scholarly journals Effects of fast mold temperature evolution on micro features replication quality during injection molding

Author(s):  
S. Liparoti ◽  
M. Calaon ◽  
V. Speranza ◽  
G. Tosello ◽  
R. Pantani ◽  
...  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Giannekas ◽  
Yang Zhang ◽  
Guido Tosello

Injection molding has been increasing for decades its share in the production of polymer components, in comparison to other manufacturing processes, as it can assure a cost-efficient production while maintaining short cycle times. In any production line, the stability of the process and the quality of the produced components is ensured by frequently performed metrological controls, which require a significant amount of effort and resources. To avoid the expensive effect of an out of tolerance production, an alternative method to intensive metrology efforts to process stability and part quality monitoring is presented in this article. The proposed method is based on the extraction of process and product fingerprints from the process regulating signals and the replication quality of dedicated features positioned on the injection molded component, respectively. The features used for this purpose are placed on the runner of the moldings and are similar or equal to those actually in the part, in order to assess the quality of the produced plastic parts. For the purpose of studying the method’s viability, a study case based on the production of polymer microfluidic systems for bio-analytics medical applications was selected. A statistically designed experiment was utilized in order to assess the sensitivity of the polymer biochip’s micro features (μ-pillars) replication fidelity with respect to the experimental treatments. The main effects of the process parameters revealed that the effects of process variation were dependent on the position of the μ-pillars. Results showed that a number of process fingerprints follow the same trends as the replication fidelity of the on-part μ-pillars. Instead, only one of the two on-runner μ-pillar position measurands can effectively serve as product fingerprints. Thus, the method can be the foundation for the development of a fast part quality monitoring system with the potential to decrease the use of off-line, time-consuming detailed metrology for part and tool approval, provided that the fingerprints are specifically designed and selected.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Rodgers ◽  
Meghan E. Casey ◽  
Sabrina S. Jedlicka ◽  
John P. Coulter

When molding macroscale polymer parts with a high density of microfeatures (>1 × 106/cm2), a concern that presents itself is the ability to achieve uniform replication across the entire domain. In the given study, micro-injection molding was used to manufacture microfeatured polymer substrates containing over 10 × 106 microfeatures per cm2. Polystyrene (PS) plates containing microtopography were molded using different processing parameters to study the effect of flow rate and mold temperature on replication quality and uniformity. Flow rate was found to significantly affect replication at mold temperatures above the glass transition temperature (Tg) of PS while having no significant effect on filling at mold temperatures below Tg. Moreover, replication was dependent on distance from the main cavity entrance, with increased flow rate facilitating higher replication differentials and higher replication near the gate. Simulation of the molding process was used to corroborate experimental trials. A deeper understanding of polymer fluid behavior associated with micro-injection molding is vital to reliably manufacture parts containing consistent microtopography (Note: Values are expressed in average ± standard error).


2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karol Bula ◽  
Leszek Różański ◽  
Lidia Marciniak-Podsadna ◽  
Dawid Wróbel

Abstract This study concerns the application of infrared camera for injection molding analysis by measuring temperatures of both injection molded parts and injection mold cavities in a function of injection cycles. The mold with two cavities, differing in thickness (1 and 3 mm), and a cold direct runner was used. Isotactic polypropylene homopolymer was utilized to produce parts. Mold temperature was set at 22°C and controlled by a water chiller. Five measuring points were determined: SP1, SP2 (placed in the 3 mm cavity), SP3, SP4 (located in the 1 mm cavity) and SP5 around an injection molding gate. Our investigations showed that the highest temperature is localized around SP2 point and the lowest at SP4. Also, it was proved that even after 62 injection molding cycles, temperatures of cavities were not stable, revealing their further increase with each cycle.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1277
Author(s):  
Vito Speranza ◽  
Sara Liparoti ◽  
Roberto Pantani ◽  
Giuseppe Titomanlio

The correction reported in the following has to be applied to the paper [...]


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Truong Giang ◽  
Pham Son Minh ◽  
Tran Anh Son ◽  
Tran Minh The Uyen ◽  
Thanh-Hai Nguyen ◽  
...  

In the injection molding field, the flow of plastic material is one of the most important issues, especially regarding the ability of melted plastic to fill the thin walls of products. To improve the melt flow length, a high mold temperature was applied with pre-heating of the cavity surface. In this paper, we present our research on the injection molding process with pre-heating by external gas-assisted mold temperature control. After this, we observed an improvement in the melt flow length into thin-walled products due to the high mold temperature during the filling step. In addition, to develop the heating efficiency, a flow focusing device (FFD) was applied and verified. The simulations and experiments were carried out within an air temperature of 400 °C and heating time of 20 s to investigate a flow focusing device to assist with external gas-assisted mold temperature control (Ex-GMTC), with the application of various FFD types for the temperature distribution of the insert plate. The heating process was applied for a simple insert model with dimensions of 50 mm × 50 mm × 2 mm, in order to verify the influence of the FFD geometry on the heating result. After that, Ex-GMTC with the assistance of FFD was carried out for a mold-reading process, and the FFD influence was estimated by the mold heating result and the improvement of the melt flow length using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). The results show that the air sprue gap (h) significantly affects the temperature of the insert and an air sprue gap of 3 mm gives the best heating rate, with the highest temperature being 321.2 °C. Likewise, the actual results show that the height of the flow focusing device (V) also influences the temperature of the insert plate and that a 5 mm high FFD gives the best results with a maximum temperature of 332.3 °C. Moreover, the heating efficiency when using FFD is always higher than without FFD. After examining the effect of FFD, its application was considered, in order to improve the melt flow length in injection molding, which increased from 38.6 to 170 mm, while the balance of the melt filling was also clearly improved.


2011 ◽  
Vol 52-54 ◽  
pp. 244-248
Author(s):  
Haw Pei Li ◽  
Norhamidi Muhamad ◽  
Abu Bakar Sulong ◽  
Heng Shye Yunn ◽  
Hooman Abolhasani

Optimization of injection parameters in Micro Metal Injection Molding (μMIM) was described in this study. Stainless steel powder was mixed with Polyethelena Glycol (PEG), Polymethyl Methacrilate (PMMA) and Cellulose Acetate Butyrate (CAB) to produce feedstock. Design of Experiments (DOE) of Taguchi L-27 (313) orthogonal array technique has been used to investigate the significance and optimal injection molding parameters. The signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are applied to study the optimum levels and effects of process parameters. Simultaneous optimization to obtain the highest green density and excellent surface appearance was discussed. The result concluded that the mold temperature (D) is the most statistically significant process parameter and its contribution to the best appearance and density is the highest.


2006 ◽  
Vol 505-507 ◽  
pp. 229-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yung Kang Shen ◽  
H.J. Chang ◽  
C.T. Lin

The purpose of this paper presents the optical properties of microstructure of lightguiding plate for micro injection molding (MIM) and micro injection-compression molding (MICM). The lightguiding plate is applied on LCD of two inch of digital camera. Its radius of microstructure is from 100μm to 300μm by linearity expansion. The material of lightguiding plate uses the PMMA plastic. This paper uses the luminance distribution to make a comparison between MIM and MICM for the optical properties of lightguiding plate. The important parameters of process for optical properties are the mold temperature, melt temperature and packing pressure in micro injection molding. The important parameters of process for optical properties are the compression distance, mold temperature and compression speed in micro injection-compression molding. The process of micro injection-compression molding is better than micro injection molding for optical properties.


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