Study on Injection Moulding of High Precision Aspheric Plastic Lens

With the rapid development of information and multi me dia technologies, the demand for the optical plastic aspheric elements used in o pto-electronic devices, camera, optical disc and projector lens etc. has been i ncreased rapidly in the recent years. The key technologies of fabrication of asp heric plastic lens are the design and manufacturing moulds, selection of proper injection moulding equipment, and optimization of injection moulding parameters etc. In this paper, the effect of injection pressure, moulding temperature, cool ing time and injection speed on the surface profile of the lenses during injecti on and holding process is investigated. Surface quality of plastic lenses is mea sured by Talysurf Texture Measuring System. The experimental results showed that the injection pressure and moulding temperature are important parameters compar ing to cooling time and injection speed. A bit change of injection pressure or m oulding temperature will affect the property of the surface profile. Either incr easing injection pressure or mould temperature can achieve less shrinkage. Other wise, a lower injection pressure will produce more shrinkage, more air traps and a lower mould temperature results greater warp and higher shrinkage. The dynami c process of injection for optical plastic lenses is simulated by 3D Moldflow pl astic Insight software (MPI). The MPI will help us to optimize injection mouldin g parameters.

Application of Standardization for Initial Design of Plastic Injection Moulds

Today, the time-to-market for plastic products ar e getting shorter, thus the lead-time for making the injection mould is decreasin g. There is potential in timesavings in the mould design stage because the design process that is repeatable for every mould design can be standardized. T he preliminary work of any final plastic injection mould design is to always pro vide an initial design of the mould assembly for product designers (customers) p rior to receiving the final product CAD data. Traditionally and even up till no w, this initial design is always created using 2D CAD packages. The information used for the initial design is based on the technical discussion checklist, in which most mould makers have their own standards. This checklist is also being used as a quotation since the most basic information of the mould in the particu lar project is being recorded in it. The basic information in this checklist in cludes the number of cavities, the type of mould base to be used, the moulding m achine to be used for the moulding, the type of gating system, the type of resin material used and its shrinkage value etc. Information on special requirements such as the number of sliders or lifters to be used is also listed in the check list. At this stage, there is still no information on the cooling and ejection design since they are greatly dependent on the final product CAD data. This res earch focuses on the methodology of providing the initial design in 3D solid bas ed on the technical discussion checklist, which takes the role of the overall st andard template since every sub-design has its own standard template. An examp le of a sub-design that has its own standard template is the cavity layout desi gn. The cavity layout for plastic injection moulds can be designed by controlli ng the geometrical parameters using a standardization template. The standardiza tion template for the cavity layout design consists of configurations for the po ssible layouts. Each configuration of the layout design has its own layout desi gn table of all the geometrical parameters. This standardization template is pr e-defined in the layout design level of the mould assembly design. This ensure s that the required configuration can be loaded into the mould assembly design v ery quickly without having the need to redesign the layout. This makes it usefu l for technical discussions between the product designers and mould designers pr ior to the manufacture of the mould. Changes can be made to the 3D cavity layou t design immediately during the discussions thus the savings in time and avo idance of miscommunications.

Solvent de binding of water soluble binder in powder injection moulding

The solvent debinding of water soluble binder in powder injection moulding (MIM) was investigated systematically, including the effects of solvent types, temperature and the thickness of green parts on the solvent debinding rate. After studying the debinding of a green part with a thickness of 4.26 mm, it was found that, the debinding rate of polyethylene glycol(PEG) in water and alcohol was high initially, and then decreased; however, it would increase with temperature increasing. At room temperature, the dissolution rate of PEG in water was higher than that in alcohol, but the latter would be much faster with temperature increasing because the debinding activation energy in alcohol was 51.44 kJ·mol -1 ·K -1 , much higher than 24.23 kJ·mol -1 ·K -1 in water. With a green part thickness larger than 4.26 mm, the debinding was controlled by diffusion; but with that smaller than 2.36 mm, the debinding was controlled by both dissolution and diffusion.

Warpage prediction of the injection-molded strip-like plastic parts

For most strip-like plastic injection molded parts, whose cross section size is much smaller than their length, the traditional Hele-Shaw model and three-dimensional model do not work well in the prediction of the warpage be- cause of their special shape. A new solution was suggested in this work. The strip-like plastic part was regarded as a little-curved beam macrnscopically, and was divided into a few one-dimensional elements. On the section of each elemental node location, two-dimensional thermal finite element analysis was made to obtain the non- uniform thermal stress caused by the time difference of the solidification of the plastic melt in the mold. The stress relaxation, or equivalently, strain creep was dealt with by using a special computing model. On the bases of in-mold elastic stress, the final bending moment to the beam was obtained and the warpage was predict- ed in good a^reement with practical cases.

MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL MODELING OF INTERFACIALPHENOMENA IN CONTINOUS CASTING MOULD WITH ARGONINJECTION THROUGH SUBMERGED ENTRV NOZZLE

The study on the fluid flow, meniscus oscillation, slag entrapment in continuous casting mould was conducted mathematically and experimentally. The results show that the injection of argon into submerged nozzle enhances the meniscus oscillation, thus increases the probability of slag entrapment, and the critical argon blowing flow rate, which will give rise to slag entrapment, is around 10l/min. The trajectory of bubble is affected by the bubble diameter and the molten steel flow, and the bubble diameter is dominant. The bubble with diameter 1.4mm floats fastest with 0.47m/s terminal velocity.

Effects of process parameters on warpage of rapid heat cycle moulding plastic part

The effects of process parameters in rapid heat cycle moulding （RHCM） on parts warpage were investigated. A vehicle-used blue-tooth front shell （consisting of ABS material） was considered as a part example manufactured by RHCM method. The corresponding rapid heat response mould with an innovational conformal heating/cooling channel system and a dynamic mould temperature control system based on the Jll-W-160 type precise temperature controller was proposed. During heating/cooling process, the mould was able to be heated from room temperature to 160 ~C in 6 s and then cooled to 80 ~C in 22 s. The effects of processing conditions in RHCM on part warpage were investigated based on the single factor experimental method and Taguchi theory. Results reveal that the elevated mould temperature reduces unwanted freezing during the injection stage, thus improving mouldability and enhancing part quality, whereas the overheated of mould temperature will lead to defective product. The feasible mould temperature scope in RHCM should be no higher than 140 ~C, and the efficient mould temperature scope should be around the polymer heat distortion temperature. Melt temperature as well as injection pressure effects on warpage can be divided into two stages The lower stage gives a no explicit effect on warpage whereas the higher stage leads to a quasi-linear downtrend. But others affect the warpage as a V-type fluctuation, reaching to the minimum around the heat distortion temperature. Under the same mould temperature condition, the effects of process parameters on warpage decrease according to the following order, packing time, packing pressure, melt temperature, injection pressure and cooling time, respectively.

Bi-phasic Simulation of Metal Injection Moulding:Constitutive Determinations

To predict the segregation effect in metal injection moulding (MIM) injection, a bi-phasic model based on mixture theory is adopted in simulation. An explicit algorithm is developed and realized by the authors, which conducts the simulation to be a cost-effective tool in MIM technology. In case of the bi-phasic simulation, the viscosity behaviours are necessary to be determined for the flows of each phase while only the viscosity of mixture is measurable by tests. It is a crucial problem for application of the bi-phasic simulation of MIM injection. A reasonable method is hence analysed and proposed to determine the viscosity behaviours of each phase. Even though this method may be furthermore modified in the future, it results in the practical simulation of segregation effects with reasonable parameters. The simulation results are compared with the measurements on injected specimens.

IMPROVE THE KINETIC PERFORMANCE OF THE PUMP CONTROLLED CLAMPING UNIT IN PLASTIC INJECTION MOLDING MACHINE WITH ADAPTIVE CONTROL STRATEGY

The kinetic characteristics of the clamping unit of plastic injection molding machine that is controlled by close loop with newly developed double speed variable pump unit are investigated. Considering the wide variation of the cylinder equivalent mass caused by the transmission ratio of clamping unit and the severe instantaneous impact force acted on the cylinder during the mold closing and opening process, an adaptive control principle of parameter and structure is proposed to improve its kinetic performance. The adaptive correlation between the acceleration feedback gain and the variable mass is derived. The pressure differential feedback is introduced to improve the dynamic performance in the case of small inertia and heavy impact load. The adaptation of sum pressure to load is used to reduce the energy loss of the system. The research results are verified by the simulation and experiment, The investigation method and the conclusions are also suitable for the differential cylinder system controlled by the traditional servo pump unit.

Three-Dimensional Printing Conformal Cooling with Structural Lattices for Plastic Injection Molding

The design of three-dimensional printing based conformal cooling channels(CCCs)in injection molding holds great significance.Compared to CCCs,conformal cooling(CC)cavity solutions show promise in delivering enhanced cooling performance for plastic products,although they have been underexplored.In this research,CC cavity is designed within the mold geometry,reinforced by body-centered cubic(BCC)lattice structures to enhance mechanical strength.Three distinct BCC lattice variations have been integrated into the CC cavity:the BCC structure,BCC with cubes,and BCC with pillars.The thermal performances of the BCC lattice-added CC cavity are assessed numerically after experimental validation.To provide feasible solutions from viewpoints of thermal performances,various BCC lattice structure thicknesses are analyzed in the range of 0.8–1.2mm.Thermal simulation outcomes reveal that thicker lattice structures enhance mechanical strength but simultaneously lead to an increase in cooling time.Upon examining all the proposed CC cavity solutions supported by BCC,the cooling times range from 2.2 to 4 s,resulting in a reduction of 38.6%to 66.1%when compared to conventional straightdrilled channels.In contrast to CCCs,CC cavities have the potential to decrease the maximum temperature nonuniformity from 8.5 to 6 K.Nevertheless,the presence of lattice structures in CC cavity solutions results in an elevated pressure drop,reaching 2.8MPa,whereas the results for CCCs remain below2.1MPa.

Permeable Steel and Its Application in Plastic-injection Mould

The gas in plastics mould has great influence on performance, appearance and lifespan of the injection molded parts. Venting channel and its appendix system should be used for gas exhausting in general. However, the dependence on the venting system complicates the mould design. Furthermore in certain condition, it is difficult to integrate the venting system into the mould. Currently a kind of mold material which has gas permeability has been developed in abroad, but the applications of this mold material were restricted by its higher cost and smaller size. In this research, a porous material which was made by powder metallurgy was applied to plastic mould to replace the venting system. Permeability of the steel with different secondary processing was tested and compared with a special apparatus. The metallographic samples of the steel with different secondary processing were prepared and investigated. Finally an actual injection set was established to investigate the applications of permeable steel. The metallographies indicate that the micro-holes inside permeable steel were interconnected. Moulds made of permeable steel exhibit good permeability in the plastic-injection experiments and gas generated in the mould cavity was smoothly exhausted. The melted plastic did not penetrate into the mould or block in the micro-holes. After several times of plastic-injection experiments, the mould still retained good permeability. The strength of this permeable steel is between 200–250 MPa and suitable for industrial applications. The venting systems simplified by permeable steel in plastic-injection have simple structures, which can be applied into any place that requires gas exhausting.

Computer Aided Composition Design of Prehardened-Mould Steel for Plastic

The improvement of machining behavior of prehardened-mould steel for plastic is realized by using computer-aided composition design in this work. The results showed that the matrix composition of large sectional prehardened mould steel for plastic markedly influences the precipitation of non-metallic inclusion and the control of composition aided by Thermo-Calc software package minimizes the amount of detrimental oxide inclusion. In addition the modification of calcium is optimized in the light of composition design.

The Comparison Between Finite Element Analysis and Experimental Results of the Cooling of Injection Moulds with Hot Runner System

In an injection moulding process, the mould cooling s ystem is very important as an efficient and uniform cooling effect can improve b oth the productivity and part quality. Due to the complexity of the process, muc h research on the mould cooling analysis and cooling design optimization has bee n focused on the core and the cavity, excluding other systems of injection mould s. However, the runner system introduces a considerable amount of heat into the mould. In recent years, more and more hot runner systems are being applied in th e moulding industry to save material and decrease losses of injection pressure. This raises the need to include the hot runner system in the cooling analysis. I n this paper, a photo frame part was studied. The mould was built with a hot run ner system. Two thermal sensors were installed: one measures the temperature of lateral surface of hot runner nozzle; the other measures the plastic temperature from the core side. A pressure sensor was also installed to measure the pressur e of the core impression. Cooling analysis was performed using ABAQUS, ananalysi s software based on the Finite Element Method (FEM). The assembly including core , cavity and plastic part was modeled. Heat conduction from hot runner to cavity and from polymer melt to the mould and force convection on the cooling channel surfaces were studied. The natural convection between the ambient air and the ex terior mould surface was ignored. The simulations were adjusted with the experim ental results to find out the heat input from hot runner and its influence on mo uld cooling. Finally, the optimal cooling design and optimal injection condition were obtained.

A Case Study of Heat Transfer from Hot Runner Mould to the Fix Platen of the Injection-moulding Machine

In an injection moulding process, the parallelism b et ween the tie bars of the injection moulding machine is very important as it will affect the mould closing and clamping system. In recent years, more and more ho t runner systems are being applied in the moulding industry to save material and decrease the losses of injection pressure. Heat transfer from hot runner system from the fixed half which is secured in the fix machine platen could transmit s o much heat that it may cause high temperature differential between the machine fix platen and moving platen. This will cause the tie bar to become unparallel. Part quality will be compromised and the wear of the tie bar will be excessive. Overhaul of the tie bar may be necessary after a short period of time which is c ostly. This raises the need to analyze the heat transfer from the hot runner sys tem to the machine fix platen and the methods of isolating or minimizing the hea t transfer. In this case study, a photo lens article mould was used. The mould w as built with a direct hot runner nozzle system. Heat conduction from hot runner and machine screw to machine fix platen were studied based on either using high temperature heat insulating plate put in placed between the mould and the mould ing machine fix platen or drill cooling channels in the front mould clamping pla te. The high temperature insulator is very costly as it is made out of glass re inforced polymer composite material. Experimental results were obtained and anal yzed to find the best method to minimize the unwanted heat transfer using the ch eapest and most effective method.

Effect of weld line positions on the tensile deformation of two-component metal injection moulding

Knowledge of the mechanical properties of two-component parts is critical for engineering functionally graded components. In this study, mono-and two-component tensile test specimens were metal injection moulded. Three different weld line positions were generated in the two-component specimens. Linear shrinkage of the two-component specimens was greater than that of the mono-component specimens because the incompatibility of sintering shrinkage of both materials causes biaxial stresses and enhances sintering. The mechanical properties of 316L stainless steel were affected by the addition of a coloured pigment used to identify the weld line position after injection moulding. For the two-component specimens, the yield stress and ultimate tensile stress were similar to those of 316L stainless steel. Because 316L and 630(also known as 17-4PH) stainless steels were well-sintered at the interface, the mechanical properties of the weaker material(316L stainless steel) were dominant. However, the elongations of the two-component specimens were lower than those of the mono-component specimens. An interfacial zone with a microstructure that differed from those of the mono-material specimens was observed; its different microstructure was attributed to the gradual diffusion of nickel and copper.

Optimization of Process Parameters for Injection Moulding of Nylon6/SiC and Nylon6/B_(4)C Polymer Matrix Composites

In this research study,the mechanical properties of several Polymer matrix composites are investigated.These composites are multi-phase materials in which reinforcing materials are properly mixed with a polymer matrix.More precisely,Nylon 6 reinforced with 5,15 and 25 wt.%of silicon carbide(SiC)and Nylon 6 reinforced with 5,15 and 25 wt.%of boron carbide(B_(4)C),prepared by means of an injection moulding process at three different injection pressures are considered.Specific attention is paid to the tensile and impact strength of these composites.The Taguchi technique is used to optimize the process parameters such as reinforcement material,its percentage and the injection pressure.It is observed that the specimens 5%SiC with 80 MPa injection pressure display a better tensile strength and similarly the specimen 5%B_(4)C with 90 MPa injection pressure have a superior impact strength.

Development of a plastic injection molding training system using Petri nets and virtual reality

In this study, Virtual Reality (VR)-based plastic injection molding training system (VPIMTS), which can be modeled as an integrated system with a task planning module, an intelligent instruction module, a simulation module, and virtual envi-ronment (VE) module, was developed. Presented in this paper are an architecture of VPIMTS, a practical knowledge modelling approach for modelling the training scenarios of the system by using Petri nets formalism and key techniques (FEM, injection molding procedure modelling) which have been developed independently. The utilization of the Petri net model realized the environment where the trainee can behave freely, and also made it possible to equip the system with the function of showing the next action of the trainee whenever he wants. The overall system is a powerful approach for highly improving the trainee’s comprehension and injection molding study-efficiency by building digital, intelligent, knowledgeable, and visual aids.

Design of Large Injection Mould for Car Dashboard

The dashboard is the most important part of the large inner decoration of cars;it should not only have enough strength and rigidity,but also have a harmonious body model which can unify the theme.Besides,it needs to reach the goal of lightweight.In order to achieve these three goals,the car dashboard is made by engineering-plastics and adopts the technology of injection moulding.This paper introduces the keys of design and the advanced technology of large injection moulding for car dashboard.

Discrete Model of Plasticity and Failure of Crystalline Materials

Within the framework of a discrete model of the nuclei of linear and planar defects, the variational principles of sliding in translational and rotational plasticity, fracture by separation (cleavage) and shear (shearing) in crystalline materials are considered. The analysis of mass transfer fluxes near structural kinetic transitions of slip bands into cells, cells into fragments of deformation origin, destruction by separation and shear for fractal spaces using fractional Riemann-Liouville derivatives, local and global criteria of destruction is carried out. One of the possible schemes of the crack initiation and growth mechanism in metals is disclosed. It is shown that the discrete model of plasticity and fracture does not contradict the known dislocation models of fracture and makes it possible to abandon the kinetic concept of thermofluctuation rupture of interatomic bonds at low temperatures.

Filling Behavior of Wood Plastic Composites

WPC （wood plastic composites） are a young generation of composites with rapidly growing usage within the plastics industry. The advantages are the availability and low price of the wood particles, the possibility of partially substituting the polymer in the mixture and sustainable use of the earth＇s resources. The current WPC products on the market are to a large extent limited to extruded products. Nowadays, there is a great interest in the market for consumer products in more use of WPC as an alternative to pure thermoplastics in injection molding processes. This work presents the results of numerical simulation and experimental visualization of the mold filling process in injection molding of WPC. The 3D injection molding simulations were done with the commercial software package Autodesk~ Moldflow Insight 2016 （AMI）. The mold filling experiments were conducted with a box-shaped test part. In contrast to unfilled polymers, the WPC has reduced melt elasticity so that the fountain flow often does not develop. This results in irregular flow front shapes in the molded part, especially at high filler content.

The most economic cavity quantity in injection mould CAD based on concurrent engineering

Presents the conception of concurrent engineering employed for CAD/CAM of injection moulds by closely combining the management science with the manufacturing techniques with the cost of processing, material cost, etc taken into consideration from the conceptural design to delivery of products and concludes with the results of analyses that the cost of finished plastic parts is lower, the production efficiency is higher while energy is saved.