scholarly journals Optimization and application of temperature field in rapid heat cycling molding

2021 ◽  
pp. 291-291
Author(s):  
Mingliang Hao ◽  
Haimei Li

The rapid thermal cycle molding (RHCM) belongs to the injection mold temperature control system which is helpful to improve mold ability and enhance part quality. Despite many available literatures, RHCM does not represent a well-developed area of practice. The challenge is the uneven distribution of temperature in the cavity after heating, which mostly leads to defects on the surface of the products. In order to obtain uniform cavity surface temperature distribution of RHCM, the power of heating rods of the electric-heating system in an injection mold was optimized by the response surface method(RSM) in this work. The proposed optimization result was applied to design a complex RHCM injection mold with side core-pulling, holes and different thickness of an automotive part to verify its effectiveness by injection molding. Compared with initial design, the mold temperature uniformity was remarkably improvedby79%. Based on the optimization and injection molding numerical simulation results, the workable molding process to weaken the weld-lines effects on the quality was suggested and the practical injection molded parts were well produced.

2012 ◽  
Vol 468-471 ◽  
pp. 1013-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua Qing Lai

Molding is one of the most versatile and important processes for manufacturing complex plastic parts. It is a method of fabricating plastic parts by utilizing a mold or cavity that has a shape and size similar to the part being produced. Molten polymer is injected into the cavity, resulting in the desired part upon solidification. The injection-molded parts typically have excellent dimensional tolerance and require almost no finishing and assembly operations. But new variations and emerging innovations of conventional injection molding have been continuously developed to offer special features and benefits that cannot be accomplished by the conventional injection molding process. This study aims to improving the life of stereolithography injection mold.


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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 863 ◽  
pp. 97-102
Author(s):  
Huynh Duc Thuan ◽  
Tran Anh Son ◽  
Pham Son Minh

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.


Materials ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Liparoti ◽  
Vito Speranza ◽  
Roberto Pantani

The production by injection molding of polymeric components having micro- and nanometrical surfaces is a complex task. Generally, the accurate replication of micro- and nanometrical features on the polymeric surface during the injection-molding process is prevented by of the low mold temperature adopted to reduce cooling time. In this work, we adopt a system that allows fast heating of the cavity surface during the time the melt reaches the cavity, and fast cooling after heater deactivation. A nickel insert with micro- and nanofeatures in relief is located on the cavity surface. Replication accuracy is analyzed by Atomic Force Microscopy under different injection-molding conditions. Two grades of polylactic acid with different viscosity have been adopted. The results indicate that the higher the cavity surface temperature is, the higher the replication accuracy is. The viscosity has a significant effect only in the replication of the microfeatures, whereas its effect results are negligible in the replication of nanofeatures, thus suggesting that the interfacial phenomena are more important for replication at a nanometric scale. The evolution of the crystallinity degree on the surface also results in a key factor on the replication of nanofeatures.


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.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Artur Kościuszko ◽  
Dawid Marciniak ◽  
Dariusz Sykutera

Dimensions of the injection-molded semi-crystalline materials (polymeric products) decrease with the time that elapses from their formation. The post-molding shrinkage is an effect of secondary crystallization; the increase in the degree of polymer crystallinity leads to an increase in stiffness and decrease in impact strength of the polymer material. The aim of this study was to assess the changes in the values of post-molding shrinkage of polypropylene produced by injection molding at two different temperatures of the mold (20 °C and 80 °C), and conditioned for 504 h at 23 °C. Subsequently, the samples were annealed for 24 h at 140 °C in order to conduct their accelerated aging. The results of shrinkage tests were related to the changes of mechanical properties that accompany the secondary crystallization. The degree of crystallinity of the conditioned samples was determined by means of density measurements and differential scanning calorimetry. It was found that the changes in the length of the moldings that took place after removal from the injection mold were accompanied by an increase of 20% in the modulus of elasticity, regardless of the conditions under which the samples were made. The differences in the shrinkage and mechanical properties of the samples resulting from mold temperature, as determined by tensile test, were removed by annealing. However, the samples made at two different injection mold temperature values still significantly differed in impact strength, the values of which were clearly higher for the annealed samples compared to the results determined for the samples immediately after the injection molding.


Author(s):  
Sornkrit Leartcheongchowasak ◽  
Merwan Mehta ◽  
Hamid Al-Kadi ◽  
Keith Sequeira ◽  
Brian Snow ◽  
...  

Abstract The most important problem, causing defective parts, in the injection molding process, is nonuniform shrinkage of molded parts. This leads to an iterative trial-and-error cycles of modification of mold cavity and core to arrive at the right dimensional size required which can occasionally to complete retooling. For this process, there are many factors that can be thrown out of control. Using the traditional scientific approach, engineers have longed to understand the mechanics of the process to control it, with limited success. In this paper, a design of experiments setup, using the Taguchi Methods, was done to reduce the nonuniform shrinkage. The company where the experiment was carried out is a precision parts molder for their own product lines. By using the internal experts from the company, a list of independent process parameters with no interactions which were thought the most responsible for dimensional size were listed. As there were 13 such parameters, it was decided to use the L27 orthogonal array. The optimum value that the company experts thought would produce the right part were used as the settings for the initial experiment. The 27 experiments were then performed, allowing sufficient time to let the machine stabilized between the experiments. The S/N ratio calculation for 27 experiments was explained. Next the calculations for the percentage that each parameter contributes to the dimension was determined. Finally, a confirmation experiment was performed to verify the results.


2012 ◽  
Vol 501 ◽  
pp. 294-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi Bian ◽  
Peng Cheng Xie ◽  
Yu Mei Ding ◽  
Wei Min Yang

This study was aimed at understanding how the process conditions affected the dimensional stability of glass fiber reinforced PP by microcellular injection molding. A design of experiments (DOE) was performed and plane test specimens were produced for the shrinkage and warpage analysis. Injection molding trials were performed by systematically adjusting six process parameters (i.e., Injection speed, Injection pressure, Shot temperature, SCF level, Mold temperature, and Cooling time). By analyzing the statistically significant main and two-factor interaction effects, the results showed that the supercritical fluid (SCF) level and the injection speed affected the shrinkage and warpage of microcellular injection molded parts the most.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (9) ◽  
pp. 783-795
Author(s):  
Sara Liparoti ◽  
Vito Speranza ◽  
Annarita De Meo ◽  
Felice De Santis ◽  
Roberto Pantani

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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