastic through tiny nozzles into a hollow, pre-heated mold. This is the preform mold that has the external shape of the bottle.The preform looks a lot like a miniature bottle, complete with the neck and body of the bottle.

Blowing

Once the preformed part is moved into the cooled blow mold, air is forced into it, almost like a balloon, and this causes the plastic to take the shape of the bottle mold.

Ejection

Once the part is cooled, the blow mold opens and the finished part is stripped off of it's mandrel, or core. It is then leak tested, weighed and inspected prior to packaging and shipping. Depending on the specifications, a blow mold may have many cavities, enabling it to produce thousands of bottles a day.

You can see the video here.