An effective warpage optimization method in injection molding based on the Kriging model

In this paper, an effective optimization method using the Kriging model is proposed to minimize the warpage in injection molding. The warpage deformations are nonlinear, implicit functions of the process conditions, which are typically evaluated by the solution of finite element (FE) equations, a complicated task which often involves huge computational effort. The Kriging model can build an approximate function relationship between warpage and the process conditions, replacing the expensive FE reanalysis of warpage in the optimization. In addition, a “space-filing” sampling strategy for the Kriging model, named rectangular grid, is modified. Moldflow Corporation’s Plastics Insight software is used to analyze the warpage deformations of the injection-molded parts. As an example, the warpage of a cellular phone cover is investigated, where the mold temperature, melt temperature, injection time, and packing pressure are regarded as the design variables. The result shows that the proposed optimization method can effectively decrease the warpage deformations of the cellular phone cover and that the injection time has the most important influence on warpage in the chosen range.