Future Development of Advanced Technologies for Injection Molding of Automotive Interior and Exterior Trim and Mold Manufacturing
- Future Development of Advanced Technologies for Injection Molding of Automotive Interior and Exterior Trim and Mold Manufacturing
- A brief overview of car interior and exterior components
- Understand what injection molding process is for automotive interior and exterior trim parts
- How does injection molding play a role in the mass production of automotive interior and exterior trim parts?
- Advanced injection molding technology for interior and exterior trim parts of traditional and new energy vehicles
- Advantages of Injection Molding Technology for Automotive Interior and Exterior Trim Components
- Future development trends of the automotive industry and auto parts manufacturing
- Elimold’s leading mold manufacturing and molding technology
- in conclusion
the global automotive industry , especially the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, has brought about huge demand and prompted the continuous growth of the production of automotive parts . These parts are not limited to the exterior but also include the interior, such as car seats, dashboards, and so on.
Extending this to the manufacturing sector, due to increased demand, automakers aim to produce more products at lower costs. The automotive industry typically uses injection molding to manufacture engineering plastic parts because this technology allows for the production of larger quantities at a relatively lower cost, while also improving product quality. So, is there a dedicated technology for automotive injection molding? Regardless of future automotive developments, can injection molding continue to provide the automotive industry with high-quality parts? This article will answer all your questions about injection molding and its relationship to automotive interior and exterior parts , as well as the future development direction of automotive industry and future parts manufacturing technologies.
A brief overview of car interior and exterior components
The plastic parts commonly used in a car are typically divided into interior and exterior parts, which can be simply referred to as internal and external components. Together, they constitute the car ‘s decorative elements . They vary in shape and size, forming different design languages for automobiles. These parts are usually made of various engineering plastic materials. Common automotive interior and exterior decorative parts that can be manufactured using injection molding processes include:
- Examples of car interior components include: dashboard, glove box, seats, ashtray, hood, rearview mirrors, and so on. These are just some examples; there are many more interior parts.
- Examples of car exterior features include: bumpers, tires, rearview mirrors, hood, doors, trunk, etc.
Understand what injection molding process is for automotive interior and exterior trim parts
The injection molding of automotive interior and exterior trim parts is the same as the ordinary injection molding process, with five main stages. The prerequisite is that the injection mold must be designed and manufactured before the following five injection processes can be entered. For mass production of related products, it is only necessary to repeat the steps.
1. Material preparation, heating, injection molding, cooling, and ejection. First, you must dry the plastic granules to ensure they are free of any moisture, otherwise it will affect their subsequent performance.
2. Heat the materials until they become a homogeneous liquid (molten state), which takes place in a container at a temperature exceeding 200 degrees Celsius.
3. High pressure forces this molten material into a prepared mold, filling it with intricate details and ensuring that each part is fully filled within short time intervals between consecutive shots (injections).
4. During the cooling stage, the temperature drops slowly, allowing the solidified product to retain its original shape. This is determined by the design of the mold used. The cooled item can then be removed from the mold.
5. Once the product is removed from the mold, it is ready for inspection and further processing, but close monitoring is still required at each stage, otherwise it may result in low-quality output or even fail to pass basic testing before installation.
How does injection molding play a role in the mass production of automotive interior and exterior trim parts?
As described above, the injection molding process used to manufacture automotive interior and exterior trim parts involves melting plastic granules and injecting them into a mold specifically designed for the part. The shape of the mold determines the final appearance and dimensions of the part, and precision is crucial. After injection, the material cools and hardens within the mold, forming the desired part. This process allows for tight tolerances within complex geometries, making it ideal for components such as dashboards, panels, or electronic system housings. It also improves production efficiency while ensuring consistent quality across multiple cycles where automotive standards are critical.
Advanced injection molding technology for interior and exterior trim parts of traditional and new energy vehicles
Injection molds used to manufacture automotive interior and exterior trim parts are not significantly different from other injection molds. However, the unique characteristics of injection molds used in the automotive industry are what give them exceptional value, as they can add substantial value to automotive components. Therefore, only cutting-edge technologies are typically applied to the manufacture of automotive parts. The following three advanced technologies are commonly used:
Sequential valve hot runner control technology (SVG technology)
SVG technology stands for Sequential Valve Hot Runner Control, or SVG for short. It is a new type of cascaded hot runner control technology. Its function is to prevent product appearance defects. This new technology solves the problem of previous appearance defects. It uses hydraulic cylinders to control the glue delivery. By adjusting the glue delivery sequence through the hydraulic cylinders, it solves the problem of multi-point synchronous glue supply.
This technology significantly improves the quality of automotive interior and exterior trim components. Defects and marks from previous injection molds are eliminated. Both interior and exterior parts will be refreshed and given a stylish look thanks to this new technology. It avoids weld marks and voids that could lead to defects. SVG technology also helps to shorten runner lengths.
This technology is extremely useful for reducing molding pressure, preventing unwanted marks, spots, and shrinkage on automotive parts. It plays a crucial role in automotive parts manufacturing. Automotive interior and exterior components require precise details that determine the smoothness of their appearance and ensure their performance and durability. Therefore, a system capable of precisely controlling these details is needed. New injection molding technologies enable this, allowing for more precise details in automotive interior and exterior components, ultimately resulting in a flawless appearance.
Low-pressure double-layer injection molding technology
Low-pressure injection molding is a new technology that surpasses traditional injection molding techniques. The limitations of older technologies lie in their reliance on manual coating, vacuum suction of parts using a negative mold, and one-time direct injection molding. This new technology brings a completely new breakthrough to the manufacturing of automotive trim parts. It uses lower injection pressure, allowing for smoother plastic flow. Furthermore, a layer of soft fabric is suspended at the front of the mold, forming the injection nozzle. Injection molding can then proceed.
Low-pressure injection molds not only produce aesthetically pleasing products but also manufacture automotive parts with exceptional visual appeal. This is because they can highly reproduce the details of part designs, creating elegant and streamlined automotive interior and exterior components. Therefore, many companies choose to use this type of mold for production. Since a special soft fabric layer is typically applied to the surface of the part, this layer enhances the product’s appearance, improves the tactile feel, and adds an extra decorative style. Therefore, low-pressure injection molds are ideal for automotive interior and exterior components that require exceptional aesthetics. The interior and exterior components of an automotive vehicle determine its overall appearance, so meticulous attention to detail is essential in their design. With this new technology, all of this can be easily achieved.
Currently, major automobile manufacturers all use low-pressure injection molds. It has become their winning formula for creating top-tier cars, used to produce intricate interior parts (such as car seats) and exterior parts (such as bumpers). It is also used in the production of components such as the ABC steering column, map pocket, and frame. This is the latest injection mold technology in the automotive industry.
Automotive bumper internal parting injection mold technology
This technology is specifically designed for bumper components and internal parting lines. The injection mold utilizes upgraded internal parting line technology. This advanced internal parting line technology is used in the automotive industry to produce car bumper products. This technology offers many advantages for automotive parts. One of them is that it can conceal the parting line.
Furthermore, this new technology is more complex and challenging to manufacture than split-type bumpers, posing greater technical risks and higher costs. Its cost is significantly higher than the older technology. However, top-tier automakers still use it for automotive parts production, and not just for all models, but specifically for high-end vehicles. This is because of its aesthetic appeal. It also differs from the older technology. Its front and rear molds are typically separate. This is both to protect the molds and the product, and to tilt the top of the mold, synchronizing the front mold with the molding process and ensuring the product can deform and be demolded. Therefore, this new technology not only enhances the aesthetics of the car but also protects automotive parts from damage, leading to optimal results for the final car design.
Advantages of Injection Molding Technology for Automotive Interior and Exterior Trim Components
Injection molding also plays a crucial role in the production of automotive trim parts such as headlight covers, bumpers, hoods, and center consoles. These trim parts require high strength, weather resistance, and aesthetic quality, and injection molding can effectively meet these requirements, enabling automobiles to possess unique designs and superior performance.
1. High production efficiency: The mold-opening injection molding process adopts automated production, which can quickly and in large quantities produce precision injection molded parts, thereby improving production efficiency and reducing production costs.
2. Low cost: The raw material used in the mold injection molding process is plastic granules. Compared with other materials, plastic granules are relatively inexpensive, which helps to reduce production costs.
3. Wide range of applications: The open mold injection molding process can be applied to the production of precision injection molded parts of various shapes and sizes, such as automotive interior parts, headlight covers, and door panels.
4. Variety of products: By changing the mold and adjusting the process parameters, the open mold injection molding process can produce a variety of products of different specifications and materials to meet the diverse needs of the market.
Future development trends of the automotive industry and auto parts manufacturing
In recent years, with the advancement of technology and the increasing prevalence of 5G and the Internet of Things, the automotive industry has begun to transform towards electrification, connectivity, intelligence, and sharing, ushering in a period of profound transformation. Consequently, both electrification components and interior trim components are developing in this direction. This is because manufacturers of automotive parts and related equipment are also moving towards intelligentization.
The automotive industry is developing towards intelligence and functionality
These smart surfaces can be applied to components such as seats, steering wheels, and center consoles to enhance the driving and riding experience. Some trim pieces may have environmental sensing capabilities, automatically adjusting material properties or color changes based on parameters such as interior temperature and humidity to provide a more comfortable driving environment. Furthermore, intelligent interiors typically include ambient lighting design, allowing owners to choose the color and brightness of the ambient lighting to create a unique in-car atmosphere.
In the future, consumers’ demands for automotive interior components will become increasingly diversified. They hope to express their individuality and taste through personalized and customized automotive interior designs, making personalization and customization a significant trend in the automotive interior component industry. Through further development of digital technology and intelligent manufacturing, interior component manufacturers can achieve more efficient personalized production to meet consumers’ customized needs.
The automotive industry is developing towards personalization and customization.
Consumers can choose interior colors, materials, textures, and other exterior options according to their personal preferences, and even customize patterns, such as a starry sky headliner or a pattern on the seat fabric, making the interior space more personalized and artistic. In addition, consumers can also personalize aspects such as functional layout and intelligent features.
For example, users can personalize the quantity, orientation, and shape of seats, tables, chairs, and electronic displays on a mobile app according to their needs, fulfilling requirements for various scenarios such as business meetings, dining with friends, and family chats. Personalization and customization of automotive interior design will become one of the key areas of competition for automotive brands in the future.
By offering customized interior design solutions, automakers can further enhance their brand value and influence, meet the diverse needs of different consumer groups, attract more consumers, and further expand their market share.
The automotive industry is developing towards lightweighting and environmental friendliness
Lightweighting of automobiles is crucial for reducing fuel and electricity consumption, especially for new energy vehicles facing range anxiety, where the need for weight reduction is even more urgent. According to publicly available data, for every 10% reduction in weight, the driving range of new energy vehicles can increase by 5%-6%; and the fuel consumption of gasoline vehicles will decrease by 6%-8%.
Automotive lightweight design is mainly carried out through three aspects: structural optimization, advanced technology, and material replacement. The application of new lightweight products is expected to become a new growth point for the company’s business. Structural optimization includes size, shape, and topology optimization, reducing weight from the perspective of construction principles; advanced technology reduces material forming processes; and material replacement is currently the most important method for weight reduction, with polyurethane foam composite roofs achieving a 30% weight reduction.
Fiber-reinforced materials are corrosion-resistant, impact-resistant, and offer good sound insulation, making them promising candidates for further weight reduction. Lightweight components, represented by plastic parts, are gradually replacing traditional metal parts due to their lower density and superior performance characteristics. “Replacing steel with plastic” has become a crucial direction for the transformation and upgrading of the automotive interior parts industry. In the future, with increasingly stringent environmental requirements and advancements in material processing, the value of individual vehicle interior components still has room for growth.
Elimold’s leading mold manufacturing and molding technology
Elimold is dedicated to providing efficient and reliable parts manufacturing services, helping automakers optimize their supply chain management. This is because we offer a variety of services.
| High-precision automotive mold design and manufacturing | As a professional automotive parts supplier, we utilize advanced CAD/CAM/CAE technology to provide a variety of high-quality molds: SMC/BMC molding dies are suitable for battery boxes and engine hoods in new energy vehicles. Injection molds are suitable for dashboards, center consoles, and door panels. RTM molds are suitable for high-strength composite material parts. |
| Advanced molding process | We employ an intelligent production system that encompasses the following advanced molding technologies: SMC/BMC Compression Molding – Suitable for Lightweight Composite Materials in Automotive Injection molding – high-efficiency production, suitable for automotive interior and exterior parts. RTM (Resin Transfer Molding) – Suitable for high-strength structural components Blow molding – suitable for automotive fuel tanks and air ducts |
| Automotive lightweighting and the application of new materials | To meet the environmental and performance requirements of the automotive industry, we use high-performance materials, such as: Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites are lightweight and have high strength. Glass fiber reinforced plastic (GRP) is highly durable High-performance thermoplastics (TPU, PPS) are suitable for complex structural components. |
| Quality control and international standard certification | Elimold strictly adheres to the IATF 16949 quality management system to ensure that every product meets international standards. Coordinate measuring machine and optical scanner for inspectionHeat resistance, cold resistance, and impact resistance tests End-to-end quality control ensures product consistency. |
| Global collaboration and customized services | We provide customized solutions for global automakers: Customized mold design and production process optimization based on customer needs. A robust supply chain management system ensures on-time delivery. Support for new energy vehicles, traditional fuel vehicles, and high-end luxury vehicles. |
in conclusion
Injection molding is not a new process, nor is it new to the automotive industry. For many years, automotive manufacturers worldwide have been using various advanced injection molding technologies to produce a wide range of automotive parts. This technology meets the automotive industry’s high demands for parts and helps achieve stylish car appearances. Furthermore, this technology is primarily used for mass production of the same type of part, thus reducing costs and saving time. Therefore, it plays a crucial role in automotive parts manufacturing.
In recent years, with the application of intelligent technologies, new injection molding technologies have been introduced into the industry. These technologies are more expensive, have a more dazzling appearance, and are sometimes more complex to operate, but they are superior to older technologies. If you need to manufacture automotive interior and exterior trim parts, learn about Elimold; we provide top-notch injection molding services.