Glossary

The two-stage ejecting is a structure in which two ejection operations can be performed when a die casting is ejected from the core.

2k Molding is an injection molding method that uses two different plastic raw materials to produce a part. One plastic raw material is processed after the other within separate cavities in a single tool.

Alternatively called Additive manufacturing, 3D printing is a technology based on digital model files, using adhesive materials such as powdered metal or plastic materials to build objects by printing them layer by layer.

The portion of the mold that creates the outermost and cosmetic side of the part. It may also be called the “cavity” and does not usually have any moving parts within it.

A cosmetic portion of a finished part. It is usually the outermost side of the finished part that will cover the details on the cavity of the mold tool. The opposite of the A-side is the B-side.

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is a production technique that involves the manufacture of a physical 3D object by controlling the deposited materials to the print bed. The process is termed additive as the part is built by the 2D layers from the substrate to the ground up. The opposite is subtractive manufacturing.

An inclined pin is used in a plastic injection molding tool to actuate a sliding core block.

Electrolytic passivation results in the addition of an oxide layer onto the surface of a part (mostly aluminum) to increase the thickness of the oxide layer and protect the surface of the part from corrosion and abrasion.

Also referred to it as the “core”, it represents the portion of the mold where the ejectors, moving parts, and other components are situated in the mold.

The non-cosmetic side of a finished injection molded part. Unlike the A-side, the B-side of a part is a portion that doesn’t have any cosmetic detail in the part. It may be defined as the inside of the part. The opposite of the B-side is the A-side.

A cutting tool with a semi-circular cutting edge and single radius used in CNC machining.

A barrel is part of a molding machine, it represents a cylindrical component that is usually used for melting, compressing and injecting plastic raw materials into the molding machine’s runner system.

A finishing technique is involved the use of pressurized air and abrasives to create the desired texture on the surface of the part.

A Bevel is a chamfered edge in a part that is not perpendicular to the face of the piece. It is a flat and pruned corner in a part.

Bosses are protrusions or projections in injection mold or cast parts designed to engage fasteners, providing strength improvement and structural stability.

A bridge tool is a makeshift mold designed to manufacture parts in low-volume until the mass production volume mold is available.

Bubblers are small tubes that are used to inject coolant into hard-to-reach areas in the tool of an injection mold tool. Bubblers are passed into the injection mold tool through drill holes.

This is a component of the 3D printer letting the material deposited layer by layer to form the final part.

Standard endmill cutting tool with known radii corner sizes used in CNC machining.

A bump-off is an undercut feature in a mold. It is usually involved in part ejection and functions like the snap to release the part.

Computer-aided-design is used in creating 2D and 3D design models by computer before the product is made by machine.

Computer-aided-manufacturing is used in making the production part with the aid of CNC machine tools and the computer-aided-design (CAD) data file.

A sequential gating system uses in hot-runner mold systems where the gates are activated consecutively to fill up the mold cavity.

This is the space between the A-plate and B-plate of the mold. The cavity is the part of the mold that needs to be filled up to create the part. It forms the cosmetic/outside of the part. The A-side of the mold may also be referred to as the cavity.

The chamfer is also known as the bevel. It is a flat and pruned corner in a part.

Used in plastic injection molding to ensure that holding pressure is attained and maintained for proper part manufacturing

The chip size refers to the size of the metal chips created by a cutting tool during a machining operation.

The clamping force, measured in tones, is the amount of force required to hold a mold so the plastic raw materials will not outflow during the mold injection process.

Coordinate Measuring Machine is a highly accurate device that is used along with a CNC machine for measuring parts with the aid of a probe. CMMs can measure very small parts with a high degree of precision.

Computer numeric control is a high-precision machine that makes part with high-speed cutting tools controlled by the instructions in the CAM/CAD file.

A slug is formed at the mouth of the nozzle, inhibiting optimal material flow during plastic injection molding

A high-pressure molding operation is compressed the substrate under the mold haves, cured with heat and pressured into forming its final shape.

A mold cooling technique uses 3D printing-created internal channels

The cooling time is the total time spent in allowing the part in a mold to solidify until it can be safely ejected from the tool.

A polymer material formed by the processing of two or more monomer materials.

The core is the interior of an injection or die-casting mold. It is convex and movable on the B-side of the mold. It is also defined as the B-side.

It’s a removable hard steel pin embedded in a die cavity for the purpose of forming holes or threaded holes in the product.

A full piece mold is formed by fusing/mating the A and B-sides of each half of the mold.

The cycle time is the total time taken to produce a single part from an injection molding operation. It encompasses the time from closing the mold to the final part ejection.

A mold cooling technique that alternates between cold and hot circuits.

The use of indexable inserts to specify the date of production.

A standpoint or fixed point in a part’s surface or features can let us know all other dimensions are calibrated and collected.

Carved letters and logos carve into a finished part surface.

A damage occurs due to a production defect, stress concentration, or fatigue stress. This phenomenon will continue to expand under the influence of mechanical and thermal loads.

A substance or insulating fluid that is not good at conducting electricity can be used in EDM operations.

Standard part measurement for part sizes in standard units

This is the direction to move the mold surface when the mold is opened and the part needs to be ejected. It is considered relative to the part surface.

A defect in the formation of the part due to poor part design or process control.

Direct metal laser melting (DMLM) or Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) is a 3D printing technique that uses power bed and laser to melt and form consecutive layers of metal powder on build platform to form a metal part.

The draft angle is a design factor in the sidewall or surface of a molded part to ease the ejection of the part from the tool without defects or damage.

A heating chamber that is used to drive out excess moisture from plastic raw materials before injection molding.

A numerical scale that ranks the degree of hardness of the material.

A drawing file. A type of CAD format.

Drawing exchange format. A type of CAD format.

Typically situated on the outside edges of the part. An edge gate is an opening unit where the plastic raw would flow into the cavity.

Electric discharge machining. A process of removing material from a workpiece through the use of electric currents.

The process of removing a cooled/solidified molded part from a tool. It is the final stage of the injection molding process.

Pins present in the B-side of a mold that is used to push the part after cooling is complete.

Uses to hold the ejector pins, return pin and ejector stoppers in an injection molding tool.

A conductor usually made of copper that discharges its electrical current on the surface of a workpiece. They serve multiple purposes in manufacturing.

This refers to how long a material may be stretched, or deformed breakage occurs.

The letters, texts, logos, or other graphic features will be carved some millimeters above on the part’s surface.

A cutting tool used in the machining of parts and industrial milling. It usually has a flat cutting surface.

An etching process put the logos, texts, or graphic on the surface of the part.

Electrostatic discharge. This is a spark/flow of electricity that may occur during machining due to the contact of two electrically charged surfaces.

Systemic and creative patterning of a part’s surface or mold tool to get the desired surface texture.

A mold cavity that is capable of creating multiple dissimilar parts in one production cycle. A family mold can make multiple parts from the same material for a single technological process.

A type of edge gate used in the design of the injection molding tool.

Fused deposition modeling is a type of 3D printing that a print filament is heated to its melting point, extruded from the nozzle of a print head in consecutive 2D layers on the build platform to harden into a finished 3-dimensional part.

A curved feature in a part where the rib meets the wall. Fillets are designed to enhance flow and reduce stress concentrations in a part.

A series of techniques uses to apply the desired effect on the surface texture of a manufactured part. This may range from smooth, polished to mirror, bead-blasted, painted, and more. The essence of the finish is to deliver improved aesthetics, obscure imperfections, or add certain protective features to the part.

A fixture is a device (such as a clamp or vice) used to secure a workpiece during machining operations.

A material (usually plastic resin) that is retardant to the effects of fire. Flame-retardant materials won’t burn.

An undesired layer of plastic or silicone material caused by spillover.

Due to the improper flow of molten plastic raw material in the mold cavity, causes marks like tree-ring, spiral or cloud-shaped wave uneven defects in the plastic table.

Food-grade materials are plastic/can materials that have been approved for use in food preparation, storage, or processing.

An unconventional technique of removing a finished part from mold tool by using the undercuts rather than the ejector pins.

A set of digital programs those are extracted from a 3D CAD file to instruct the machine on the tool path, tool speed, feed rates, and other parameters when machine a CNC part.

A consequence of insufficient ventilation, gas traps occur when there are pockets of space in the part that trap gas during an injection molding operation.

This is the part of the mold where the resins enter to fill the mold cavity.

The time takes for the molten plastic raw materials to fill a mold cavity before cooling and solidification begin.

Geometric dimensions and tolerances are used to define geometric shapes of parts and components, to define the individual characteristics of allowable deviations that may occur in form and scale.

A triangular-shaped rib feature is used to provide support to a part.

A measuring device used to obtain the height of a part’s feature perpendicular to the horizontal plane.

A thermopolymer plastic raw materials are formed from a single monomer.

This is a cylindrical drum where plastic pellets (raw materials) are loaded to be melted for the injection mold.

A heated channel system used to supply the molten plastic resin from the nozzle to hot tip locations.

A hole in the injection mold tooling that allows for the flow of materials from the nozzle to the mold tool cavity.

Hydraulic-powdered sliding cores in an injection molding tool

Hot tip gate is suitable for product designs that allow small sprue residue on the surface or bottom of the injector.

A type of CAD file format for exchanging 3D data. The acronym stands for Initial Graphics Exchange Specification.

The process of forcing the molten material (thermoforming resin/molten thermoplastic) into a mold.

A plastic injection molding processes involve the injection of molten plastic into a mold that contains a pre-placed metal insert.

International Standards Organization regulates consensus-based, industry-wide market acceptable standards to govern raw material and production processes around a wide array of industries and applications.

The appearance of serpentine curves on the molded product due to improper exit design. Jetting usually occurs near a gate.

Defects in a finished part occurring as a result of a meeting and re-solidification of two separated flows of cooling material along with their interface. Knit lines may also be called stitch lines, weld lines, or meld lines.

A CNC machine equipment is used in the production of parts with cylindrical or concentric features, round profiles, and cavities.

This is the average height or thickness of a single deposited layer of material in 3D printing. This is can be as small as microns or as large as inches.

Liquid injection molding is a production process used to make parts from liquid silicone rubber.

The act uses rotational cutting tools to remove material from a stock/blank workpiece in a mill or lathe for CNC machining.

A plastic hinge made from high-flexibility and resilient plastic resins for use in applications where need frequent bends/snaps, repeated open and close.

Liquid silicone rubber is a raw material for casting urethane and liquid injection molding.

A programming language used to communicate auxiliary functions in CNC machining.

An original version of a pigmented plastic resin is used to deliver color to the manufactured injection-molded parts.

A resin, metal or material is suitable for use in medical applications

The temperature for plastic resins become molten and can be injected into the tool for molding.

Also called steel safe, is a process of making certain changes to a part’s design to enable the part to be made oversized in the mold tool.

A small precision measuring device used to obtain the dimensions of objects in microns. Also called micrometer screw gauge

It is a total part molding cycle from injection to ejection.

A liquid spray uses to facilitate the ejection parts from the tool. It is usually used when parts are stick to the mold and hard to remove.

The maximum temperature for a plastic resin must be molded to form the desired part. The molding temperature like the melt temperature is based on the properties of the resin compound to be molded.

An injection molding tool has multiple cavities for creating multiple dissimilar parts in one mold cycle.

The final and desired shape of the manufactured part. At this point, the part is ready for use and will not undergo any further machining.

A tapered fitting at the end of the barrel of an injection molding machine supplies molten resin into the sprue of the mold.

An elastomer seal has a circular cross-section.

Optical Emission Spectroscopy is one of the techniques for identifying raw materials with Positive Material Identification (PMI)

Under certain conditions, the profiles obtained from the one-time molding of polymer materials (such as plates, sheets, rods, tubes) are remolded to obtain the final shape of the product.

An application is under extra pressure to a filled mold to ensure the required part density and dimensional tolerances specified for the part. It is used to combat fill or sink problems but may increase the chances of flash in the part or cause the part stick to the mold.

A CAD data exchange file format.

Split lines on either half of a die casting or plastic injection mold.

A part of a mold is inserted, and the remains are. Pick-outs must be taken out and put back into the right place of mold before a new production cycle begins.

A natural/synthetic coloring agent used to add color to plastics, paints, and other materials.

Plastic Injection Molding is a manufacturing method employed to make multiple copies of a part by using thermoforming plastic resins that are injected into an empty cavity tool under pressure.

A plastic injection molding defect causes stress marks on the cosmetic surface of the part when directly opposite to the ejector pins.

Large, mobile plates in an injection molding machine where the mold halves are clamped.

Positive Material Identification is a method using in-depth chemical analysis to assess materials and compare the results against a database of known materials.

An injection molding has unwanted pockets of space/voids in a part. It often affects the strength and integrity of a part. The porosity can vary from size and shape.

A function used for injection molding operations

PDC is a metal manufacturing solution involving the injection of molten metal into the mold of a die casting cavity under high pressure.

A technique involves total control of the parameters in injection molding to ensure optimal production cycles, minimize re-runs, and ensure repeatability.

A set of stringent processes and operations designed to use to observe, scrutinize, record, and compare certain parameters from raw material to finished part and making sure the manufactured part conforms to the customer specifications.

The use of rapid cooling techniques to achieve material properties like hardness or solidity in a mold tooling operation.

A natural occurrence in a milling process, parts, or features are said to be radiused when their edges or vertexes have been rounded. An intentional addition of a radius to the edge of any part is called a fillet.

A component in an injection mold is responsible for the movement of the screw in the barrel to inject the resin into the mold.

A resin material that has been augmented with fillers for additional strength, hardness, and impact resistance.

Thermosetting or thermoforming plastic used as a raw material in an injection molding process.

This is the level of detail achieved in a part that has been manufactured using 3D printing/additive manufacturing. High-resolution parts are usually very detailed.

Ribs are support structures in injection-molded parts. They usually feature at about 90 degrees to the position of bosses/walls.

A standard term to specify the degree of hardness of a material.

It is a resin feed channel running to the gate from the sprues. They usually run parallel to each channel.

A processing component in the barrel of an injection molding device uses pressure to melt resin pellets before they are injected into the mold.

An injection molded part that is deformed or missing certain features because it wasn’t filled enough resin.

The total volume of material that is injected into a mold cavity for one production cycle.

The total weight of all the parts (runners, gates, sprues) manufactured after one injection molding cycle.

A reduction in the size of an injection molded part as it cools during the process. This is usually factored into design dimensions to ensure that the final part size is achieved irrespective.

A cosmetic defect in the surface of an injection mold process arising from the varying thickness and cooling rates across the part.

Stereolithography is a 3D printing method that applies UV-laser at a point to draw on the surface with a prepared photo-sensitive liquid thermoset resin. The UV-laser will continue drawing at the specified points, turning (curing) the resin solid across layers and laying on the 2-dimensional cross-sections that eventually form the finished 3D part.

Also known as a slider, the sliding core is an automatic feature in an injection mold tool that forms holes or undercuts in the part.

Selective laser sintering is a 3D printing technology that uses CO2 laser to deposit thermoplastic powder unto a hot bed, before sintering (fusing) the powder into solid. This is repeated layer after layer till the final part is formed.

A mark left on a molded part shows where the two sides of the mold split.

A point let the resin first entering the mold. Resin flows to the other parts in the resin distribution system (runners) across the mold.

A complication parts are difficult to remove from the mold as a result of poor or no draft angles in the design.

A CAD file format is only suitable for additive manufacturing machines and should not be used in injection molding or CNC machining.

An ISO Standards for the Exchange of Product Model Data. It is a common CAD data file format.

An injection mold tool designed without any side-actions or special features that may be used to resolve undercuts. It simply consists of only two halves that form the cavity.

It is a visual defect on the surface of a molded part arising due to uneven cooling and heating during the production of the part.

A mobile plate functions by pushing molded parts off the mold core after injection molding

Conventional part manufacturing techniques involve the use of a tool to remove successive parts from a blank/workpiece till the final form is reached.

Load-bearing components used to provide support to parts during 3D printing

Addition of material covers on the original surface of a part to modify its functionality, physical/chemical properties, and appearance.

The texture of an outermost layer of a part measured in roughness. It determines the level of abrasion a part can withstand and cosmetic appearance of the part.

A flat and solid surface forms the basis of setup, layout, and measurement.

A device consisting of an electronic stylus uses for evaluating the roughness of a part’s surface by moving the stylus across the face of the part.

A male cutting tool uses in creating internal threads in parts and enclosures

A moldable plastic resin becomes molten under the influence of heat. This kind of resin can be re-melted and re-molded into the desired shape. This way, thermoplastic parts are reversible and re-processable.

A moldable plastic resin contains two or more material constituents that will be chemically altered during molding. Once formed, thermoset parts are irreversible and set into their final shape

The level of acceptable deviation (lower or higher) from the original dimensions.

The use of a known amount of solid powder/material is placed in a transfer pot and then forced into the core area and closes the cavity of a heated mold.

A turning/rotating gate in a multi-cavity injection mold tool is able to shut off different cavities as required.

A CNC machining process involves the use of a rod stock rotated in the lathe while the cutting tool remains stationary to remove material from the blank and make a round/cylindrical part.

A hole or feature is not in the line of draw of an injection molded part design. It is the area of the part that shadows another portion of the same part. Because of its positioning, an undercut will create an interlock between the part and the mold halves. Undercuts should be designed with release mechanisms to ensure part ejection and/or mold opening.

A moving component in the design of a plastic injection mold tool allows both the molding and ejection of any part formed in a location with undercuts.

A material/resin is capable of withstanding the deteriorating effects of ultraviolet light rays.

A production technique used to create copies of a master pattern using LSR (liquid silicone resin) to fill a silicone mold and curing the part in a vacuum chamber.

A vacuum fixture is used to secure the workpiece in a CNC operation involving the use of vacuum pressure.

Heat-treated steel alloy in a vacuum chamber to prevent oxidation when they are processed in the heat cycle.

A finishing technique used to create a smooth surface appearance and optical clarity on transparent plastic parts.

An opening hole in an injection mold tool allows air to escape from the mold cavity while it is filled.

Used for holding workpieces between opposite faces of jaws. One of the jaws is fixed, while the other is movable.

Visual quality standard is the standard dictating the visual observation of a part.

The wall of a part surface perpendicular to the horizontal plane and borders the total volume/size of such part.

A defect is mainly a bend/curve at the edges of the part resulting from internal stress in different areas of the part. Warping is caused by differences in the rate of cooling and shrinking in the part.

A means of Electrical discharge machining (EDM) involves the use of brass wire as an expendable conductor to cut through hardened steel.

One of the primary axes in a 3-dimensional X, Y, and Z plane. The X-axis is usually the horizontal axis depending on the point of view of the viewer.

X-ray Fluorescence is a type of analytical procedure involving the bombardment of the surface of a material with high-energy X-rays to determine the material’s chemical composition.

One of the primary axes in a 3-dimensional X, Y, and Z plane. The Y-axis is usually the vertical axis depending on the point of view of the viewer.

One of the primary axes in a 3-dimensional X, Y, and Z plane. Depending on the point of view of the viewer, the Z-axis may be towards or away from the viewer.