Scribd
Upload
60 views2 pages

Have A Molding Problem?: The Answer Might Be Viscosity!

1) Viscosity is often the underlying cause of molding problems, as it influences factors like part dimensions, shorts, flash, and warping. 2) Tracking the melt flow index (MFI) of materials can help monitor viscosity changes over time that may indicate degradation. An MFI tester measures how much material flows through an orifice at set temperature and pressure. 3) On injection molding machines, viscosity can be approximated by multiplying fill time by injection pressure at transfer, representing the effort to flow the material. Tracking this "effective viscosity" over time can alert molders to problems before quality issues appear.

Uploaded by

armando rivera
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
60 views2 pages

Have A Molding Problem?: The Answer Might Be Viscosity!

1) Viscosity is often the underlying cause of molding problems, as it influences factors like part dimensions, shorts, flash, and warping. 2) Tracking the melt flow index (MFI) of materials can help monitor viscosity changes over time that may indicate degradation. An MFI tester measures how much material flows through an orifice at set temperature and pressure. 3) On injection molding machines, viscosity can be approximated by multiplying fill time by injection pressure at transfer, representing the effort to flow the material. Tracking this "effective viscosity" over time can alert molders to problems before quality issues appear.

Uploaded by

armando rivera
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Have a Molding Problem?

material maybe as large as 7 to 15 percent, or


even a bit over 20 percent!
The Answer Might Be Viscosity!
By Chris Nomura, Consultant/Trainer As valuable as knowing the MFI of a particular
lot is, consider that this is a very small sample
A student once joked with me that, "9 out of (quite literally a few grams) of a tremendous
10 times when you ask a question, the amount of material—perhaps hundreds of
answer is viscosity." tons.

While I don't think it’s quite 9 out of 10, the Even molders who are aware of MFI often
student did have a point. I like asking students relegate it to the realm of the material
why things happen, and quite often viscosity is suppliers—once the lot is out of the shipping
the answer. Put another way, if the viscosity dock, MFI becomes a forgotten concept.
of the material was either consistent or
predictable, this whole injection molding thing This is unfortunate, because the MFI test can
would be easy. tell us a great deal about our material. Plastics
can degrade in different ways, one of which is
If, by the student's estimation, 90% of our polymer chain degredation. Polymer chain
issues come back to viscosity, it sure would degredation is a simple breaking of the
make sense to track it. polymer chains. Two important things happen
when polymer chain degredation occurs: the
One of the most common ways of measuring material becomes weaker and the viscosity
viscosity is MFI, or melt flow index. When a lowers. There are clear part performance
supplier calls a plastic a "10 melt" or a "14 issues with weaker material, and lower
melt", they are refering to the MFI. viscosity plastic will tend to give us issues,
such as out of spec dimensions or flash.
The melt flow test is very simple: plastic is put
into a heated pot and then pushed out of this
pot through a small hole via a piston with
weights pushing on it. Different plastics have
specified temperatures and weights that are
used to make the test valid for different
materials. After ten minutes, the material that
has been pushed out of the heated pot is
weighed. This value in grams is the MFI.

Materials with lower viscosities will result in


more material being pushed out of the heated
pot, therefore a "16 melt" has a lower
viscoisty (is easier to flow) than a "12 melt". Figure 1: A basic Melt Flow Indexer. Machines
range in complexity from ones not much
When a new lot of material comes in, the different from the one drawn here, to computer-
vendor will often specify what results that lot controlled, fully integrated systems.
received from the MFI test. In our classes, we
teach that we can expect up to a 20% A Melt Flow Indexer can be purchased for
viscosity shift in the material itself, much less than the far more common
irrespective of any damage the molder may moisture analyzer and can be a very helpful
or may not do to it. If this sounds like a large tool for helping to determine if our material
number, look at your next lot and you will see has degraded.
that the tolerance range on a "12 melt"
For example, if we compare the condition of viscosity and cavity pressure—molders who
the plastic in the feedthroat to the condition are already using instrumented molding are
of the plastic after it has been molded, we can likely familiar with this correlation. Since
determine if we are indeed degrading our variations in cavity pressure influence most of
material and take action to correct the our issues (dimensional variation, shorts, sink,
situation. Although we often assume that all flash, warp, etc.), tracking one of its drivers is
degredation occurs in the barrel, we can tremendously valuable.
damage plastic at multiple phases of the value
stream. Chemical contaminants during
shipping, overdrying, or exposure to UV light
can all cause polymer chain degredation, and
isolating the root cause is the first step in
fixing the issue.

The Melt Flow Indexer uses a weighted


plunger to push plastic out of a heated pot,
and although not every molder has this
particular piece of equipment, they all have
something very similar—an injection molding
machine.

Viscosity can be thought of as how hard we Figure 2: An example of a viscosity shift and its
are working to flow the material. If I asked effect on cavity pressure. Note that the peak
you, “What is more work: moving 50 pounds, injection pressure correlates inversely with
10 feet or moving 100 pounds, 5 feet,” you cavity pressure.
could make the argument that they are both
equal amounts of effort. We can use the same Tracking viscosity is a vital step in solving a
thought process to calculate the effective great deal of your molding problems. Next
viscosity of our material. By multiplying the fill time a solid process turns into a headache,
time by the injection pressure at transfer, we you won't have to guess whether or not the
can approximate how hard the machine is viscosity changed, or by how much.
working and for how long.
Chris Nomura is an RJG
If we track viscosity changes over time, we Consultant/Trainer. Chris is a
can often be alerted to problems well before certified Master MolderSM that
quality has a chance to inspect the parts. is qualified to teach Scientific
When viscosity rises, pressure in the cavity and DECOUPLED
drops, which yields smaller parts or parts MOLDINGSM methodologies
with sinks and shorts. As confusing as it may and techniques. Chris is the only RJG trainer
seem, higher injection pressures typically who is certified to provide RJG training
indicate lower cavity pressures. courses in Pig Latin. He enjoys curling up with
a good book, loves caramel macchiatos, and is
Many students have trouble believing that the 3-year champion of the RJG hotdog eating
viscosity changes really are important. An competition.
activity I like to have students do is track
effective viscosity and quality issues. Often we
find that short shots correlate with higher
viscosities and flash correlates with lower
ones. Figure 2 shows an example of data over
time. Notice the clear correlation between

You might also like