ABSTRACT
Injection molding technology is a method of processing predominantly used for thermoplastic polymers [1,2]. It consists of heating thermoplastic material until it melts, then forcing this melted plastic into a steel mold, where it cools and solidifies. The increasingly sophisticated use of injection molding is one of the principal tools in the battle to produce elegant product structures with reduced part counts and the simplicity of assembly. The pioneering product development in this context was the Proprinter developed by IBM as the domestic competitor to the Japanese personal printers. Plastic components in the Proprinter incorporated the functions of cantilever springs, bearings, support brackets, alignment, and locating features into single snap-fit components. The result of this integration of features into single complex parts was a reduction of part count from 152 to 32, with a corresponding reduction of assembly time from 30 to 3 min [3], when compared with the Epson printer which IBM had previously been remarketing from Japan. This set the stage for a revolution in the manufacture of consumer products which continues even today.
