A Complete Guide to Plastic Pallet Manufacturing Process(2)

Thank you for your interest in our website information. Below you will find another plastic pallet manufacturing process.

Thermoforming Plastic Pallets

In this process, you need to heat the plastic to a pliable temperature, then form it over a mold and allow it to cool. Thermoformed plastic pallets are popular in many supply chain applications. 

This is an example of thermoformed plastic pallets.

Thermoforming plastic pallets consists of three steps:

1. Heating the plastic pallet material. This results in an extruded plastic sheet with a desired thickness.

2. Forming either one or two sheets against the mold. Alternatively, a vacuum suction draws and pushes the heated plastic onto the mold.

3. Allow the formed plastic pallet to cool

In general, there are two types of thermoforming techniques, including vacuum forming and pressure forming.

Vacuum Thermoforming

In vacuum forming, a plastic pallet is made into a three dimensional shape using heat and pressure. That is, you'll heat the plastic material to a pliable temperature, put it over a mold and then it is drawn into the mold by a vacuum

Through this, it will take the desired shape of the mold. 

Pressure Thermoforming

Pressure thermoforming is similar to vacuum thermoforming. However, you need extra pressure to push the plastic into the mold.

The advantage of pressure thermoforming is that you can produce plastic pallets with a variety of high-quality details that are almost impossible to create with vacuum thermoforming.

In addition, you will also experience double-plate thermoforming of plastic pallets. It is one of the most popular plastic pallet manufacturing processes.

Ideally, this is a plastic tray pressure or vacuum thermoforming method, but here you will form two pieces of plastic at the same time.

The double-plate plastic tray has a unique hollow structure. They are lighter and cheaper than solid plastic trays.

Although thermoformed plastic pallets have a slower cycle time, they are less expensive than injection molding. However, this alone does not determine the entire choice.

So we have to compare these two processes.

Thermoforming vs. Injection Molding Plastic Pallets

We need to pay attention to important aspects:

1. Production of plastic pallets

In thermoforming plastic pallets, a plastic sheet is heated to a pliable temperature after which, it is molded to the tools shape.  Here, you’ll use suction for vacuum forming or suction and pressure.

On the other hand, in injection molding, you’ll heat the plastic to a liquid state then inject it into a mold.

2. Lead time

Usually, the lead time depends on the duration required to build the tool. In general, injection molding requires more time than thermoforming.

In short, to successfully complete this process, you need to discuss all of your ideas with the pallet mould manufacturer so that you can use a suitable and practical plastic pallet manufacturing process.

In addition to these two processes, blow molding is also a common plastic tray forming technique. There are quite a few plastic tray manufacturers that choose this technology.

3. Cost of producing plastic pallets

This is an integral part of choosing a plastic pallet manufacturing process. In general, injection molding tools are more expensive than thermoforming.

Because of this, injection molding is only suitable for large-scale plastic pallet production. However, when you use injection molding, the cost of a single part is less expensive than thermoforming.

In short, productivity is an important condition when choosing thermoforming or injection molding.

Conclusion

Depending on the production capacity, application and design of a plastic pallet, you need to consider the first three plastic pallet manufacturing processes – thermoforming, injection molding and blow molding techniques. This will only be a sure way to get high quality, durable and cost effective plastic pallets.

We have introduced the plastic pallet manufacturing process and believe that some of your problems have been solved. If you still don't understand, you are welcome to consult us. We are plastic pallet mould manufacturer, you can browse our website product information, our pallet mould will definitely bring you a good experience.