Stress birefringence patterns in molten polymers during the mold-filling and cooling process

An experimental study has been carried out to better understand the phenomenon of stress buildup during the mold-filling process in the injection molding operation. For the study, a rectangular mold with two glass windows was constructed, so that stress birefringence patterns of molten polymers flowing into the mold could be photographed with the aid of a polariscope. As a feeding system, a 1-in. extruder was used attached to the mold with a 2-ft length of stainless steel tubing having a relief valve. In this way, the injection pressure (and injection velocity) was carefully controlled to ensure that the glass windows would not be damaged. The development of stress birefringence patterns during the mold-filling process was recorded on a movie film. It was observed that, in isothermal operation, when flow stopped after the mold was filled, stresses relaxed immediately because of the very slow cooling of the mold by ambient air. However, it was observed that, as cooling proceeded, stresses were gradually built up again in the mold. It was possible, therefore, to determine the residual stress in the mold, which originates from the cooling process alone.     

Studies on structural foam processing II. Bubble dynamics in foam injection molding

An experimental study was carried out to gain a better understanding of the dynamic behavior of gas bubbles during the structural foam injection molding operation. For the study, a rectangular mold cavity with glass windows on both sides was constructed, which permitted us to record on a movie film the dynamic behavior of gas bubbles in the mold cavity as a molten polymer containing inert gas was injected into it. The mold was designed so that either isothermal or nonisothermal injection molding could be carried out. Materials used were polystyrene, high-density polyethylene, and polycarbonate. As chemical blowing agents, sodium bicarbonate (which generates carbon dioxide), a proprietary hydrazide and 5-phenyl tetrazole, both generating nitrogen, were used. Injection pressure, injection melt temperature, and mold temperature were varied to investigate the kinetics of bubble growth (and collapse) during the foam injection molding operation. It was found that the processing variables (e.g., the mold temperature, the injection pressure, the concentration of blowing agent) have a profound influence on the nucleation and growth rates of gas bubbles during mold filling. Some specific observations made from the present study are as follows: an increase in melt temperature, blowing agent concentration, and mold temperature brings about an increase in bubble growth but more non-uniform cell size and its distribution, whereas an increase in injection pressure (and hence injection speed) brings about a decrease in bubble growth but more uniform cell size and its distribution. Whereas almost all the theoretical studies published in the literature deal with the growth (or collapse) of a stationary single spherical gas bubble under isothermal conditions, in structural foam injection molding the shape of the bubble is not spherical because the fluid is in motion during mold filling. Moreover, a temperature gradient exists in the mold cavity and the cooling subsequent to mold filling influences bubble growth significantly. It is suggested that theoretical study be carried out on bubble growth in an imposed shear field under nonisothermal conditions.     

Studies on structural foam processing. IV. Bubble growth during mold filling

An experimental and theoretical study was carried out to achieve a better understanding of bubble growth during the filling of gas-charged molten polymers into a rectangular mold cavity. For the experimental study, a rectangular mold cavity (15.24 × 4.55 × 0.64 cm) was constructed, with glass windows on both sides to permit recording on a movie film of the growth of gas bubbles in the mold cavity as a molten polymer containing inert gas was injected into it. Sodium bicarbonate (generating carbon dioxide) was used as a chemical blowing agent, and the polymer used was a general purpose clear polystyrene. All experimental runs were made at isothermal molding conditions, and the injection rate was varied. It was found that, at and above a certain injection rate, little bubble formation was observed in the mold cavity during injection except at and near the moving melt front. For the theoretical study, the growth of a single gas bubble in a viscoelastic medium (represented by the DeWitt model), subjected to high injection rates, was considered by including the effects of diffusion from the liquid phase to the gas phase, interfacial tension between the liquid and the gas phases, and stress relaxation of the melt upon ejection. It was found that the level of stresses, built up in the met during injection, has a profound influence on the formation and growth of gas bubbles during the initial stage of mold filling. Also, a multichannel mold cavity was employed in order to observe the effect of processing variables on the cell size and its distribution in molded specimens. A uniform cell structure was obtained at higher injection pressures, at an optimum injection melt temperature, and with an optimum combination of blowing agent and nucleating agent concentrations.     

Investigation of melt manipulation phenomena during injection molding via in situ birefringence observation

This study investigates the effects of melt manipulation on the development of molecular orientation during injection molding processing. Vibration‐assisted injection molding (VAIM), a particular method of melt manipulation, is a variation of conventional injection molding in which oscillatory energy is imparted to the polymer melt by vibrating the injection screw axially during the injection and packing stages of the molding cycle. Previous studies have shown that this process positively affects the tensile strength of polystyrene parts, but that the magnitude of the increase is dependent upon the processing parameters. Observation of birefringence patterns in VAIM processed samples show a significant impact on molecular orientation. A specially designed mold and associated image capture system has been developed and is used in this study to record the birefringence patterns of the polymer melt within the cavity during processing. Observation of birefringence shows that orientation develops primarily during post‐vibration packing of the part and not during the vibration phase as previously thought. The observed effects of process parameters such as melt temperature, packing pressure, and vibration duration are discussed. POLYM. ENG. SCI. 46:1691–1697, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers     

An experimental study on the injection molding of thermosetting polyester resin

An experimental study was conducted on the injection molding of a thermosetting polyester resin. For the study, a general-purpose unsaturated polyester resin was used, with benzoyl peroxide as initiator. A differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was used for studying the curing kinetics, under isothermal curing conditions. A plunger-type injection-molding apparatus was constructed, and a rectangular mold cavity with glass windows on both sides was constructed, which permitted us to record on a film the changes in stress birefringence patterns in the mold cavity during the molding operation (i.e., during the isothermal cure, post cure, and subsequent cooling), using a crossed circular polariscope. The injection-molded specimens were used to determine the distribution of the degree of cure at various positions in the flow direction, and to relate the degree of cure to the dynamic mechanical properties.     

Measurement of stress birefringence patterns in molten polymers flowing through geometrically complex channels

Measurements were taken of stress birefringence patterns in molten polymers flowing through geometrically complex channels. Six different flow channels were constructed for experiment, some representing the flow geometries of spinnerettes encountered in fiber spinning, and others representing mold cavities encountered in injection molding. All the flow channels had two glass windows, which permitted one to take photographs of the flow birefringence patterns of molten polymers with the aid of a polariscope. Quantitative information on the stress distributions in a flow channel was obtained, with the aid of the stress-optical laws, from the pictures taken of both isochromatic and isoclinic fringe patterns. The significance of flow birefringence measurement is discussed from the standpoint of die design for extrusion operation and mold design for injection molding operation.     

Numerical Simulation for Injection Molding with a Rapidly Heated Mold,Part II: Birefringence Prediction

In the accompanying paper, Part I, the advantages of the rapid thermal response (RTR) molding process were investigated for thin-wall-mold filling by employing coupled analysis of flow and heat transfer. Besides the complete filling of the cavity, frozen-in molecular orientation is another major quality issue in thin wall molding. The frozen-in orientation causes residual stress and birefringence, and potential part distortion. The present work focuses on the prediction and visualization of birefringence in RTR-molded parts. To calculate birefringence, flow-induced residual stress is computed first and the stress-optical law is then applied. The simulation results show that the amount of molecular orientation, residual stress, and birefringence level considerably decrease in the RTR-molding process. The effect of the mold temperature on the level of birefringence was also studied and predicted birefringence patterns were compared with experimental results for a thin-walled rectangular strip. Both predicted and experimental patterns of birefringence are in agreement on the observation that the birefringence level diminishes significantly when the mold temperature is raised to above the glass transition temperature.     

Pressure losses in the packing stage of injection molding

The pressure loss between the mold and the nozzle in the injection molding of bar and box moldings has been monitored. The pressure drop observed during filling of the mold is reduced during the packing stage but remains finite. This has been attributed in the literature to solidification of polymer across the cavity transducer and to melt relaxation phenomena. Experiments have been carried out with hot molds to prolong the packing stage at the expense of the ‘cooling’ stage. Under these circumstances the pressure drop is reduced but not eliminated. The observed pressure drop may be related to the viscosity of the melt and its dependence on pressure and temperature although strain-induced crystallization and the pressure dependence of the melting point can confer effects similar to the cooling stage.     

Thin‐wall injection molding of polypropylene using molds with different laser‐induced periodic surface structures

In injection molding, high pressure is required to completely replicate the mold geometry, due to the viscosity of thermoplastic polymers, the reduced thickness of the cavity, and the low mold temperature. The reduction of the drag required to fill a thin‐wall injection molding cavity can be promoted by inducing the strong slip of the polymer melt over the mold surface, which occurs within the first monolayer of macromolecules adsorbed at the wall. In this work, the effects of different laser‐induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) topographies on the reduction of the melt flow resistance of polypropylene were characterized. Ultrafast laser processing of the mold surface was used to manufacture nano‐scale ripples with different orientation and morphology. Moreover, the effects of those injection molding parameters that mostly affect the interaction between the mold surface and the molten polymer were evaluated. The effect of LIPSS on the slip of the polymer melt was modeled to understand the effect of the different treatments on the pressure required to fill the thin‐wall cavity. The results show that LIPPS can be used to treat injection mold surfaces to promote the onset of wall slip, thus reducing the injection pressure up to 13%. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:1889–1896, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Effect of process conditions on birefringence development in injection-molded parts. I. Numerical analysis

Analysis of the injection-molding process based on Leonov viscoelastic fluid model has been employed to study the effects of process conditions on the residual stress and birefringence development in injection-molded parts during the entire molding process. An integrated formulation was derived and numerically implemented to solve the nonisothermal, compressible, and viscoelastic nature of polymer melt flow. Simulations under process conditions of different melt temperatures, mold temperatures, filling speeds, and packing pressures are performed to predict the birefringence variation in both gapwise and planar direction. It has been found that melt temperature and the associated frozen layer thickness are the dominant factors that determine the birefringence development within the molded part. For a higher mold temperature, melt temperature, and injection speed, the averaged birefringence along gapwise direction is lower. The birefringence also increases significantly with the increased packing pressure especially along gate area. The simulated results show good consistency with those measured experimentally. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Experimental investigation and molecular dynamics simulations of the effect of processing parameters on the filling quality of injection-molded micropillars

Microinjection molding has been attracting increasing attention and application in fabricating products with functional surface microstructures. The processing parameters, packing pressure, and melt temperature have important effects on the filling quality. In order to study the mechanisms of the packing pressure and melt temperature on the filling quality of micropillars, a simulation model of injection molding of nanopillars was constructed by molecular dynamics software and a series of injection molding experiments of micropillars were carried out in this paper. Subsequently, the mechanisms were analyzed qualitatively. The results showed that the frozen layers were formed at the interface between the polymer melt and mold under the action of heat transfer, which prevented effective filling of the polymer melt. The filling quality of the micropillars could be improved significantly via increasing the melt temperature and the packing pressure, but the mechanisms were different. To be specific, the increase of the packing pressure could make more polymer melts fill into the cavity fully. Thus, the density of the micropillars was increased and the filling quality could be improved. The forming rate of frozen layers could be slowed down by increasing the melt temperature. As a result, the purpose of improving the filling quality was achieved.     

Role of polymer transparency and temperature gradients in the quantitative measurement of process stream temperatures during injection molding via IR pyrometry

The accurate and precise measurement of process stream temperatures during injection molding can be difficult, since the cyclic operation results in spatial and temporal variations of the stream temperature. This paper examines the application of a spectral infrared (IR) pyrometer to monitor the cooling of a polymer melt within the mold cavity during a typical injection molding cycle. An outline for interpreting the radiation signal collected with the IR pyrometer is presented. The discussion includes theoretical aspects as well as experimental results. The theoretical approach accounts for the polymer transparency (attenuation behavior) at the spectral wavelength of the pyrometer and also for the temperature gradient within the polymer, thereby establishing the concept of a critical depth for a given pyrometer/polymer combination. The final analysis reveals good agreement between the predicted and measured results for the transient cooling conditions of the polymer within the mold cavity. Depending on the degrees of polymer transparency used in the theoretical prediction, the deviation between the measured and predicted transient bulk temperatures after mold filling (during the mold cooling stage) varies from ±2°K to ±9°K.     

Analysis of filling,packing, and cooling stages in injection molding of disk cavities

This research tried to simulate three stages of injection molding cycles (filling, packing, and cooling) for polypropylene. The cavity used was a center-grated disk-shaped mold. During the filling stage, we assumed the polymer fluid obeyed the CEF equation and flowed nonisothermally. The packing stage was represented by isothermal flow of Newtonian fluid, and, during cooling stage, we took into account the effect of pressure drop on the energy balance. By finite difference method, we could solve the partial differential equations numerically. The results showed. (1) Elastic effect was not significant at the filling stage. (2) Pressure buildup in the cavity was very quick at the packing stage. (3) At the cooling stage, temperatures predicted by taking into account pressure drop were lower than those without considering pressure drop. In addition, the influences of mold temperature, flow rate, and inlet melt temperature on the three stages of injection molding process were discussed.     

Numerical prediction of residual stresses and birefringence in injection/compression molded center‐gated disk. Part II: Effects of processing conditions

The accompanying paper, Part I, has presented the physical modeling and basic numerical analysis results of the entire injection molding process, in particular with regard to both flow‐induced and thermally‐induced residual stress and birefringence in an injection molded center‐gated disk. The present paper, Part II, investigates the effects of various processing conditions of injection/compression molding process on the residual stress and birefringence. The birefringence is significantly affected by injection melt temperature, packing pressure and packing time. However, the thermally‐induced birefringence in the core region is insignificantly affected by most of the processing conditions. On the other hand, packing pressure, packing time and mold wall temperature affect the thermally‐induced residual stress rather significantly in the shell layer, but insignificantly in the core region. The residual stress in the shell layer is usually compressive, but could be tensile if the packing time is long, packing pressure is large, and the mold temperature is low. The lateral constraint type turns out to play an important role in determining the residual stress in the shell layer. Injection/compression molding has been found to reduce flow‐induced birefringence in comparison with the conventional injection molding process. In particular, mold closing velocity and initial opening thickness for the compression stage of injection/compression molding have significant effects on the flow‐induced birefringence, but not on the thermal residual stress and the thermally‐induced birefringence.     

The effect of injection molding process parameters on mechanical and fracture behavior of polycarbonate polymer

In this work, the mechanical and failure behavior of injection molded aviation standard optical grade polycarbonate (PC) was investigated through uniaxial tensile testing. The effect of different injection molding process parameters including injection velocity, packing pressure, cooling time, mold temperature, and melt temperature were determined to observe their effect on yield and postyield behavior of PC. Out of these examined parameters, the mold and melt temperature show significant effect on mechanical behavior of studied polymer. The yield and flow stresses in polymer increase with the increase in mold and melt temperature during injection molding. However, other process parameters i.e., packing pressure, injection velocity, and cooling time showed little effect on mechanical performance of the polymer. The molded specimens were annealed at different temperatures and residence time to evaluate its effect on mechanical behavior and fracture morphology. The yield stress increases gradually with the increase in annealing temperature and time. The annealing treatment also changed the failure mode of PC specimens from ductile to brittle. In addition to process parameters, the effect of increased loading rate was also undertaken which shows substantial effect on mechanical and failure behavior of PC. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44474.     

Some relationships between injection molding conditions and the characteristics of vitrified molded parts

The various mold filling phenomena influencing the characteristics of fabricated parts are surveyed. The phenomena leading to jetting in injection mold filling are considered. These are associated with the magnitude of swell by the melt as it exits the gate into the mold. Special attention is given to the influence of non-isothermal runner flow. A theory of extrudate swell of polymer melts with temperature profiles is developed using Tanner's unconstrained recovery theory. In the. absence of jetting, mold filling by a simple advancing front takes place. The hydrodynamics of the advancing front and the stress fields in the flowing melt are determined. Analysis and modeling are presented based on the use of hydrodynamic lubrication theory involving a solid layer along the mold wall and a hot isothermal melt core. This theory is compared with experimental measurements of pressure losses in mold filling. The development of birefringence in injection molding processes is analyzed. Birefringence distributions are due to frozen-in flow birefringence. A new experimental study is presented and its results compared with theoretical predictions. The problem of thermal stresses in injection molded parts is considered.     

In situ flow state characterization of molten resin at the inner mold in injection molding

Online viscosity information on processing lines can reflect the material flow resistance and offer valuable guidance for manufacturing across various industries. Considering the accuracy, devices, and processes involved in injection molding, characterizing the melt's flow state during material processing poses a significant challenge. To reduce investment in viscometers, avoid influencing the components' surface aesthetics due to the installation of sensors, and make the flow state detect online in mold, this study designs a rheometric mold with cylindrical runners for identifying the in situ viscosity of molten resin during injection molding. The detection conditions of injection speed and cavity pressure variations, the entrance effect, and the viscous dissipation for Polycarbonate are analyzed under various conditions. The in situ viscosity is identified and compared with the standard cross-WLF model. The result shows that the melt velocity and cavity pressure variations during the filling process create a stable environment for in situ rheological characterization and the detected viscosity is related to the shear rate, melt temperature, and channel dimension in injection molding. The designed mold with cylindrical runners for determining the in situ thermal-rheological behavior of polymer is distinguished successfully and exhibits prospects for the development of low-cost, nondestructive, and inner-mold measurement in manufacturing applications.     

石墨烯镀层辅助快速热循环注射成型方法的研究

提出了一种以石墨烯纳米镀层辅助实现快速热循环注射成型的新方法,采用化学气相沉积工艺在模具型腔表面制备连续且致密的化学键合石墨烯镀层,仅需低压电源驱动就能将型腔表面温度迅速提升至聚合物材料玻璃化转变温度（Tg）之上并进行实时调控,型腔表面温度分布均匀且具有较高的降温速率,可满足注射成型快变模温调控的要求。结果表明,利用石墨烯镀层快速热循环注射成型方法可有效改善注射成型熔体流动行为,明显消除制品的熔接痕。     

汽车接插件随形水路设计及工艺优化

根据汽车接插件的模具规格和使用要求,基于Moldflow软件对汽车接插件的成型过程进行数值模拟,设计冷却系统和流道系统,针对冷却系统对热流道区域冷却不足的问题进行优化,增加随形水路。根据Taguchi正交实验分析了熔体温度、模具温度、注塑时间、保压时间、保压压力5个因素对产品框口区域翘曲变形的影响规律,得到最佳工艺参数组合,最后对最佳参数组合进行了模拟验证。实际生产表明,该方案可以缩短产品的开发周期与成型周期,提高生产效率。     

Effects of molding conditions on properties of injection-molded polycarbonates

Statistically designed experiments were carried out to study the effects of molding conditions on the properties of two types of polycarbonate, which were synthesized by the solvent process and the melt process, respectively. The properties tested in this study were classified into two groups with respect to the effect of molding conditions. One, which included birefringence, heat shrinkage at 180°C, and surface resistance to Taber abrasion, was mainly affected by stock temperature and was slightly affected by holding pressure. The other, which included resistance to solvent crack, Rockwell hardness, density, and heat shrinkage at 120°C, was affected by mold temperature and holding pressure. Mechanically isotropic moldings with a low degree of frozen orientation could be molded at a high stock temperature and at a low holding pressure, where stock temperature was more effective than holding pressure. Moldings with low residual stresses could be molded at a high mold temperature and at a low holding pressure. Essentially there was no difference in the molding conditions and properties by the method of synthesis. However, under the same molding conditions polycarbonate synthesized by the melt process gave a higher degree of frozen orientation and somewhat more rigid moldings.