NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering AY2011/2012

P3.10 PLASTIC INJECTION MOULDING

Name of student: Lim Yun Zhen Date: 4 Nov 2011 Name of Supervisor: Huang Lei

Lab Sub-Group: 3d Grade:

Abstract
There are several types of forming processes in the industrial level. One of the widely used manufacturing plastic products is plastic injection molding that is one of the scopes for this experiment. From this experiment, one can understand important the parameters of plastic injection molding are and its implications.

Table of content
Page 1.Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 1.1 Objective 1.2 Theory 2.Equipment and Procedure ------------------------------------------------------- 6 2.1 Equipment 2.2 Procedure 3.Result and discussion ------------------------------------------------------------- 8 3.1 Parameters 3.2 Type of Defects 3.3 Optimal Parameters 4.Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 5.Reference ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13

1.Introduction
Plastic injection molding is one of many forming process in the manufacturing plastic industry. The process involves melting plastic pellets and then injecting the melt into a mold cavity that forms the desired product shape once the melt solidify. Through this mold cavity, one is able to mass-produce the product using the same mold. The strength of the product depends on the type of materials and other parameters, which are involved in plastic injection molding such as, shot size, injection velocity, injection pressure and holding time. 1.1 Objective of this experiment: 1. To familiarize with plastic injection molding process 2. To observes the effects of molding parameters that will have an impact on the quality of the product 3. To be able to retrieve the optimal molding parameter for the product. 1.2 Theory Pellets of solid resin are introduced into the hopper and the pellets are enter the stationary barrel from the single-stage reciprocating-screw is one of the most commonly use plasticating unit in injection molding machines. The screw is able to both rotates and translates the melt resin to the mold cavity. The heater band of the stationary barrel and rotation of the screw are used to melt the resin. The shot size is the volume of melted resin to be injected mold cavity. It is collected in front of the screw. This happens when the screw along the barrel pushes the melted resin forward. There is a adjustable sensor that control the shot size. When the required shot size is reached, the sensor would stop the screw from rotating. The molding process consists of several parts. Firstly, Filling where the melt is forced into the mould cavity. In this portion, injection velocity (rate), pressure and time ( or a screw position) has to be determined. Second, is the packing whereby the machine forces more melt into the cavities as shrinkages is bound to happen when plastic are cooled. If extra materials cannot be forced into the mould, the melt might leak back through the gate. Hence a force is applied on the material in the cavity until the gate freezes Once the mould is filled and the gate freezes off, the machine will switch to a cooling stage. The screw will rotates backward slowly and builds up a new shot to facilitate a new shot. This is known as backpressure. After the melt solidified, he hydraulic piston retracts and pulls the moving platen away from the stationary plate. And the ejector will eject the plastic part from the mould and ends the cycle.

The plastic mould parts

Main runner Overshoot Gate Branch Runner

2.Equipment and Procedure

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Components of a plastic injection-molding machine 1. Hopper 6. Screw motor 11. Barrel 2.Hydraulic ram 7. Screw 12. Heater Band 3. Stationary platen 8. Movable platen 13. Ejection System 4. Clamp Cylinder 9. Tie Bars 14. Clamp toggle 5. Mould core insert 10. Parting Line 15.Safety switches

16. Nozzle 17. Screw Tip 18. Ejection cylinder 19. Mould: cavity insert 20. others

Material Polypropylene (PP) 2.2 Procedure Firstly, determine the optimal shot size by following these steps: 1) Set holding pressure low(0%) 2) Set holding time to low at 2 secs 3) Set injection velocity to medium at 40% 4) Set injection(fill) pressure to medium at 40% 6

5) Set shot size to a value smaller than will be necessary to fill the mould. 6) Make a shot which the part will be a short in volume 7) Gradually increase the shot size until the part is about 95 98 % filled. Secondly, checking injection velocity through these steps 1) Jetting, burning or discoloration near the gate, or dieseling by performing a few shot with the shot size obtained at the initial stage. 2) If there is present of cold flow marks, increase speed until the problems are invisible. Thirdly, Setting holding time 1) Increase the shot size by 5 to 10% which produced shots with a cushion 2) Adjust the holding pressure to 50 to 60% of the injection (fill) pressure. 3) Make sure that the holding time is still low at 2 seconds 4) Make a shot and the appearance of the part should be the same 5) Gradually increase the holding time and weigh each part at each time increment. When the weight stops increasing significantly, the holding time is fine. Measure the dimensions of the shrinkage parts.

3.Result and Discussion

Insufficient melt

95% cavity filled

The picture on the left has only 18.2mm shot size while the picture on the right has about 19.2mm shot size. This shows that having insufficient volume of melt will cause short shot. By gradually increasing the shot size, we are able to identify the optimal shot size. Based on our experiment, it tells us that the mould cavity has a volume of about 19.2mm. (2) Injection velocity Injection velocity is the rate of volume of resin entering the gate. High injection velocity will result in melt leaking at the edge of the cavity mould. Furthermore voids can be found. On the other hand, low injection velocity will result in short shot as the material flow too slowly in the cavity and solidify before filling up the cavity.

Low (15cm^3/s)

Optimal (16.95cm^3/s)

High (20.13cm^3/s)

Base on observation, we find that the optimal parameter for injection velocity is about 16.95cm^3/s

(3) Injection Pressure This parameter involves the pressure applied to withstand the injection velocity. High injection pressure will result in flash while low injection pressure will result in short shot. This effect is quite similar to injection velocity. (4) Holding Time This is the time set to hold the molded part after the melt is injected into the cavity. During holding time, the part is allowed to settle and solidify. When the melt solidifies, it will start to shrink. Thus the injection velocity and pressure will then be applied in order to compensated for the shrinkage. This all happens during the holding time. 3.2 Type of Defects Type of defects that are identified during the experiment: 1) 2) 3) 4) Short shot Flashes Sink mark Voids

Short shot

Short shots occur usually there is insufficient melt in the mould cavity. Other possible causes are poor melting of materials, undersized nozzle diameter or gate runner. In order to reduce short shots from occur, we can increase the temperature of the heater band or high viscosity plastic. Increase the nozzle diameter and gate runner to the appropriate size helps too. Gradually increase the shot size until the part is 95~98% usually works.

Flashes

Flashes happen when there is excessive material being injected to the mould cavity and are seen at the edges of the plastic part. Furthermore, high injection pressure, high injection speed and high mould temperature can be possible causes for flashes. Flashes can be eliminated by lowering shot size, injection pressure, injection speed and mould temperature.

Sink mark

Sink marks are surfaces that sink in making the surfaces uneven. They are often caused by the unsmooth flow of the melt. To solve this problem, we can increase the melting temperature or the injection speed.

Voids

Voids occurs in thick sections of a plastic part during cool especially significant cooling rate difference between the plastic at the near the core and skin of the part. Other possible defects that are not found in the experiment: 1) weld lines 2) Black specks in the part

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Weld lines are formed when mating of the flow fronts of the plastic during molding. It is usually common and difficult to remove. One can suggest reduce the length of the weld lines by increasing the temperature to allow the plastic fronts to melt and merge back. Black specks are burn marks in the plastic part. This is due to high melting temperature. When plastic is exposed to high melting temperature than intend, it would usually cause the plastic to degrade. The effect is undesirable, as it will affect the strength of the plastic and other properties. 3.3 Optimal parameters For this experiment, we can suppose to find the optimal parameters by slowly changing one parameter while keeping the rest constant. This allows us to slowly observe how one parameter would affect the outcome of the plastic part. If the plastic part results in defects, it means that the parameter is not at its satisfying level and hence we have to adjust the changing parameter. However, for this project, we left out an important parameter. It is the melting temperature of heater band. An optimal temperature is able to allow the resin to melt and flow smoothly to the mould cavity. The optimal parameters for this plastic injection molding: Temperature: 240oc Short Size: 19.2mm Injection Velocity: 113cm3/s x 15% = 16.95 cm3/s Injection Pressure: 1570kg/cm3 x 23% = 361.1kg/cm3 Holding Time: 4s Holding Pressure: 361.1kg/cm3 x 50% = 180.6kg/cm3

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4.Conclusion
Through this experiment, it allows us to understand the process of a plastic injection molding. We learnt different components of the plastic injection machine and their important functions. Through the process, we encountered the different types of defect that will occur if the parameters of the plastic injection molding are not at their optimal level. Each parameter has it own important role in plastic molding. Furthermore, by adjusting the parameters, we are able to minimize the occurrence of the defects. From this experiment, we comprehended that adjusting the parameters is not an easy task. It is time consuming and expensive. Besides that, the parameters are dependent on each other. This means that adjust one parameter would also implicate other parameters. Ultimately, when one finds the optimal parameters, he/she is able to massproduce the part.

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5.Reference
Malloy, Robert A., Plastic part design for injection molding: A Introduction, N.Y.: Hanser Publisers, 1994.

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