Manufacturing Process Of Injection Moulding Engineering Essay

Injection molding is a manufacturing process for making parts from both thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic materials. First, materials is pass into a heated barrel, mixed and forced into a mold cavity and then it cools and hardens to the configuration of the mold cavity. After sometime, a product is designed, generally by an industrial designer or an engineer, molds are made by mold maker (toolmaker) form metal, either steel or aluminum and precision machined to form the features of the desired part. Also injection molding is commonly used for developed a varity of parts, from the smallest components to whole body panels of cars.

Alexander Parkes was first man who invented plastic in Britain in 1850 .He publicly demonstrated it at the 1862 International Exhibition in London; calling the materials he produced “Parke Sine”. Parke Sine could be heated, molded, and retain its shape after when cooled and he derived from cellulose. It was highly flammable, expensive to making and prone to cracking.

Most polymers may be also used including all thermoplastics, some elastomer and some thermosets. In 1995 injection molding was used approximately 18,000 different materials and that number was gone up at an average rate of 750 per year. Alloys or Blends are previously developed materials meaning that product designer can choose from a huge selection of materials, ones that exactly the right properties.

Injection molding machines consist of a material hopper, an injection ram or screw-type plunger, and a heating unit and they are known as presses. In this presses hold the molds in which the components are shaped. Presses are expresses the amount of clamping force which tares by tonnage and the machine can exert. Also mold keeping closed by this force during the injection process. When the tooling used to produce plastic parts in molding, Mold or Die are the common terms.

One more side, injection molding involves a nucleate that is upstream of a pressurized mold and also including extrusion system with reciprocating screw for forming a single phase solution of non nucleated blowing agent and polymeric material. Another aspect injection molding involves very thin walled microcellular material and very thin walled polymeric material.

Introduction

In Injection molding, we can produced thermoplastic and thermosetting products, they are consists of injection molding molten plastic material from heated cylinder into a closed mold. After the mold heating and after some time they allowing cooling down and solidifying. At the end the part ejecting from the mold. Injection molding is good manufacturing process to making mass production. In this process; we can making typical injection molded parts like automotive parts, packing, consumer electronics goods and toys, and household articles.

Injection molding is a big buiseness in whole over the world and major part of the plastic industry. It is in second place of extrusion, which consumes approximately 36 wt% (1, 3, and 7). In the United States alone there are about 80,000 IMMs and about 18,000 extruders operating to process all the many different types of plastics. In the industry an IMM is not regarded as an extruder; however, it is basically a nanocontinuous extruder and in some operations is even operated continuously. ew extruder. It is used to making the melt.

In the market, we can see the many plastics extrusion processes. For example, a film blowing or wire coating. This process is continuous steady processes under ideal operating conditions. Films, tubes profiles, pipes, and sheets are suitable for making object with reproducing cross-section. In injection molding, 3-D shape and dimension control is feasible because it is cyclic and unsteady state process. The most advantages is that they gives significant degree of complexity to the injection molding process. In injection molding process, thermal, and thermodynamic properties are described by the same physical and constitution chemical relationships.

INJECTION MOLDING MATERIALS

It is a very scary task to selection the right material for each application and also they require more deep knowledge of the injection molding resins available. Recommending the right type and grade of resin hinges on a thorough understanding of the product’s application. Before a determination is made, all application characteristics need to be carefully weighed. We do not limit the types of materials we process as per engineering and Prototyping Company.

Below is merely a sampling of the most commonly requested injection molding materials.

Injection Molding Materials

Materials

Material Class

Engineering and general grade resins are available within 3-5 days.

Major Resin Suppliers:

Sabic Innovative Plastics (was GE)

Dupont Plastics

Solvoy Plastics

LNP Engineered Plastics

RTP Company

Specialized Materials and Materials Processing:

Custom Colors

Glass Filled

Talc Filled

Foaming Agents

Flame Retardant

UV Inhibited

UL Approved

General Grades:

ABS

Acetal

K Resin

Nylon 6/6

PET

Polypropylene

Polyethylene

Styrene (crystal clear and opaque)

TPE

Engineering Grades (typical):

GE Cycoloy

GE Lexan

GE Noryl

GE Noryl GTX

GE Ultem

GE Valox

Dupont LCP

Phillips Ryton

Classification Of Plastics

By Some criteria, Plastics can be classified. In general an initial rough classification can be made according to their chemical structure and intial differentiation is between cross-linked and non cross-linked materials. Moreover, cross-linked materials like Elastomer and Thermo sets and non cross-linked materials like Thermoplastics.

Typical Properties of Plastics

Range of densities

Wide rang of mechanical properties

Easy process ability

Modifiability by additives

Low thermal and electrical conductivity

Transparency

High chemical resistance

Recyclability

Low energy consumption for raw material production

Additives for Plastics Materials

There are few instances where a designer will have the leverage or lead time to work with materials suppliers on the development of an entirely new polymer for a particular application. Additives are commonly used to enhance certain specific properties (e.g. UV stability, stiffness, color etc ) that the base polymer is lacking. Additives include processing stabilizers, antioxidants, UV stabilizer, internal or external lubricants, Flame retardants or any number of other organic/inorganic used alone or in combination.

When the additives are used high concentrations at that time additives do have side effects which are sometimes important. For example, the reinforced materials are typically more difficult to process when considering problems such as achievable part surface finish, equipment/mold abrasion, weld (knit) line quality, and fiber orientation and also the addition of glass fibers to a material will typically improve properties such as modulus, strength and thermal conductivity.

The Molecular Structure of Plastics

The structure of the macromolecule is classified by the mechanical behavior of the material processed, as well as its processing properties. That’s why; we will take a closer look at the chemical structure of plastics.

In the simplest case, macromolecular materials are made of a single type of chain macromolecule, each of which consists of at least several hundred to thousand of atmos. Such a macromolecule is created when the same or different base units are linearly joined with main valence bonds between the links. The resulting macromolecules can be of different length. The length is described by the molecular weight. Usually the macromolecules of a polymer have a specific molecular weight distribution, which influences the processing and mechanical properties.

The type of copolymer depends on the chemical production process used to make it. The two monomers like alternating and block copolymers are introduced into the reactor simultaneously, for side chain copolymers the monomers are fed consecutively.

The Injection Molding Process

An injection molding machine can be divided into the below components:

Injection unit

Clamping unit

Control system and

Tempering device for the mold

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Basic Injection Molding

Injection unit

In injection Unit’s, the main goal is to heat the material to the specified temperature until it reaches a viscosity that will allow the material to flow into the mold while under force. All injection machines there are two numbers that will gives an idea as to the size of the machine. The first number is the injection capacity and this will tell us what size part might be able to make with regard to the volume of plastic that can be injected.

Purpose of the Injection Unit

The injection unit must contain many components and present many duties that contribute to the performance of these duties.

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The Heating Cylinder:-

The heart of the injection unit is the heating cylinder, also called the barrel. It is making in the form of a long, round tube and is made of an inexpensive grade of steel. The inside of the tube is lined, usually with a thin sleeve of high-quality hard tool steel that can withstand the abrasive nature of the injection process. In general, the sleeve has high chromium content.

In barrel, the outside part has heater bands strapped to it. The bands are placed along the entire length of the barrel with minimal space between them and are electrically activated. Also there are three heater zones: rear, center, and front. Each zone contains three or more heater bands (depending on the length of the injection cylinder) and each zone is individually controlled by an electrical unit located in the control panel of the machine. Each temperature control unit is fed temperature information by a thermocouple in a hole in the wall of the heating barrel in the area of the zone it is controlling and the control unit then decides whether more heat is required and, if so, energizes the heater bands in that zone. When the selected temperature is reached, the thermocouple informs the control unit, which stops sending electricity to the heater bands until the temperature drops again, at which point the cycle repeats.

The Basic Hopper:-

Basic Hopper Design

In hopper, raw plastic pellets are stored before they are introduced to the heating cylinder. In figure, it can be seen that this unit has tapered sides to facilitate dropping fresh material into the barrel. The hopper is designed to hold approximately 2 hours’ worth of raw material for the specific machine. The amount is based on average part weight and normal cycles usually produced on a machine of that size.

The base of the hopper should contain a magnet either an external drawer magnet that can be pulled out and cleaned while the machine is running its normal cycles, or a loose magnet that is placed inside the hopper and must be pulled out of the hopper for cleaning. While the latter is less expensive, the former is much easier to clean. The main aim of the magnet is to trap any loose particles of metal that may have been placed in the raw plastic either by accident or intentionally. Metal particles can ruin the sleeve of the surface of the screw or the injection barrel.

The Injection Screw:-

The screw is placed inside the heating barrel and an auger shaped rod. The main function of the screw is to auger fresh material from the hoper area into the heating area of the barrel. A secondary function is to mix and homogenize the molten plastic. The screw also generates heating friction which raise the temperature of the plastic and the friction is created because there is just a slight clearance between the surface of the screw flights and the inside wall of the barrel, usually only 0.003 to 0.005 in (0.008 to 0.013cm). As the material is brought forward along the screw flights, the plastic is squeezed tighter and tighter. The friction of squeezing generates heat.

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The external heater bands used to softening the plastic with the help of more heat. The screw, however, does provide additional heat and this reduces the amount of electricity required to heat the plastic completely. The squeezing action of the screw is called shear. More shears can tear up the plastic molecules and degrade the material, making it inferior or even useless. For this reason, the screw itself can not used to impart all of the heat needed.

Injection Screw Designs:-

There are many different screw designs, with various shapes pf flights, distances between flights, amounts of shearing action, method of shutoff and screw tip geometries.

Screw Tip and check Ring:-

The tip itself is inserted through a check ring and seat designed to keep molten material from flowing back over the screw flights during injection. The tip fits into the face of the screw, usually with a left-hand thread to counteract the natural turning motion of the screw. Aright-hand thread would tend to unscrew as a result of the turning action of the screw. The screw tip angle lengths are determined by the viscosity of the plastic being molded. The material supplier or screw manufacturer can help make the final decision. In some cases, a general-purpose screw and tip can be utilized for a variety of similar materials, but it is better to use a specific design for a specific group of materials.

The usual injection machine uses a reciprocating screw. This simply means that screw pushes forward and pulls backward ( reciprocates ), acting a plunger to inject the molten plastic.

Nonreturn Valves and Ball Shutoffs:-

The purpose of the check-ring nonreturn valve mechanism is to keep molten plastic from escaping back over the screw as the mold. The check ring then is allowed to move forward as the screw augers fresh material forward to prepare for the next cycle. The action of the check ring allows that material to move in front of the screw tip. The sequence of the nonreturn is : –

The screw pushes forward, injection a charge of molten material into a mold.

The check ring is forced back against the screw tip seat and seals against it, preventing material from passing back over the screw.

The screw stops pushing and begins to turn (bringing new material forward).

The check ring slips forward under the influence of the pressure buildup.

Molten plastic flows into the space in front of the screw tip.

Sliding Ring Valve Ball Check Valve

Positive Shut-Off Valve

In both the check ring and ball shutoff cases, the plastic material is restricted, even when the nonreturn devices are in the open flow position. This restriction may causes degradation of the plastic with high viscosity or heat sensitive materials. So, non return mechanisms are generally not used when molding these materials and also they are not usually required due to the high viscosity of heat-sensitive plastics.

The Nozzle:-

One final item makes up the complete injection unit. The nozzle of the machine is a two-piece, tube-shaped component that bolts to the face of the injection barrel.

The nozzle cap has an internal taper that matches that of the screw tip. Also, there is a tapered hole through the nozzle tip itself. The radius on the nozzle tip fits up against a matching radius in the sprue bushing of the injection mold. Also there is heater band on the nozzle tip. This is called the nozzle heater and it is controlled much like the other heater bands on the injection barrel.

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(a) Nozzle with barrel in processing position (b) Nozzle with barrel backed out for purging

There are some nozzle designs that incorporate shutoff devices in the form of needles, springs, sliding balls, or combinations of these. Their purpose is much the same as the nonreturn valve in the screw tip; they shut off the flow of plastic for those materials that are not highly viscous, such as nylon, and that tend to drool from standard nozzles.

Noise Generation:-

It is better to prevent noise generation in machinery during the design stage than to try to reduce it later. There are injection molding and auxiliary equipment machines built with exceptionally low noise levels. However, at times noise reduction by external means is preferred. Design changes to reduce noise sometimes decrease efficiency. Although this is relatively unimportant in small, fractional horsepower equipment, it becomes costly and wasteful in large, high power machinery that has been designed for maximum performance and efficiency.

One of the best ways to reduce machinery noise by external means is to place it in an acoustic enclose. Such enclose provide more dB industrial noise control. For this reason many are in use today, and they are very efficient when designed and installed correctly. A good acoustic enclose can easily reduce noise by 20 to 30 dB and more; a very simple design, by 10 dB.

The performance of an acoustic material can be described in terms of its transmission coefficient T, which is defined as the fraction of incident sound power transmission through the material. Materials with low transmission coefficients isolate noise better than materials with higher coefficients. If the material has say a transmission coefficient of 0.01 when airborne sound strikes one side of a wall, only 1% of the sound comes out the other side. Of course, the sound dose not “goes through” the wall; it makes the wall vibrate, and this radiates the sound again. Sound coefficient varies with frequency.

Clamping Unit

Function

The clamping unit accommodates the mould and must perform the below functions:

The closing of the mould

Building-up the clamping force and locking the clamping unit

Retention of the locking force

Opening the mould

Ejection of the molded part

Clamping mechanism design be of some designs, either hydraulic, mechanical (toggle), or hydro mechanical.

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Toggle Clamping Unit:- (1) Open and (2) Closed

Hydraulic Clamping Unit:- (1) Open and (2) closed

Toggle clamping unit:-

Toggle clamps contain various designs. An actuator moves the crosshead forward, extending the toggle links to push the moving platen toward a closed position. At the starting of the movement, mechanical advantages is low and speed is high; but near the end of three stroke, the reverse is true. Thus, When toggle clamps are desirable at that time they provide both high speed and high force at different points in the cycle. They are actuated either by hydraulic cylinders or ball screws driven by electric motors. Toggle-clamp units appear most well-matched to comparatively low-tonnage machines.

Hydraulic clamping unit:-

Hydraulic clamps are used on higher-tonnage injection molding machines and they available in the range 1300 to 8900 kN (150 to 1000 tons). More then, these units are also more flexible than toggle clamps in terms of setting the tonnage at given positions during stroke.

Hydraulic presses have historically been the only opportunity available to molders until Nissei introduced the first all electic machine in 1983.

Hydro mechanical clamping unit:-

Hydro mechanical clamps unit are used for large tonnages, generally above 8900 kN (1000 tons); they operate by three way and First is using hydraulic cylinders to rapidly move the mold toward closing position, Second is locking the position by mechanical means, and Three is using high pressure hydraulic cylinders to finally close the mold and build tonnage.

Hydroelectric Clamps:-

A system may use a combination of electrical and hydraulic and to make advantage of their distinct benefits.

Comparison of Clamp Design:-

Over the years many arguments have been presented showing each clamp design concept to be superior to the others. In reality each concept has its place, and the final deciding factor is usually cost.

The straight hydraulic design has proved over he years to provide long-terms reliability, excellent low pressure mold protection, and exact control of tonnage. It will not allow the clamp to be overstressed by high injection forces.

The hydromechnical clamp tends to have the advantages of the straight hydraulic, whereas the toggle is more complex because of the block action required.

Tie bars:-

The clamping tie-bars used for the fixed and movable platens on which the mold is attached. When the mold is closed at that time, they serve as uniformly loaded tension support member of the clamp. The open distance between tie-rods through which the mold must fit determines the maximum outside dimensions of the mold that can be used.

Platen Systems

Platens are the precision, very rigid plates on which a mold is fastened and where subsequent clamping takes place. Injection molding machines can have two or more platens. The basic injection molding machine in the past usually had three platens; one to support a pressure clamping system applied to the mold and two for closing and opening the mold. Since the 1990s, injection molding used only two platens and become popular.

Two-platen press in comparison with more conventional hydraulic presses and the two-platen press may offer improved technical performance, cost advantages, reduced floor space, reduced weight, significantly, reduced clamp speed resulting in shorter cycle time, and reduced tonnage. Moreover, a three platen system may still be required when stability is important to ensure molding accuracy as in meeting repeatable tolerances on molded products. Different technical devices, usually located in the back of a platen and tie-bars constitute the pressure clamping system as discussed above.

There are different types of the platens used in injection molding and there are discuss as below:-

Clamping platens parallel and flat :-

It is important for a molding press to maintain the platen surface parallel to each other and flat when clamping pressure is applied. Bellowing is likely to occur with molds that have small cross-sectional area. Where this potential exists, one must use large support plates located between the molds and platens to distribute the load.

Floating Clamping Platens:-

A floating, or center platens is sometimes stacked between the main two platens in multiday light press machines. There can be more than one floating platen. Each daylight opening between any two platens permits inserting a mold. The total clamping pressure of the injection molding is applied equally via each platen on each mold. Thus, a multiday light machine has two or more movable platens that can handle two or more molds simultaneously during one machine operating cycle.

Pivoted floating Platens:-

Milacron has a patented multishot over molding process that uses a center platen that pivots( usually 180 degree but also 90 degree ) between shots. Makers of mold for such systems include Gram Technology and Ferromatik Milacron.

The conventional two shot process using conventional injection molding machine requires a larger-platen machine with higher clamp tonnage so that a shuttle or turntable action can be used. After shooting the first melt, the mold with this shot pivot and is positioned against a different mold half to accept the second shot, which is delivered from a second injection unit. This pivot design can also permit a four-sided, 90 degree indexing center platen with up to four different injection units.

Shuttle Clamping Platens:-

In injection molding machine, two platens are moved so that one mold is positioned to receive plastic material and then moves sideways, permitting the adjoining mold to receive the next shot, whereupon the shuttle cycle is repeated.

The result is to permit insert molding shorten the molding cycle. Horizontal injection molding machine can be used but more often vertical injection molding machine are used so that the shuttled molds are on a horizontal table (platen).

Book Opening Clamping Platens:-

The conventional way for a press to open is for the two platens to remain parallel from open to close to open. Book-action presses (also called Tilting Presses) use instead a motion of the platens that resembles that of a cover of a book. They are used principally in compression molding, reaction injection molding and printing.

Since the 1930s, they have been popular when they were introduced in rubber compression molding.

Rotary Clamping Platens:-

This system is also called a carousel system when the platens operated horizontally, or a Ferris wheel when they are operated vertically. It can be used to over mold two or more materials into a single part. For each plastic, a separate injection feed unit is then required. It is important to recognize that the stability of the rotary table system determines the quality.

Two or more mold halves are arranged in a circle on the moving platen with the matching mold halves attached to the fixed platen. The process starts with the first closed mold cavity receiving a shot of plastic. Upon opening, that cavity, with the plastic partially solidified, is rotated into the next position, where its matching mold cavity is recessed to receive the next shot.

If there are three or more plastic, the procedure continue. Thus when tha platens close after the initial startup, each cavity is simultaneously injected with the required plastic.

Molds For Injection Molding

A mold for injection molding is basically composed of the following five components:

Parts to be mounted on the injection molding machine;

Pathways for molten plastic flow composed of sprue, runners, and gates;

Parts composed of cavities and cores to form molding products;

Parts to cool down molded products;

Parts to eject molded products.

Function of Mold Components:-

Stationary and Movable Mounting Plates:-

Both the stationary and movable mounting plates are used for connecting the mold main body (cavity type and core) to the injection molding machine. The stationary mounting plate is provide with a hole to mount a locating ring, while the movable mounting plate is arranged with holes for ejection rods. Thermal insulation boards are attached to the mounting plates, depending on the molding requirements.

Stationary and Movable Mold Plate:-

The stationary mold plate constitutes the main part of the mold, when it is mounted on the injection molding machine. The stationary mold plate contains some cavities to hold the material during molding. Since the cavities have great influence on the appearance of the product, they should be polished to a mirror finish or in many cases chrome plated.

The movable mold plate has a core mold in it, as the main part of the mold. When the mold opens, after molten plastic injected into the cavities and core, molded products are designed to stick to the core side and de-mold easily. The mechanical strength of the movable mold plate should be high enough to prevent distortion caused by high pressure, flash, and warpage of the product.

Backing Plates:-

Backing-plates are used for supporting and reinforcing the movable mold plate. The thickness of the backing plate should be calculated from injection pressure and the projection area of the product.

Ejector-Pins and Ejector Plates:-

Ejector pins are used for the ejection of the product from the mold. Round pins are commonly used, in view of the machinability and dimensional accuracy, but square shape and stepped pins are used in special cases. Since the ejector pins are fixed to an ejector plate and slide during knocking out products, the abrasion resistance and dimensional accuracy are important.

The ejector plate consists of two flat plates to hold ejector pins tightly. They should have sufficient wall thickness to avoid distortion due to high ejection force.

Spacer Block:-

A spacer block is used for control the ejection distance for molded products. Its length should be equal to the summation of the ejector plate thickness and ejection stroke.

Return Pins:-

Return pins work to make the ejector plate return back from the ejected position to the initial position. The return pins, together with the ejector pins, are fixed to the ejector plate and guide it to the normal position through the stationary mold when the mold is closed.

Sprue Lock Pins:-

A sprue lock pin is attached at the end of a sprue. If the sprue is fixed to a sprue bushing during mold opening, molded products are not taken off smoothly. The sprue lock pin should be designed to hold the end of the sprue until products are ejected from the mold.

Hot Runner Mold System:-

The hot runner systems are classified into two major types:

Heating Method:-

The hot runner section to be heated is the area from the nozzle contact portion to the gates, i.e. from the sprue bushing to hot nozzles through a manifold.

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The insulated Hot Runner,(b) Internally heated Hot-Runner System,(c) Externally heated Hot-Runner System.

External heating type:- This hot runner system is heated externally by means of a heating source located outside the runners. This allows less pressure and molten plastic stagnation, because molten plastics can smoothly flow in the whole channel. However, precise thermal insulation between the runner and cavities is more important, in comparison with the internal heating type.

Internal heating type:- This system has a relatively small heating source in the center of runners to heat up gently from inside. The runner is usually in the shape of a tube. A molten plastic layer is formed in the inner side of the runner close to the hot element, while a solidified plastic layer is formed in the area close to the cavity. Therefore, neither thermal insulation nor polymer leakage prevention is needed, owing to the formation of the solidified plastic layer. However, higher-pressure losses occur due to the decrease of the cross section of the flow channel.

Gate method:-

A hot runner is classified into valve-gate or open-gate type. The valve gate type furnishes a mechanical open/close device at each gate.

Open Gate Type:- This comes with no mechanical open/close device. Therefore. If the gate diameter is too large, some gate-cut problems such as “stringiness” or “drooling” easily occur. The open-gate type leads to pressure loss at the gate than the valve-gate type. This structure is simple, so that it is less expensive and easy to handle, but it is hard to control temperature at the gate.

Valve Gate Type:- This hot runner system is equipped with a valve that mechanically opens and closes the gate. The gate opens during injection and close when injection is finished. The shut-open mechanism is classified into pneumatic, hydraulic, or spring type ( to be opened by injection pressure ). The advantages of this method are the sharp cut-off the gate and the smaller pressure loss than in the case of the open type, due to the larger gate diameter. However, the leakage of molten plastics through the clearance at the valves tip should be fully dealt with.

Gates

Gate system design, such as the location, number, geometry and dimension, is very important for production efficiency and dimensional accuracy. The function and objectives of the system are summarized below:-

To control the volume and the direction of molten plastic flow in the cavity;

To enclose the molten plastic in the cavity until it solidifies, and to block backflow to the runner;

To generate heat by viscous dissipation due to shear at the narrow gate portion, and thus to raise polymer temperature so that flow marks and weld lines are reduced;

To make it easy to cut off the runners, and to simplify post-treatment of products;

To adjust assure gate balance (filling balance ) in the case of a multi-cavity mold and multi gates.

The advantages of gate are as follows:-

Reduces cracks, warpage and deformation of molded products by the decrease of residual stresses and distortion around gates:

Allows larger projection area by decreasing the injection pressure in cavity:

Shortens the molding cycle by the reduction of gate-seal time;

Improve the quality of molded products by elimination the need for post finishing.

Gate Location:-

The gate should be located at thicker sections of the part.

The gate location must allow expulsion of air towards the vent.

Multiple gates should be located to allow weld lines to form at appropriate positions in the part.

Gate Size:-

Gates must be sized such that they freeze off after sufficient packing.

Jetting of polymer melt should not occur.

The gate thickness is usually 50% to 75% of the part thickness.

Gate Balance:-

In the case of a multi-cavity mold, it is very important to achieve gate balance, where each cavity is filled homogeneously with molten plastic. The polymer pressure drops proportionately as molten plastic flows from the sprue to the ends of the cavities.

Therefore, the gate balance should optimize the gate and length, width, and depth. To evaluate the filling situation in each cavity, various mold simulation methods are widely used as well as some trial molding techniques such as the “short-shot ” method.

Proper design of the gate balance and runner balance can avoid defects that arise in practical molding with multi-cavity molds, e.g. flow marks, shrinkage, short shots, dimensional fluctuation and weight variation.

Man-Machine Interface and Communication Control

This function is important for an operator to follow operating conditions and to transmit his operational commands to a proper machine.

Hold pressure switching is mainly determined by the following methods:

Switching by the screw location is the most common method and is possible under steady cushion volume.

Switching by injection pressure is widely used, where the cushion is unsteady due to unstable melting. It works well under the conditions where filling pressure is rather steady but the screw position fluctuates.

Switching by the screw advancement speed. When the screw advancement speed is decelerated to a certain level due to the constrained pressure, the process should be switched over to hold pressure control. This effective where the cushion is unstable, but the filling pressure rise is constrained to a certain value.

Switching by the polymer pressure at the nozzle operates by detecting polymer pressure at the nozzle recorded with pressure sensor. Proper action should be taken as to the service life, contamination, and temperature drift of the sensor.

Switching by the polymer pressure in a cavity uses a pressure sensor embedded in the mold. Proper attachment and measurement are essential, if the mold design is complicated.

The selection of the most suitable switching method should depend on the allowable variation in product quality and dimensional accuracy. Generally, higher response speed is required in switching in light of the ongoing increase in filling velocity.

Control of the Hold-Pressure Process

The hold-pressure process is a pressure control sequence that injects molten plastic into the cavity after complete mold filling, to compensate for the volume contraction caused by the solidification. In the hold pressure process, the pressure is usually set lower than that of the filling process, so as to prevent damage to the mold, due to over-packing and flash formation. This process for added filling is only effective prior to the completion of the gate seal and plays a particularly important role in molding of thick-walled products that develop large

amounts of contraction.

The hold pressure sequence generally enhances the molding stability, because it compensates for the fluctuation of both the metered volume in the injection unit and the filled volume in the cavity. However, the pressure gradient between gates and the end of the each cavity raises rapidly, when the molten plastic in the mold is cooled quickly and its viscosity increase substantially. This cause high residual stresses around the gates and warpage of the product.

The optimum hold time has great influence on product quality and productivity and it is usually determined by measuring the weight distribution of molded products.

Control of the Metering Process

The requirement for s metering process is to develop molten plastics homogeneously, quickly and steadily. In the metering process, screw revolution, backpressure, and suck-back are important control parameters to melt plastics uniformly and to meter a constant volume in each shot. This method is also effective in controlling the screw position for precise metering, as well as the gradual reduction of backpressure just before completing the metering process.

The metering process occupies a major percentage of the total injection molding cycle. Therefore, shortening of metering time is very important, as far as high quality and precise metering of molten plastic are maintained.

Control of the Mold Opening/Closing Process

In a mold open/close process, the most important requirements are smooth movement free from vibration and noise quick and precise position control in stop- go operations in minimum cycle time. Reproducibility, and mold protection.

Temperature Control of Each Barrel Nozzle

The temperature control of heating barrel of an injection molding machine is very important to melt plastic pellets uniformly, within the target temperature, before injection. The quality of molten plastic is closely connected with filling behavior, mechanical properties of the products, and process stability.

The control of nozzle temperature insures smooth filling of molten plastics in the mold under proper injection/hold pressures, as well as the prevention of drooling during the product take-out.

Proportional, Integral and Differential (PID) control is commonly used for temperature control of the heating barrel and nozzle in almost all injection molding machines.

Ambient Temperature Control

Ambient temperature is also a concern. A particular job may be running perfectly well until someone opens a loading dock door or turns on a cooling fan in the vicinity of the molding press. This causes a change in the temperature of the air surrounding the machine and this, in turn, result in fluctuation in the reading provided by the various temperature control units of the machine

The injection process then becomes unstable for a period of approximately two hours, assuming no other changes occur to alter the ambient conditions. If more changes do occur, the process is unstable for longer periods of time.

Hydraulic System Temperature Control

The temperature of the hydraulic system of the press to be considered besides melt temperature and mold temperature. In these system, the temperature of the hydraulic oil must be maintained between 80 and 140 F (27 and 60 C),in most cases.

When the oil is cool then it will be thick and cause sluggish action of hydraulic components and when it is hot then it will break down and causing components to stick or valves to malfunction.

Heat exchanger is used to regulate the temperature of the oil in injection molding. This heat exchanger working lokes a radiator on a car and cools the oil by circulating it around tubes filled with circulating water.

In this system, tubes must be required to clean and periodic flushing with an acid cleaner. When the oil is flow with high heat then that heat will transfer throughout whole machine with the platens to which the mold is mounted. This will reason the mold to overheat and result in poor quality parts.

Power Requirements

In injection molding, the power requirements depend on lots of things and vary between materials used. For example, melting point, a martial’s specific gravity, part size, thermal conductivity, and molding rates.

Material

Specific Gravity

Melting Point (F)

Epoxy

1.12 to 1.24

248

Phenolic

1.34 to 1.24

248

Nylon

1.01 to 1.15

381 to 509

Polyethylene

0.91 to 0.965

230 to 243

Polystyrene

1.04 to 1.07

338

Machine Safety

Looking first at the responsibility for machine safety, we find it cannot be delegated to an individual or group. Through the design and manufacturing stage, input is provided by many individuals, each one affecting machine safety:-

Marketing must determine the needs of the industry, providing input to other without overstating the requirements.

Research and development must convert these needs into workable ideas without creating unrealistic demands that lead to hazards.

Design engineering must convert these ideas into workable concepts that guard against predictable human error.

Detailed design must turn the concepts into reliable components and assemblies.

Manufacturing and assembly must create and combine these components in a manner than ensures the design concept has been maintained.

Quality control must ensure that design integrity is intact.

Sales must match the needs of uses with the features of the design without misrepresenting the product’s abilities and features.

Service must be aware of the machine’s abilities and features to provide needed communication on the product’s use.

When the machine leaves the manufacture’s possession, input for its safety is not complete. A new set of individuals must continue the process of maintaining machine safety and guarding against predictable human error.

Installation may be critical in ensuring proper conditions for reliable performance over the machine’s life.

Training often prevents accidents due to unexpected or unknown occurrences.

Maintenance will provide preventive action that may prevent hazards from developing and corrective action that not only reduces the possibility of unexpected occurrences, but also maintains the safe integrity of the machine.

Injection molding advantages

High production output rates.

You may also use filler for added strength when producing your product and you may use insert within the mold.

With injection molding, Close tolerances on small intricate parts are possible.

More than one material may be used at the same time when utilizing co-injection molding at that time.

There is typically very little post production work required because the parts usually have a very finished look upon ejection.

There is very little waste because all scrap may be reground to be reused.

Full automation.

Injection Molding disadvantages and problems

Due to the cost of tooling and the cost of operation, this method is not ideal of manufacturing for short production runs.

Many parts are just not suited to the process. Design and development of parts that will work well with injection molding often takes a very long time.

Time Function

The time which use to making products using injection molding can be calculated by:-

Twice the mold Open/close Times (2M)

+

Injection Time (T)

+

Cooling Time (C)

+

Ejection Time (E)

Where T is found by Dividing:

Mold Size (S)/ Flow Rate (F)

Total Time = 2M+T+C+E

T= V/R

V= Mold cavity size (in3)

R= Material flow rate (in3/min)

tcycle = tclosing + tcooling + tejection

This equation use to find the total cycle time in injection molding.

The closing and ejection times are depending on the size of the mold and machine. The cooling times is depending on the maximum thickness of the part.

A Vision Of Tomorrow

In the future, injection molding should improvements simulation accuracy and efficiency will continue and this will cover in-depth studies on materials classification.

In future, also coming new technology in injection molding like electric injection molding and the gas assisted injection molding.

Also electric machine have some advantages as compare to old design of the injection molding, like runs silent and it is operating cost is less and they are more accurate and stable.

In future, some particular changes will take place in four principal like processes, materials, molds and business concepts.

Conclusion

I can conclude that, injection molding is a very imports method for manufacturing thermoplastic and thermosetting products and it has a very wide list of kinds of products it can produce and which makes it versatile.

Moreover, thermodynamic, thermal and rheological properties are material processing properties and there are described by the same constitutive and physical chemical relationship.