scholarly journals Experimental Characterization and Simulation of Thermoplastic Polymer Flow Hesitation in Thin-Wall Injection Molding Using Direct In-Mold Visualization Technique

Micromachines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 428
Author(s):  
Francesco Regi ◽  
Patrick Guerrier ◽  
Yang Zhang ◽  
Guido Tosello

A special mold provided with a glass window was used in order to directly evaluate the flow progression during the filling phase of the injection molding process in a thin-wall cavity and to validate the simulation of the process with particular focus on the hesitation effect. The flow of the polymer was recorded at 500 frames per second using a high-speed camera (HSC). Two unfilled thermoplastic polymers, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and polypropylene (PP), were used to fill two different 50 mm × 18 mm staircase geometry cavities, which were specifically designed to evaluate the hesitation effect with thicknesses of 1500, 1250, 1000, 750, 500 µm (cavity insert no. 1) and 1500, 1200, 900, 600, 300 µm (cavity insert no. 2). In addition to the video recordings, the simulations were validated using the timings and the data obtained by three pressure sensors and two thermocouples located in the cavity. For each injection cycle recorded on camera the machine data were collected to carefully implement the correct boundary conditions in the simulations. The analysis of the video recordings highlighted that flow progression and hesitation were mainly influenced not only by the thickness, but also by the velocity and the material type. The simulation results were in relatively good agreement with the experiments in terms of flow pattern and progression. Filling times were predicted with an average relative error deviation of 2.5% throughout all the section thicknesses of the cavity. Lower accuracies in terms of both filling times and injection pressure were observed at increasingly thinner sections.

Author(s):  
Catalin Fetecau ◽  
Ion Postolache ◽  
Felicia Stan

The research presented in this paper involves numerical and experimental efforts to investigate the relative thin-wall injection molding process in order to obtain high dimensional quality complex parts. To better understand the effects of various processing parameters (the filling time, injection pressure, the melting temperature, the mold temperature) on the injection molding of a thin-wall complex part, the molding experiments are regenerated into the computer model using the Moldflow Plastics Insight (MPI) 6.1 software. The computer visualization of the filling phase allows accurate prediction of the location of the flow front, welding lines and air traps. Furthermore, in order to optimize the injection molding process, the effects of the geometry of the runner system on the filling and packing phases are also investigated. It is shown that computational modeling could be used to help the process and mold designer to produce accurate parts.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanh Trung Do ◽  
Tran Minh The Uyen ◽  
Pham Son Minh

In thin wall injection molding, the filling of plastic material into the cavity will be restricted by the frozen layer due to the quick cooling of the hot melt when it contacts with the lower temperature surface of the cavity. This problem is heightened in composite material, which has a higher viscosity than pure plastic. In this paper, to reduce the frozen layer as well as improve the filling ability of polyamide 6 reinforced with 30 wt.% glass fiber (PA6/GF30%) in the thin wall injection molding process, a preheating step with the internal gas heating method was applied to heat the cavity surface to a high temperature, and then, the filling step was commenced. In this study, the filling ability of PA6/GF30% was studied with a melt flow thickness varying from 0.1 to 0.5 mm. To improve the filling ability, the mold temperature control technique was applied. In this study, an internal gas-assisted mold temperature control (In-GMTC) using different levels of mold insert thickness and gas temperatures to achieve rapid mold surface temperature control was established. The heating process was observed using an infrared camera and estimated by the temperature distribution and the heating rate. Then, the In-GMTC was employed to produce a thin product by an injection molding process with the In-GMTC system. The simulation results show that with agas temperature of 300 °C, the cavity surface could be heated under a heating rate that varied from 23.5 to 24.5 °C/s in the first 2 s. Then, the heating rate decreased. After the heating process was completed, the cavity temperature was varied from 83.8 to about 164.5 °C. In-GMTC was also used for the injection molding process with a part thickness that varied from 0.1 to 0.5 mm. The results show that with In-GMTC, the filling ability of composite material clearly increased from 2.8 to 18.6 mm with a flow thickness of 0.1 mm.


2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Muhammad Hussain Ismail ◽  
Norhamidi Muhamad ◽  
Aidah Jumahat ◽  
Istikamah Subuki ◽  
Mohd Afian Omar

Metal Injection Molding (MIM) is a wellestablished technology for manufacturing a variety of complex and small precision parts. In this paper, fundamental rheological characteristics of MIM feedstock using palm stearin are theoretically analyzed and presented. The feedstock consisted of gas atomized 316L stainless steel powder at three different particle size distributions and the binder system of palm stearin (PS) and polyethylene (PE). The powder loading used was 60vol % for all samples (monosize 16 µm, monosize 45 µm, and bimodal 16 µm + 45 µm) and the binder system of 40vol %(PS/PE = 40/60). The viscosity of MIM feedstock at different temperatures and shear rates was measured and evaluated. Results showed that, the feedstock containing palm stearin exhibited suitable rheological properties by increasing the fluidity of feedstock in MIM process. The rheological results also showed a pseudoplastic flow characteristics, which poses higher value of shear sensitivity (n) and lower value of flow activation energy (E), that are both favourable for injection molding process. The green parts were successfully injected and exhibited adequate strength for handling by optimizing the injection pressure and temperature.


Polymer ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 54 (23) ◽  
pp. 6425-6436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feilong Yu ◽  
Hua Deng ◽  
Qin Zhang ◽  
Ke Wang ◽  
Chaoliang Zhang ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 315 ◽  
pp. 582-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasuha Sa'ude ◽  
M. Ibrahim ◽  
Wahab Saidin

This paper presents the development of a new polymer matrix composite (PMC) feedstock material by the injection molding machine. The material consists of iron powder filled in an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and surfactant powder (binder) material. In this study, the effect of powder loading and binder content on the mechanical properties was investigated experimentally. The detailed formulations of compounding ratio by Brabender Mixer and injection molding machine of the sample specimen was used with various combinations of the new PMC material. Based on the result obtained, it was found that, higher powder loading of iron filler affected the hardness, tensile and flexural strength of PMC material. With 32% iron powder loading in ABS composites increase the flexural force, maximum stress and force of PMC material through an injection molding process.


Author(s):  
Jaho Seo ◽  
Amir Khajepour ◽  
Jan P. Huissoon

This study proposes an effective thermal control for plastic injection molding (polymer: Santoprene 8211-45 with density of 790 kg/m3, injection pressure: 1400 psi (9,652,660 Pa)) in a laminated die. For this purpose, a comprehensive control strategy is provided to cover various themes. First, a new method for determining the optimal sensor locations as a prerequisite step for modeling and controller design is introduced. Second, system identification through offline and online training with finite element analysis and neural network techniques are used to develop an accurate model by incorporating uncertain dynamics of the laminated die. Third, an additive feedforward control by adding direct adaptive inverse control to self-adaptive PID is developed for temperature control of cavity wall (cavity size: 52.9 × 32.07 × 16.03 mm). A verification of designed controller's performance demonstrates that the proposed strategy provides accurate online temperature tracking and faster response under thermal dynamics with various cycle-times in the injection mold process.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catalin Fetecau ◽  
Felicia Stan ◽  
Laurentiu I. Sandu

This paper focuses on the in-mold monitoring of temperature and cavity pressure. The melt contact temperature and the cavity pressure along the flow path were directly measured using two pressure sensors and two temperature sensors fitted into the cavity of a spiral mold. Three melt temperatures and dies of different heights (1.0, 1.5 and 2 mm) were used to achieve a wide range of practically relevant shear rates. In order to analyze the extent to which the numerical simulation can predict the behavior of the molten polymer during the injection molding process, molding experiments were simulated using the Moldflow software and the simulation results were compared with the experimental data under the same injection molding conditions.


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