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.

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.

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.

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.

Automated process parameters tuning for an injection moulding machine with soft computing

In injection moulding production,the tuning of the process parameters is a challenging job,which relies heavily on the experience of skilled operators.In this paper,taking into consideration operator assessment during moulding trials,a novel intelligent model for automated tuning of process parameters is proposed.This consists of case based reasoning (CBR),empirical model (EM),and fuzzy logic (FL) methods.CBR and EM are used to imitate recall and intuitive thoughts of skilled operators,respectively,while FL is adopted to simulate the skilled operator optimization thoughts.First,CBR is used to set up the initial process parameters.If CBR fails,EM is employed to calculate the initial parameters.Next,a moulding trial is performed using the initial parameters.Then FL is adopted to optimize these parameters and correct defects repeatedly until the moulded part is found to be satisfactory.Based on the above methodologies,intelligent software was developed and embedded in the controller of an injection moulding machine.Experimental results show that the intelligent software can be effectively used in practical production,and it greatly reduces the dependence on the experience of the operators.

Genetic Algorithm for Injection Mould Design and Moulding

Obtaining the optimal values of the parameters for th e design of a required mould and the operation of the moulding process are diffi cult, this is due to the complexity of product geometry and the variation of pla stic material properties. The typical parameters for the mould design and mouldi ng process are melt flow length, injection pressure, holding pressure, back pres sure, injection speed, melt temperature, mould temperature, clamping force, inje ction time, holding time and cooling time. This paper discusses the difficulties of using the current computer aided optimization methods to acquire the values of the parameters. A method that is based on the concept of genetic algorithm is proposed to overcome the difficulties. The proposed method describes in details on how to attain the optimal values of the parameters form a given product geom etry.

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.

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.

Study on the Injection Molding and Optimization of Radiator Cap based on CAE Technology

In order to improve the radiator cap of the automobile cover forming quality and efficiency, this paper applies the UG software to carry out the design of the injection mold, and use Moldflow software to simulate and analyze the position of gate filling, flow, cooling and other aspects of application, to determine the best inject location and optimize die structure design. The research results show that the combination of CAD and CAE technology can effectively improve the mold design quality, shorten die development cycle, and reduce the cost of development.

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.

A New Explicit Algorithm for Bi-Phasic Mixture Flow in MIM

Metal injection moulding (MIM) is a new technology to manufacture small intricate parts in large quantity. Numerical simulation plays an important role in its development. To predict the specific segregation effect in MIM injection, mixture theory is adopted to model the injection flow by a bi-phasic model. This model conducts to the solution of two-coupled Stokes equations. It is an extremely computational consuming solution in the scope of the traditional algorithms, which induce a serious challenge to cost-effectivity of the MIM simulation. Referred to some methods proposed by Lewis in mono-phasic simulation and the implicit algorithms in MIM simulation, a new explicit algorithm is proposed and realized to perform efficiently this type of bi-phasic flow. Numerically this algorithm is devised to perform the simulation in a fully uncoupled manner except for a global solution of the pressure field in each time step. The physical coupling is taken into account in a sequential pattern by fractional steps.

Extrusion Based Additive Manufacturing of Metal Parts

AM （additive manufacturing） of metal parts becomes increasingly important in many industrial fields. However, currently used AM processes like laser melting or electron beam melting are quite complex and expensive. The extrusion based AM technology for dense metal components （Composite Extrusion Modelling-CEM）, is characterised by an easy handling and cost efficiency in comparison to powder based processes. The CEM process contains two steps, the additive manufacturing of the green parts and the consecutive sintering. The additive manufacturing of green parts is carried out in a thermally controlled extrusion process. The standard metal injection moulding material with a high proportion of metal and thermoplastic binder is deposited in layers by a heated nozzle. In this way overhangs and bridge structures can be realised. The quality of the green parts that were manufactured with the specifically developed extruder corresponds to typical Fused Deposition Modelling parts. In case the surfaces need to be smooth the green parts can be mechanically post-processed before going through the debinding and sintering process.

Biocompatibility of MIM 316L stainless steel

To evaluate the bioeompatibility of MIM 316L stainless steel,the percentage of S-period cells were detected by flow cytometry after L929 incubated with extraction of MIM 316L stainless steel,using titanium implant materials of clinical application as the contrast.Both materials were implanted in animal and the histopathological evaluations were carried out.The statistical analyses show that there are no significant differences between two groups(P>0.05),which demonstrates that MIM 316L stainless steel has a good biocompatibility.

High Impact Polylactide Based on Organosilicon Nucleation Agent

Various sectors of the industry are searching for new materials with specific requirements,providing improved properties.The study presents novel composite materials based on polylactide that have been modified with the organosilicon compound,(3-thiopropyl)polysilsesquioxane(SSQ-SH).The SSQ-SH compound is a mixture of cage structures and not fully condensed random structures.The composite materials were obtained through injection moulding.The study includes a comprehensive characterization of the new materials that analyze their functional properties,such as rheology(MFR),mechanical strength(tensile strength,Charpy impact strength),and thermal properties.SEM microscopic photos were also taken to analyze the microstructure of the samples.The addition of a 5%by-weight organosilicon compound to polylactide resulted in a significant increase in MFR by 73.8%compared to the neat polymer.The greatest improvement in impact strength was achieved for the 5%SSQ-SH/PLA composite,increasing it by 32.0 kJ/m^(2)compared to PLA,which represents an increase of up to 187%.The conducted research confirms the possibility of modifying the properties of the polymer by employing organosilicon compounds.

Using fused filament fabrication to improve the tribocorrosion behaviour of 17-4 PH SS in comparison to other metal forming techniques

Fused filament fabrication(FFF)is one of the additive manufacturing processes which has gained more interest because of its simplicity and low-cost.This technology is similar to the conventional metal injection moulding(MIM)process,consisting of the feedstock preparation of metal powder and polymer binders,followed by layer-by-layer 3D printing(FFF)or injection(MIM)to create green parts and,finally,debinding and sintering.Moreover,both technologies provide near-dense parts.This work presents an in-depth study of the processing method’s influence.The porosity,microstructure,hardness,corrosion,and tribocorrosion behaviour are compared for 17-4 PH SS samples processed from powder by additive manufacturing using FFF and MIM,as well as conventional powder metallurgy(PM)samples.MIM samples exhibited the highest macro and microhardness,while corrosion behaviour was similar for both MIM and FFF samples,but superior in comparison to conventional PM samples.However,the FFF-as fabricated samples displayed a significant improvement in tribocorrosion resistance that could be explained by the higher proportion of delta ferrite and retained austenite in their microstructure.

Design and Manufacture of a Wax Injection Tool for Investment Casting Using Rapid Tooling

A rapid wax injection tool of a gearbox shift fork was designed, simulated, and manufactured using rapid prototyping and rapid tooling technology to save time and cost of producing wax models used for the investment casting process. CAE simulation softwares, in particular, MoldFlow, are used to get wax injection moulding parameters such as filling parameters, temperature profiles, freeze time, speed, and pressure. The results of this research were compared with conventional wax model production methods. The criteria of such comparison were based upon parameters such as time, cost, and other related characteristics, which resulted in saving of 50% in time and 60% in cost. In this research, design, assembly, and wax injection operation of the wax tool took 10 days. Considering the fact that wax melting temperature is as low as 70℃ and injection pressure of 0.5 MPa, the tool suffers no damage due to the thermal and pressure stresses, leading to the mass production of wax models.

Corrosion resistance of powder injection moulded titanium in physiologic serum and artificial saliva

Most of dental implants are made from titanium or titanium based alloys.However, one of the drawback of such implants is high cost due to the technological difficulties in casting method or machining.In this work, powder injection moulding（PIM） method has been used in order to explore lower cost implants without minimising the biocorrosion resistance of the titanium.Corrosion resistance of titanium specimens, produced by powder injection moulding method（PIM-Ti）, in physiologic serum and artificial saliva was investigated.Commercially pure bulk Ti（CP-Ti） was used as control sample.Surface oxidation was also carried out to both PIMTi and CP-Ti samples.Microstructure and corrosion resistance were investigated using microhardness, X-ray diffraction（XRD）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM） and potentiodynamic polarization experiments.Resulting microstructure of PIM-Ti samples contained porosity as compared to CP-Ti control samples.Microhardness of PIM-Ti samples varied with varying applied load whereas it was free from applied load for CP-Ti control samples.Polarisation measurements and SEM analysis revealed that corrosion behaviour of PIM-Ti was reasonably as good as CP-Ti both in as-produced and oxidized conditions in physiologic serum and artificial saliva in spite of its porous structure.

OSCILLATORY SHEAR-ACCELERATED EXFOLIATION OF GRAPHITE IN POLYPROPYLENE MELT DURING INJECTION MOLDING

In this study, good dispersion status of graphite in a nonpolar, intractable polymer, i.e. polypropylene （PP）, was realized in melt processing by using a specific dynamic packing injection molding （DPIM） technique. The exfoliation extent of graphite increased remarkably from the skin zone to the core zone of the molded part, as confirmed by combination of WAXD, SEM and TEM analyses, indicating an accelerated exfoliation occurred during the DPIM processing. This phenomenon is due to decreased melt flow channel and increased melt viscosity as the solidification takes place from the wall into the center, which leads to greatly increased shear force. The good dispersion of graphite results in obvious reinforcements of both tensile strength and impact strength by adding moderate amount of graphite. The present study proposes a promising route for realizing the large-scale fabrication of structural parts of polymer/exfoliated-graphite nanocomposites with excellent mechanical properties.

Finite Element Analysis on the Injection Molding and Productivity of Conformal Cooling Channel

The study proves that the conformal cooling channel can overcome the disadvantages of the conventional cooling channel resulting from the limitation in complicated shape.The simulation analyses of the fragrance lamp with different cooling layouts show that the conformal cooling channel can offer a more uniform heat dissipation,lower volume shrinkage and shorter time to freeze than the conventional channel,which indicates significantly improvements in productivity and quality.