Injection molding of conductor paths: integration of functionality by the use of a metal/thermoplastic hybrid material

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (6-7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Michaeli ◽  
Christian Hopmann ◽  
Jan Fragner ◽  
Tobias Pfefferkorn
Keyword(s):  
Injection Molding ◽  
Hybrid Material ◽  
Maximum Flow ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Injection Molding Process ◽  
Inductive Heating ◽  
Molding Process ◽  
Thermoplastic Matrix ◽  
Flow Length ◽  
Electrical Conductivities

Abstract This article deals with the further processing of a compounded metal/thermoplastic hybrid material through injection molding. By synergistically combining two fillers, short copper fibers and a low melting alloy, in a thermoplastic matrix, it is possible to achieve extremely high electrical conductivities comparable to those of steel. At the same time, it is possible to manufacture complex parts directly using (multi-component) injection molding. The filling and solidification behavior of this highly filled material is significantly changed due to the amount of metal. The maximum flow lengths and the resulting electrical properties of the compound are investigated based on small conductor paths in 2C injection molding. Constant high mold temperatures significantly improve the maximum flow length of conductor paths without having any significant effects on electrical conductivity. With an additional dynamic mold tempering, using an external inductive heating system, the flow ability can be further improved within the injection molding process.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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 ◽  
...  
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.

Numerical Study on the Melt Flow Length of the Composite Materials in the Injection Molding Process

2019 ◽  
Vol 971 ◽  
pp. 15-20
Author(s):  
The Nhan Phan ◽  
Trung Do Thanh ◽  
Son Minh Pham
Keyword(s):  
Composite Materials ◽  
Injection Molding ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Mold Temperature ◽  
Injection Molding Process ◽  
Melt Flow ◽  
Molding Process ◽  
Flow Length ◽  
Part Thickness ◽  
Good Agreement

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.

scholarly journals Study on External Gas-Assisted Mold Temperature Control for Improving the Melt Flow Length of Thin Rib Products in the Injection Molding Process

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phan The Nhan ◽  
Thanh Trung Do ◽  
Tran Anh Son ◽  
Pham Son Minh
Keyword(s):  
Injection Molding ◽  
Temperature Control ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Mold Temperature ◽  
Injection Molding Process ◽  
Thin Wall ◽  
Mold Surface ◽  
Melt Flow ◽  
Molding Process ◽  
Flow Length

In the injection molding process, mold temperature control is one of the most efficient methods for improving product quality. In this research, an external gas-assisted mold temperature control (Ex-GMTC) with gas temperature variation from 200°C to 400°C was applied to thin wall injection molding at melt thicknesses from 0.2 to 0.6 mm. The melt flow length was evaluated through the application of this system to the mold of a thin rib product. The results show that the heating process achieves high efficiency in the initial 20 s, with a maximum heating rate of 6.4°C/s. In this case, the mold surface reached 158.4°C. By applying Ex-GMTC to a 0.2 mm flow thickness, the flow length increased from 37.85 to 41.32 mm with polypropylene (PP) material and from 14.54 to 15.8 mm with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material. With the thin rib mold and use of Ex-GMTC, the mold temperature varied from 112.0°C to 140.8°C and the thin rib height reached 7.0 mm.

Estimate the Melt Flow Length with Internal Induction Heating for the Injection Molding Process

2020 ◽  
Vol 863 ◽  
pp. 97-102
Author(s):  
Huynh Duc Thuan ◽  
Tran Anh Son ◽  
Pham Son Minh
Keyword(s):  
Temperature Distribution ◽  
Injection Molding ◽  
Heating Rate ◽  
Induction Heating ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Mold Temperature ◽  
Heating Process ◽  
Injection Molding Process ◽  
Molding Process ◽  
Internal Induction

In this paper, an induction heating system was applied to the heating stage in the injection molding process. Through simulation and experiment, the heating process was estimated by the temperature distribution and the heating rate. In the simulation, the mold temperature was increased from 30°C to 180°C in 9 s. Therefore, the heating rate was higher than 16°C/s, which represents a positive result in the field of mold heating. Additionally, the temperature distribution revealed that the higher temperature is concentrated on the gate area, while the outside of the mold cavity is at a lower temperature. The same parameters were applied to both the experiment and the simulation, and the results were in good agreement.

Electrical Properties of Recycled Plastic Nanocomposites Produced by Injection Molding

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Reddy ◽  
R. Asmatulu ◽  
W. S. Khan
Keyword(s):  
Injection Molding ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Recycling Rate ◽  
Injection Molding Process ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Molding Process ◽  
Plastic Recycling ◽  
Electrical Conductivities ◽  
Polymeric Solutions ◽  
Recycled Plastics

Plastic recycling is a recovery process of waste plastics to make new products into different forms. Plastics are usually sorted based on their resin identification codes before the recycling and melting processes. Although the recycling rate of plastics is significantly high, properties and economical value of the recycled plastics are fairly low, which in turn limits the use of recycled plastics in the market. In the present study, high density polyethylene (HDPE) in the form of pellets was dissolved in toluene, and then nanoscale graphene inclusions at different loadings (e.g., 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 1%, 2% and 4%) were added into the polymeric solutions. The remaining solvent was removed from the nanocomposite before the injection molding process. The injection molding process was conducted on the chopped recycled plastics associated with graphene loadings. The dielectric and electric properties of plastic nanocomposites were studied in detail. The test results showed that the dielectric properties were slightly improved by the addition of inclusions, which may be due to the non-polar nature of HDPE and/or residues in the recycled plastics. However, electrical conductivities of nanocomposites were significantly increased because of the improved electrical conduction, polarization and electron mobility at room temperature.

scholarly journals Improving the Melt Flow Length of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene in Thin-Wall Injection Molding by External Induction Heating with the Assistance of a Rotation Device

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 2288
Author(s):  
Pham Son Minh ◽  
Minh-Tai Le
Keyword(s):  
Injection Molding ◽  
Induction Heating ◽  
Cycle Time ◽  
Heating Surface ◽  
Heating Process ◽  
Injection Molding Process ◽  
Thin Wall ◽  
Melt Flow ◽  
Molding Process ◽  
Flow Length

In injection molding, the temperature control of the dynamic mold is an excellent method for improving the melt flow length, especially of thin-wall products. In this study, the heating efficiency of a novel heating strategy based on induction heating was estimated. With the use of this heating strategy, a molding cycle time similar to the traditional injection molding process could be maintained. In addition, this strategy makes it easier to carry out the heating step due to the separation of the heating position and the mold structure as well as allowing the ease of magnetic control. The results show that, with an initial mold temperature of 30 °C and a gap (G) between the heating surface and the inductor coil of 5 mm, the magnetic heating process can heat the plate to 290 °C within 5 s. However, with a gap of 15 mm, it took up to 8 s to reach 270 °C. According to the measurement results, when the mold heating time during the molding process increased from 0 to 5 s, the flow length increased significantly from 71.5 to 168.1 mm, and the filling percentage of the thin-wall product also increased from 10.2% to 100%. In general, the application of external induction heating (Ex-IH) during the molding cycle resulted in improved melt flow length with minimal increase in the total cycle time, which remained similar to that of the traditional case.

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