Aerospace has always been a cutting-edge industry pursuing the next great innovation. Material selection, quality manufacturing, and precision engineering have played fundamental roles since its earliest days. These efforts have contributed not only to achieving flight, but also to ensuring the mode of transportation is safe and reliable. We’ve come a long way from the days of flimsy wooden frames and flammable fabric wings.
Many materials, from special metal alloys to advanced composites, go into creating modern air- and spacecraft. The molding injection machine is one of the technologies that has made some of the most significant contributions to aerospace advances. Through thermoplastic injection molding, aerospace industry companies can tap into a wide range of benefits that yield real-world improvements, noticeable cost savings, and better product outcomes.
Why can the aerospace and defense industry benefit from a wholehearted embrace of thermoplastics and the possibilities to which they open the door? Let’s consider today’s conventional use cases for plastic, and then we’ll dig into the benefits you can unlock.
Injection Molding Uses in the Aerospace Industry
The aerospace industry uses plastics and injection molding processes almost everywhere. Advanced design capabilities and modern thermoplastics enable a more comprehensive range of applications than ever.
Some of the most common places to find injection molded plastics on a commercial aircraft include:
- Interior paneling.
- Window covers.
- Overhead bin components.
- Operational, high-wear components such as bushings and bearings.
- Locking fasteners.
- Mechanical seals for systems such as fuel, hydraulics, oxygen, and other on-board systems.
- Beverage push-cart components.
- Lighting housings.
- Cockpit hardware such as buttons and dials.
In every use case, manufacturers choose plastics for these products, because they offer essential material advantages.
Benefits of Plastic Injection Molding in the Aerospace Industry
There are many potential applications of injection molding thermoplastic resins for aerospace designs, but why do so many manufacturers choose plastics? Understanding the benefits these materials create for engineers and builders reveals why everyone, from an independent kit maker to a major airline company, relies on plastic. Here’s a summary of those advantages.
Thermoplastics Exhibit High-Strength Ratios
Plastic mold technology has come a long way, and it is now possible to reinforce popular resin selections with advanced materials such as glass or carbon fiber. The incredible strength-to-weight ratios achievable through injection molding make this technology the perfect choice for aerospace or defense industry projects aiming to reduce the reliance on metal components. These resins exhibit remarkable physical properties that make them incredibly durable and reliable — the same or even more so than metal.
Plastics Enable Successful Lightweighting Projects
Airlines of all sizes prioritize reducing emissions and cutting costs. In this environment, lightweighting projects have taken on new importance. This process, a transition from metal to plastic, continues growing in popularity owing to its high success rates. Modern thermoplastics aren’t just incredibly strong; they often weigh far less than similar parts machined out of solid metal. Though a metal-to-plastic conversion requires careful planning, the results speak for themselves.
Modern Molding Design Executes Complex Designs
Even with the incredible precision possible with modern computer-aided design tools, geometric complexity makes some components difficult to machine from metal. Plastic injection molds can be more flexible and allow more complex designs to come out of a single mold. Such tooling reliably and rapidly produces parts with complicated geometries and intricate details. Traditional metal machining processes can’t keep up with the speed and consistency of injection molding for aerospace part production.
Injection Molding Meets Demanding Aerospace Tolerance Requirements
Everything must fit together with precision in aerospace construction. The purposes range from ensuring critical safety systems function to looking after general airworthiness and aerodynamic qualities. As a result, meeting strict tolerances has always been a pillar of aerospace manufacturing. When properly designed, tested, and maintained, today’s injection molds can yield tight tolerances accurate to +/-. 001 inches.
They Also Achieve Quality Across Entire Production Runs
Molding is for highly replicable part production. One mold can turn out many parts from the same design with consistent quality every time. By maintaining the correct conditions to fill and then cool the mold for part ejection, you can count on results that are consistent across entire production runs.
Scale Up to Support Intense Manufacturing Demands
The repeatable nature of molding isn’t ideal only for ensuring the consistency of individual parts; aerospace manufacturing takes place on large, industrial scales. Metal fabrication is time consuming, and producing multiple parts simultaneously becomes extremely expensive due to the required tooling and hardware. Some injection molds can produce a dozen or more parts at a time, opening the door to meeting inventory needs. As needs grow or shrink, adjusting production runs is simple and hassle free.
Advancing Toward the Future of Aerospace With Reliant Plastics
The right industrial partner makes a difference in aerospace and defense industry plastics. Experienced and knowledgeable customer service opens the door to everything from understanding the basics like, “What is an injection mold?” to the more in-depth topics such as, “What resin is best for high-altitude, high-stress applications?”
At Reliant Worldwide Plastics, our decades of experience as an innovator in manufacturing advanced parts through robust thermoplastic injection molding make us a proven partner for many aerospace customers. Learn more about how we can help when you contact Reliant Plastics today.
