The key difference between extrusion and injection blow molding is that extrusion blow molding involves extruding heated material, whereas injection blow material involves injecting heated material into a mold.
Blow molding is the process of forming and joining together hollow plastic parts. We can also use it for the formation of glass bottles or other hollow shapes. Generally, these manufacturing processes use three types of molding processes: extrusion blow molding, injection blow molding, and injection stretch blow molding. Generally, the first step of the blow molding process is softening plastic via heating and forming it into a parison, which is a tube-like piece of plastic with a hole in one end, allowing the compressed air to pass through. But injection or injection stretch methods form a preform.
What is Extrusion Blow Molding?
Extrusion blow molding can be described as a type of blow molding in which plastic is melted and extruded into a hollow tube to form a parison (a tube-like piece of plastic with a hole in one end). Thereafter, the parison is captured in a water-cooled metal mold, and the air is blown into the parison, inflating it into the shape of a hollow bottle or container. After cooling down the plastic sufficiently, we can open the mold to eject the part.
Generally, straight extrusion blow molding can be described as a way of propelling materials forward, and it is similar to injection molding at some steps. In this process, we can use the accumulator method, where an accumulator gathers melted plastic. When the previous mold has cooled and when enough plastic has been accumulated, a rod is used to push the melted plastic, and it forms the parison. There, the screw can turn continuously or intermittently. The continuous method causes the weight of the parison to drag itself, and it makes calibrating the wall thickness difficult.
Read more: What is the Difference Between Extrusion and Injection Blow Molding