Thermal-Structural Finite Element Analysis of Injection Moulding Dies with Optimized Cooling Channels

2010 ◽  
Vol 654-656 ◽  
pp. 1646-1649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abul B.M. Saifullah ◽  
Syed H. Masood ◽  
Igor Sbarski
Keyword(s):  
Cycle Time ◽  
Injection Moulding ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Simulation Software ◽  
Copper Tube ◽  
Cooling Channel ◽  
Channel Design ◽  
Plastic Part ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Cooling Channels

One of the most important aspects of mould design in injection moulding is the provision of suitable and adequate cooling arrangements. Proper cooling channel design in the mould is an important aspect as it affects cycle time and quality of the injection moulded plastic part. A new cooling channel design with copper tube insert can reduce cycle time by optimal and uniform heat transfer in the mould. In this research work a comprehensive FEA transient thermal-structural analysis has been performed with ANSYS simulation software to understand robustness and longevity of an industrial plastic part mould with these cooling channels and compared with conventional straight cooling channels. Autodesk Moldflow Insight (AMI) also has been used to get essential process parameter values for analysis. Result shows that by inserting copper tube in the cooling channels, a mould can increase cooling efficiency and can last for higher number of cycles before fatigue failure, thus increasing production rate.

Optimum Cooling Channels Design and Thermal Analysis of an Injection Moulded Plastic Part Mould

2007 ◽  
Vol 561-565 ◽  
pp. 1999-2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abul B.M. Saifullah ◽  
Syed H. Masood
Keyword(s):  
Cooling Time ◽  
Free Form ◽  
Cooling Channel ◽  
Channel Design ◽  
Conformal Cooling Channel ◽  
Plastic Part ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Conformal Cooling ◽  
Cooling Channels ◽  
Conformal Cooling Channels

Cooling channel design is important in mould designs to achieve shorter cycles, dimensional stability and reduced part stresses. Traditionally, cooling channels have been machined into mould components to avoid interference with the ejection system, coring, cavity and other mould details. Over the years straight drilled cooling channels have given away, in part, to conformal cooling technique often using free form fabrication techniques. This paper presents a study of optimised mould design with conformal cooling channel using finite element analysis. Various configurations of conformal cooling channels have been developed. The part cooling time using the conformal cooling channels and the straight cooling channels in the mould are computed using the Pro/Mechanica Thermal FEA software. Results are presented based on temperature distribution and cooling time using steady state and transient analysis conditions. The results show a reduction in cycle time for the plastic part with conformal cooling channel design.

An Investigation on Warpage Analysis in Plastic Injection Moulding

2011 ◽  
Vol 264-265 ◽  
pp. 433-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abul B.M. Saifullah ◽  
Syed H. Masood
Keyword(s):  
Cycle Time ◽  
Injection Moulding ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Simulation Software ◽  
Plastic Part ◽  
Moulding Process ◽  
Cooling Channels ◽  
Cooling Design ◽  
Mould Design

In an injection moulded part, warpage is the distortion caused by non-uniform shrinkage within the plastic part. When looking critically at the causes of warpage, it is found that several key parameters of the moulding process have some effect on the warpage. However, the two major categories that contribute to warpage include the part design and the mould design. In mould design, the gate location, runner/gate system and cooling system design are the major factors affecting not only the warpage and part quality but also the injection moulding cycle time. This paper presents an investigation of using different cooling system configuration on warpage and shrinkage of an industrial plastic part with the aim of determining which cooling configuration will provide minimum warpage and cycle time. As conventional injection mould cooling design is based on straight drilling, it limits the geometric complexity of the cooling design, especially curved shape cooling channels. Nowadays, new technology of advanced rapid tooling based on solid freeform fabrications can be been used to provide conformal cooling channels in injection moulds. In this paper, several type of cooling channels are analysed to compare the performance in terms of warpage and shrinkage and to determine which configuration is suitable for minimizing warpage. Autodesk Moldflow Insight (AMI) simulation software is applied to examine the results of the cooling performances and warpage analysis.

Warpage Analysis of Different Number Cooling Channels for Dumbbell Plastic Part in Injection Moulding

2015 ◽  
Vol 761 ◽  
pp. 8-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Amran ◽  
Siti Salmah ◽  
Raja Izamshah ◽  
Mohd Shahir ◽  
Mohd Amri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Injection Moulding ◽  
Simulation Analysis ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Cooling Channel ◽  
Mould Temperature ◽  
Plastic Part ◽  
Melt Temperature ◽  
Moulding Process ◽  
Cooling Channels ◽  
Injection Moulding Process

Warpage deflection is one of the common pitfalls in plastic injection moulding which is always affected the quality and accuracy of the plastic products. It occurs due to the influences of mould temperature during injection moulding process and it is related to the number of cooling system existed in the mould. Therefore, this paper studies the effect of cooling channels on warpage of dumbbell plastic part having different number of cooling channel using Moldflow software. Warpage analysis was run using four and eight cooling channels. Parameters involved in this study are injection time, packing time, melt temperature and mould temperature. The result of warpage from simulation analysis was projected on the graphic having different colour which is presented the actual value of warpage. It is found from warpage simulation result that the maximum warpage for four cooling channels is 1.283mm and the maximum warpage for eight cooling channels is 1.280mm. It shows that the increasing of the number of cooling channel from four to eight channels in the injection mould reduces the warpage deflection about 0.2%. Thus, the result shows that the number of cooling system in the mould plays an important role on the quality of plastic part during injection moulding process.

Study on an Optimized Configuration of Conformal Cooling Channel by Branching Law

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Hyuk Choi ◽  
Jin Su Kim ◽  
Eun Su Han ◽  
Hyung Pil Park ◽  
Byung Ohk Rhee
Keyword(s):  
Design Method ◽  
Cooling Efficiency ◽  
Cooling Channel ◽  
Channel Design ◽  
Conformal Cooling Channel ◽  
Temperature Deviation ◽  
Conformal Cooling ◽  
Cooling Channels ◽  
Standard Design ◽  
Product Surface

Since the 3D printing technology was applied to metallic materials, the conformal cooling channel has been widely utilized for injection mold with a higher cooling efficiency. The conformal cooling channel provides higher degree of freedom in shape and size. It is more effective to apply it to convex core accumulating more heat than the concave side. However, there has not been a standard design method for the conformal cooling channel. Depending upon channel design, the cooling efficiency would not be improved. Sometimes dead flow zones could be made in the channel. Currently every engineer makes the cooling channel design of his own. In this work, we proposed an automated optimum design method for the conformal cooling channel. In the proposed design method, whole product surface is divided into smaller domains with equal thermal energy by Voronoi diagram algorithm. Then cooling channels are installed along the centers of the domains by a binary branching algorithm. The objective of the optimization was the minimization of the product surface temperature deviation. The cooling channels are branching out over the product surface through the evolutionary steps until the objective was satisfied. The injection molding CAE analysis was done by Moldflow, and the optimization by PIAnO. The sample product was an eye-glass lens product.

scholarly journals Use of a Holistic Design and Manufacturing Approach to Implement Optimized Additively Manufactured Mould Inserts for the Production of Injection-Moulded Thermoplastics

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Loucas Papadakis ◽  
Stelios Avraam ◽  
Demetris Photiou ◽  
Simona Masurtschak ◽  
Juan Carlos Pereira Falcón
Keyword(s):  
Cycle Time ◽  
Injection Moulding ◽  
Mould Insert ◽  
Conformal Cooling ◽  
Moulding Process ◽  
Cooling Channels ◽  
Injection Process ◽  
Conformal Cooling Channels ◽  
Injection Moulding Process ◽  
Design And Manufacture

Injection moulding is one the most familiar processes for manufacturing of plastic parts by injecting molten thermoplastic polymers into a metallic mould. The cycle time of this process consists of the phases of injection, packing, cooling, and ejection of the final product. Shortening of cycle time is a key consideration to increase productivity. Therefore, in this manuscript the adoption of additively manufactured mould inserts with conformal cooling channels by means of selective laser melting (SLM) with the aim to reduce process cycles is presented. The design and manufacture of a mould insert with conformal cooling channels for producing pressure fitting thermoplastic parts is described. Numerical analysis of the injection process and simulation of shape distortions after SLM were conducted providing useful results for the design and manufacture of the mould insert. The results of the numerical analyses are compared with experimental 3D geometrical data of the additively manufactured mould insert. Temperature measurements during the real injection moulding process demonstrating promising findings. The adoption of the introduced method for the series production of injection moulded thermoplastics proves a shortening of cycle times of up to 32% and a final product shape quality improvement of up to 77% when using mould inserts with conformal cooling channels over the conventional mould inserts.

Comparison of Cooling Performance between High Thermal Conductivity Steel (HTCS 150) and Hot Work Tool Steel (SKD 61) Insert for Experimental Tool Using Finite Element Analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 903 ◽  
pp. 163-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahari Taha ◽  
Ahmad Razlan Yusoff ◽  
Mohamad Farid Mohamd Sharif ◽  
M. Ali Hanafiah Saharudin ◽  
Mohd Fawzi Zamri
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Hot Stamping ◽  
Cooling Channel ◽  
The Finite Element Method ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Cooling Performance ◽  
Cooling Channels ◽  
Channel Parameters ◽  
Tool Cooling

In hot stamping, the tool cooling system plays an important role in optimizing the process cycle time as well as maintaining the tool temperature distribution. Since the chilled water is forced to circulate through the cooling channels, there is a need to find the optimal parameters of the cooling channels that will cool down the tool efficiently. In this research paper, the cooling channel parameters that significantly influence the tool cooling performance such as size of the cooling holes, distance between the cooling holes and distance between the cooling holes and the tool surface contour are analyzed using the finite element method for both static and thermal analysis. Finally the cooling performance of two types of materials is compared based on the optimized cooling channel parameters.

scholarly journals Cycle Time Reduction in Injection Molding Process by Selection of Robust Cooling Channel Design

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Khan ◽  
S. Kamran Afaq ◽  
Nizar Ullah Khan ◽  
Saboor Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Temperature Distribution ◽  
Injection Molding ◽  
Cycle Time ◽  
Analytical Study ◽  
Injection Molding Process ◽  
Cooling Channel ◽  
Uniform Temperature ◽  
Channel Design ◽  
Molding Process ◽  
Uniform Temperature Distribution

Cycle time of a part in injection molding process is very important as the rate of production and the quality of the parts produced depend on it, whereas the cycle time of a part can be reduced by reducing the cooling time which can only be achieved by the uniform temperature distribution in the molded part which helps in quick dissipation of heat. Conformal cooling channel design is the solution to the problem which basically “conforms” to the shape of cavity in the molds. This paper describes the analytical study of cooling analysis of different types of cooling channel designs. The best cooling channel design is also selected on the basis of minimum time to reach ejection temperature, uniform temperature distribution, and minimum warpage of part. “Creo Elements/Pro 5.0” is used to model the case study, its molds, and the cooling circuit whereas analytical study is done using “Autodesk Moldflow Advisor 2013 (AMFA).”

scholarly journals A Hybrid Cooling Model Based on the Use of Newly Designed Fluted Conformal Cooling Channels and Fastcool Inserts for Green Molds

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 3115
Author(s):  
Abelardo Torres-Alba ◽  
Jorge Manuel Mercado-Colmenero ◽  
Juan De Dios Caballero-Garcia ◽  
Cristina Martin-Doñate
Keyword(s):  
Cooling Channel ◽  
Conformal Cooling Channel ◽  
Plastic Part ◽  
Conformal Cooling ◽  
Thermal Exchange ◽  
Cooling Channels ◽  
Hybrid Cooling ◽  
Conformal Cooling Channels ◽  
Industrial Part ◽  
Cooling Model

The paper presents a hybrid cooling model based on the use of newly designed fluted conformal cooling channels in combination with inserts manufactured with Fastcool material. The hybrid cooling design was applied to an industrial part with complex geometry, high rates of thickness, and deep internal concavities. The geometry of the industrial part, besides the ejection system requirements of the mold, makes it impossible to cool it adequately using traditional or conformal standard methods. The addition of helical flutes in the circular conformal cooling channel surfaces generates a high number of vortexes and turbulences in the coolant flow, fostering the thermal exchange between the flow and the plastic part. The use of a Fastcool insert allows an optimal transfer of the heat flow in the slender core of the plastic part. An additional conformal cooling channel layout was required, not for the cooling of the plastic part, but for cooling the Fastcool insert, improving the thermal exchange between the Fastcool insert and the coolant flow. In this way, it is possible to maintain a constant heat exchange throughout the manufacturing cycle of the plastic part. A transient numerical analysis validated the improvements of the hybrid design presented, obtaining reductions in cycle time for the analyzed part by 27.442% in comparison with traditional cooling systems. The design of the 1 mm helical fluted conformal cooling channels and the use of the Fastcool insert cooled by a conformal cooling channel improves by 4334.9% the thermal exchange between the cooling elements and the plastic part. Additionally, it improves by 51.666% the uniformity and the gradient of the temperature map in comparison with the traditional cooling solution. The results obtained in this paper are in line with the sustainability criteria of green molds, centered on reducing the cycle time and improving the quality of the complex molded parts.

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