Numerical Study on Flow Length in Injection Molding Process with High-Speed Injection Molding

Improving the melt flow length by increasing the mold temperature has been an issue encountered in the injection molding processes for composite products. In this study, an injection molding process was applied to a melt flow length model having a part thickness of 1.0 mm. The mold temperature varied from 30 °C to 110 °C. Six types of composite materials of polycaprolactam 6 (PA6) and glass fiber (GF) were selected to study the influence of mold temperature on the material filling in the injection molding process. The simulation results denoted that the mold temperature considerably influenced the flowability during the injection molding process, especially using 30% GF; further, the melt flow length was increased by 25.5% when the mold temperature was increased from 30 °C to 110 °C. In accordance with the simulation, our experiments demonstrated that we could achieve a mold temperature of 110 °C using all types of composite materials. Therefore, in this study, we denoted that both the simulation and experimental results of the melt flow length were comparable, thereby indicating a good agreement.

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Numerical Study on the Flow Length in an Injection Molding Process with an External Air-Heating Step

International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications ◽

10.9790/9622-0704028589 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 07 (04) ◽

pp. 85-89

Author(s):

Thanh Trung Do ◽

Pham Son Minh ◽

Tran Minh The Uyen ◽

Pham Hoang The

Keyword(s):

Injection Molding ◽

Numerical Study ◽

Injection Molding Process ◽

Molding Process ◽

Air Heating ◽

Flow Length

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Study on External Gas-Assisted Mold Temperature Control with the Assistance of a Flow Focusing Device in the Injection Molding Process

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma14040965 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 965 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nguyen Truong Giang ◽

Pham Son Minh ◽

Tran Anh Son ◽

Tran Minh The Uyen ◽

Thanh-Hai Nguyen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Injection Molding ◽

Temperature Control ◽

Mold Temperature ◽

Injection Molding Process ◽

Melt Flow ◽

Flow Focusing ◽

Molding Process ◽

Heating Efficiency ◽

Flow Length ◽

Insert Plate

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.

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Estimation of Maximum Flow Length for CF-PEEK Overmolded Grid Structures Using the Finite Element Method

Volume 2: Manufacturing Processes; Manufacturing Systems; Nano/Micro/Meso Manufacturing; Quality and Reliability ◽

10.1115/msec2021-62311 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Carlos Rodríguez-Mondéjar ◽

Álvaro Rodríguez-Prieto ◽

Ana María Camacho

Keyword(s):

Aspect Ratio ◽

Injection Molding ◽

Cross Section ◽

Maximum Flow ◽

Thermoplastic Composites ◽

Injection Molding Process ◽

Geometrical Parameters ◽

Molding Process ◽

Support Tool ◽

Flow Length

Abstract Injection overmolding process is a high versatile process that permits, when used in combination with fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites, the obtaining of high mechanical properties structures with complex geometries in short time cycles. The maximum flow length is a parameter that reflects the success of filling in a polymer injection molding process. Geometry of the part, rheological properties of the polymer and process parameters, such as injection pressure and temperature, are involved on the value of this parameter and therefore on the viability of a certain configuration. For injection molding manufacturing, the understanding of the relation between maximum flow length and main geometrical parameters of the molded part is fundamental to approach the product design, which is conditioned severely by processing capabilities. In this work, the maximum flow length is obtained for different geometries of an overmolded rectangular stiffener grid of carbon fiber filled polyether eter ketone (CF-PEEK) using the software Moldflow© Adviser© for calculations. Value of maximum flow length is provided as a function of cross section aspect ratio for gate diameters between 0.8 mm and 1.4 mm and cross section areas from 10 to 50 mm2. An exponential decrement of maximum flow length has been observed with the increment of aspect ratio of the cross section as well as a linear increment with the increment of cross section area. Gate diameter variation is slightly related with maximum flow length for the simulated values. These results provide a support tool for geometry sizing in overmolded rectangular grid parts at preliminary design stages.

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Prediction of the maximum flow length of a thin injection molded part

Journal of Polymer Engineering ◽

10.1515/polyeng-2019-0292 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 40 (9) ◽

pp. 783-795

Author(s):

Sara Liparoti ◽

Vito Speranza ◽

Annarita De Meo ◽

Felice De Santis ◽

Roberto Pantani

Keyword(s):

Injection Molding ◽

Maximum Flow ◽

Mold Temperature ◽

Complete Characterization ◽

Rheological Parameters ◽

Injection Molding Process ◽

Spiral Flow ◽

Molding Process ◽

Molded Part ◽

Flow Length

AbstractOne of the most significant issues, when thin parts have to be obtained by injection molding (i.e. in micro-injection molding), is the determination of the conditions of pressure, mold temperature, and injection temperature to adopt to completely fill the cavity. Obviously, modern computational methods allow the simulation of the injection molding process for any material and any cavity geometry. However, this simulation requires a complete characterization of the material for what concerns the rheological and thermal parameters, and also a suitable criterion for solidification. These parameters are not always easily reachable. A simple test aimed at obtaining the required parameters is then highly advantageous. The so-called spiral flow test, consisting of measuring the length reached by a polymer in a long cavity under different molding conditions, is a method of this kind. In this work, with reference to an isotactic polypropylene, some spiral flow tests obtained with different mold temperatures and injection pressures are analyzed with a twofold goal: on one side, to obtain from a few simple tests the basic rheological parameters of the material; on the other side, to suggest a method for a quick prediction of the final flow length.

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