Special and emerging injection molding processes

New variations and emerging innovations of conventional injection molding have been continuously developed to further extend the applicability, capability, flexibility, productivity, and profitability of this versatile mass-production process. These special and emerging injection molding processes introduce additional design freedom, new application areas, unique geometrical features, enhanced part strength, and sustainable economic benefits, as well as improved material properties and part quality that cannot be accomplished by the conventional injection molding process. This paper provides a general review of several special and emerging injection molding processes, namely, co-injection molding, fusible core injection molding, gas-assisted injection molding, injection-compression molding, in-mold decoration/ lamination, low-pressure injection molding, micro-injection molding, and microcellular (MuCell) injection molding with emphases on current state-of-the-art technology, applications, process physics, technical challenges, and applicable materials.