Injection molding is a process that Bunting-DuBois uses in magnetic applications to create intricately shaped magnets with many desirable features. It is ideal when additional precision and complexity of shape is required or where insert or over-molding is beneficial to the application. This technique is best utilized in high volume production, as it can create many identical components in a short amount of time. Injection molding allows magnets to have excellent geometric tolerances with minimal or zero secondary operations. They can be designed in complex shapes while retaining good mechanical properties, higher electrical resistivity, and utilizing multipole magnetization. Bunting also uses injection molding to have a tailored flux output for given sizes and shapes of different magnets.
Basic bonded magnets consist of two components: a magnetic powder and a non-magnetic polymer or elastomer binder. To create injection molded magnets in magnetic applications, this molten, highly filled thermoplastic compound is injected into mold cavities where it is allowed to cool and solidify. Ferrite and NdFeB (neodymium-iron-boron) powders are most commonly used as the magnetic element in this compound. By mixing this magnetic material with a polymer, this magnetic compound can be injection molded in the same way as any other thermoplastic. The resulting magnet will be able to have tight tolerances and a wide range of properties that can only be achieved through an injection molding process.
Bunting-DuBois Offers Injection Molding for Custom Magnetic Applications
Multi-cavity molds, molds containing several cavities of the same shape, allow a large number of identical components to be produced during each cycle. By utilizing multi-cavity tooling, Bunting-DuBois achieves high volume output and productivity. Complex magnets can be formed by this process, together with multicomponent assemblies, by insert and over molding techniques. For applications demanding high volume production, injection molding is the most cost-efficient and time-saving route to pursue.
At Bunting-DuBois, we are experts in magnetic applications. We are more than simply a manufacturing center that creates injection molded magnets, but rather, a hub for innovation and design. Our engineers are involved at every step of the design process in the magnetic assemblies we create. To learn more about our injection molding capabilities, or about other aspects of our design and manufacturing process, please Contact us or email us at dubois@buntingmagnetics.com