Experimental investigation of infrared rapid surface heating for injection molding

A low cost and practical infrared rapid surface heating system for injection molding is designed and investigated. The system was designed to assemble on the mold and a control system was used to operate the motion of the lamp holder. Four infrared halogen lamps (1 kW each) were used as the radiative source to heat the surface of mold insert. The temperature increase is verified on the mold plate with a thermal video system. Two types of specular reflectors combined with different bulb configurations were applied to study the heating ability of radiation heating. A modified spiral flow mold was used to test the enhancing filling ability of the rapid surface heating system. Three resins, PP, PMMA and PC were molded in the spiral flow injection molding experiments. If spherical reflector and centralized lamp configuration are used, the temperature at the center of the mold surface is the highest. The temperature of mold center surface is raised from 83°C to 188°C with 15 s of infrared heating. Because the surface temperature of the mold insert is higher than the glass transition temperature of resins before filling, the flow distance of resins in the modified spiral flow mold will be increased. The location effect of the infrared surface heating system on a thin‐long cavity was studied to demonstrate the possibility of using smaller infrared heating area on a large mold surface. A microprobe cavity also demonstrated that with the assistance of infrared heating technology the formability of a microprobe can be greatly improved. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 3704–3713, 2006     

Research on a New Variotherm Injection Molding Technology and its Application on the Molding of a Large LCD Panel

The polymer injection products produced by using the current injection molding method usually have many defects, such as short shot, jetting, sink mark, flow mark, weld mark, and floating fibers. These defects have to be eliminated by using post-processing processes such as spraying and coating, which will cause environment pollution and waste in time, materials, energy and labor. These problems can be solved effectively by using a new injection method, named as variotherm injection molding or rapid heat cycle molding (RHCM). In this paper, a new type of dynamic mold temperature control system using steam as heating medium and cooling water as coolant was developed for variotherm injection molding. The injection mold is heated to a temperature higher than the glass transition temperature of the resin, and keeps this temperature in the polymer melt filling stage. To evaluate the efficiency of steam heating and coolant cooling, the mold surface temperature response during the heating stage and the polymer melt temperature response during the cooling stage were investigated by numerical thermal analysis. During heating, the mold surface temperature can be raised up rapidly with an average heating speed of 5.4°C/s and finally reaches an equilibrium temperature after an effective heating time of 40 s. It takes about 34.5 s to cool down the shaped polymer melt to the ejection temperature for demolding. The effect of main parameters such as mold structure, material of mold insert on heating/cooling efficiency and surface temperature uniformity were also discussed based on simulation results. Finally, a variotherm injection production line for 46-inch LCD panel was constructed. The test production results demonstrate that the mold temperature control system developed in this study can dynamically and efficiently control mold surface temperature without increasing molding cycle time. With this new variotherm injection molding technology, the defects on LCD panel surface occurring in conventional injection molding process, such as short shot, jetting, sink mark, flow mark, weld mark, and floating fibers were eliminated effectively. The surface gloss of the panel was improved and the secondary operations, such as sanding and coating, are not needed anymore.     

Development of rapid heating and cooling systems for injection molding applications

The injection molding process has several inherent problems associated with the constant temperature mold. A basic solution is the rapid thermal response molding process that facilitates rapid temperature change at the mold surface thereby improving quality of molded parts without increasing cycle time. Rapid heating and cooling systems consisting of one metallic heating layer and one oxide insulation layer were investigated in this paper. Design issues towards developing a mold capable of raising temperature from 25°C to 250°C in 2 seconds and cooling to 50°C within 10 seconds were discussed. To reduce thermal stresses in the layers during heating and cooling, materials with closely matched low thermal expansion coefficient were used for both layers. Effects of various design parameters, such as layer thickness, power density and material properties, on the performance of the insert were studied in detail with the aid of heat transfer simulation and thermal stress simulation. Several rapid thermal response mold inserts were constructed on the basis of the simulation results. The experimental heating and cooling response agrees with the simulation and also satisfies the target heating and cooling requirement.     

Effect of rapid mold surface inducting heating on the replication ability of microinjection molding light‐guided plates with V‐grooved microfeatures

This study applies a magnetic induction heating method for rapid and uniform heating of a mold surface for injection molding of 2‐inch light‐guided plates (LGPs). Mold temperature is an important process parameter that affects microinjection molding quality. This research investigates the effects of high‐mold surface temperature generated by induction heating in enhancing the replication rate of microfeatures of LGPs. This study has three stages. First, an appropriate power rate setting is determined for induction heating and injection molding process window. Second, all key parameters affecting microfeature quality are identified to determine the optimum LGP micromolding parameters using the Taguchi and ANOVA methods. Third, the quality of microfeature heights and angles are experimentally verified. Polymethyl methacrylate was molded under various injection molding conditions to replicate an electroformed nickel stamper with V‐grooves 10 μm in width and 5 μm in depth. In this investigation, injection speed was set in the conventional range. Experimental findings indicate that instead of high‐mold temperature, the combination of low mold temperature and high surface temperature obtained using induction heating improve replication quality and reduce cycle time. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Experimental rapid surface heating by induction for micro‐injection molding of light‐guided plates

This work experimentally investigates the use of induction‐heating to heat mold surfaces rapidly, and thus enhance the replication effect of the microstructure of light‐guided plates (LGP) in the injection molding process. This investigation employs a 2‐inch LGP injection mold as the experimental carrier, and compares the replication effect on the microstructure of induction heating with that of conventional oil‐heating. Temperature increases on the mold plate are examined using a thermal video system. The experimental results show that (1) the flat induction coil design promotes rapid surface heating. (2) Induction‐heating the mold surface to 110°C improves the replication rate of the height of the micro‐structure by up to 95%. (3) The LGP produced by induction heating has no significant residual stress. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Dynamic mold surface temperature control using induction heating and its effects on the surface appearance of weld line

Electromagnetic induction heating combined with coolant cooling is used to achieve dynamic mold surface temperature control. A simulation tool was also developed by integration of both thermal and electromagnetic analysis modules of ANSYS, and capability and accuracy were verified experimentally. To evaluate the feasibility and efficiency of induction heating on the mold surface temperature control, a mold plate (roughly about an inset size of cellular phone housing) with four cooling channels was utilized for two demo experiments with varying mold surface temperature between 110 and 180°C, and 110 and 200°C, respectively. During induction heating/cooling, it takes 4 s to increase mold surface temperature from 110 to 200°C and 21 s for mold surface to return to 110°C. The mold plate surface temperature can be raised at about 22.5°C and cooled down at 4.3°C/s within the aforementioned temperature range. Mold plate temperature distribution exhibits good uniformity as well in all stages of the heating/cooling process. Finally, mold surface temperature of a double‐gated tensile test part mold was induction heated to above glass transition temperature for few seconds prior to melt injection. The surface mark of weld line was eliminated, and the associated weld line strength enhanced. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 1174–1180, 2006     

Experimental verification of an optimal thermal design in a compression mold

A production sheet molding compound (SMC) mold for an automotive hood outer panel was instrumented with 64 thermocouples to measure cavity surface temperatures along two cross-sections in each mold half and regulate the supply of steam to each heating line. The positions and temperatures of each heating line in the mold were optimized using an in-house computer program to produce a minimum spatial variation in cavity surface temperature during steady cyclic molding. Provision was also made to heat the mold conventionally so that optimal and conventional heating could be directly compared in the same mold. While maintaining a 78 s overall molding cycle, the conventional heating system eventually produced a 10°C temperature variation on the cavity surface. This, in turn, led to serious resin undercure and severe difficulties in removing the part from the mold. When the optimal heating design was substituted in place of the conventional system, the surface temperature variation was reduced to less than 3°C and the problems experienced with conventional heating disappeared. For the most part, the measured temperatures in these experiments agreed with the results of the computer analysis to within 1°C.     

Design,fabrication of honeycomb-shaped 1–3 connectivity piezoelectric micropillar arrays for 2D ultrasound transducer application

As a core component of 2D ultrasound transducers, honeycomb-shaped 1–3 connectivity piezoelectric micropillar arrays have attracted enormous attention due to their unique performance and functionality. In this paper, honeycomb-shaped 1–3 connectivity piezoelectric micropillar arrays with a high aspect-ratio were designed and fabricated by means of deep X-ray lithography and powder injection molding in six steps: preparation of lost mold, powder-binder mixing, injection molding and demolding, removal of binders, and densification of powder. A polymer-based lost mold insert was generated by a synchrotron X-ray exposure and development process. The optimal volumetric ratio between the piezoelectric powder and binders was determined by torque rheology behavior, then they were homogeneously mixed with a twin extruder mixer. To fully fill in the micro-cavities of the lost mold, rheological properties of the mixture were analyzed with a capillary rheometer using different shear rates (50–5000 s⁻¹) and temperatures (140 °C, 150 °C, and 160 °C). After the mixture was completely injected, the lost mold was chemically dissolved in acetone and rinsed in methanol without bending or clustering of the micropillar arrays during evaporation. The binders in the injection molded portion were thermally decomposed using a continuous heating schedule of 200 °C, 390 °C, and 600 °C in argon gas under atmospheric conditions. Finally, the particles in the sample were densified into a coherent, solid mass by eliminating pores at 1300 °C. Based on the proposed micro-manufacturing process, defect-free honeycomb-shaped 1–3 connectivity piezoelectric micropillar arrays with a pattern dimension of 42 μm and aspect-ratio of 5 were successfully produced.     

蒸汽加热变模温注射成型数值模拟与结果分析

采用Moldflow软件对变模温注射成型过程进行数值模拟。利用蒸汽加热和冷却水冷却的变模温注塑工艺,研究不同蒸汽加热时间下注塑位置处压力以及制件冷凝层的变化规律,同时分析了制件表面和模具型腔表面的热响应规律。结果表明,相比于传统注射成型工艺过程,变模温注射成型通过提高注塑充填过程中模具温度,使得制件冷凝层出现在充填阶段之后;随着模具加热时间从10、15、25 s增加到40 s,注塑位置处最大注射压力从87.0608、84.6064、79.6863 MPa减小到74.4342 MPa,大大提高了熔体注塑充填过程中的充填能力;通过不同的蒸汽加热时间,制件表面和模具型腔表面可以获得不同的温度值,同时通过模拟获得了传热系数对制件表面温度的影响。     

Fully-Coupled Numerical Analysis of High-Frequency Induction Heating for Thin-Wall Injection Molding

In recent years, rapid mold heating has served to enable the injection molding of thin-walled parts or micro/nano structures. Induction heating is an efficient way to heat metal parts by means of an electric current that flows through a conductive material by electromagnetic induction. The present study covers a numerical investigation of high-frequency induction heating of an injection mold in order to rapidly raise the mold temperature. To take into account the effects of thermal boundary conditions of induction heating, a fully coupled numerical analysis effectively connecting electromagnetic field calculation, heat transfer analysis, and injection molding simulation was carried out. The proposed integrated simulation was applied to the injection molding of a thin-wall part, and its results were compared with experimental findings in order to verify the validity of the proposed simulation.     

High‐frequency proximity heating for injection molding applications

High‐frequency proximity heating was used to rapidly heat injection molds. The principle is based on the proximity effect between a pair of mold inserts facing each other with a small gap and forming a high‐frequency electric loop. Because of the proximity effect, the high‐frequency current will flow at the inner surfaces of the facing pair, thus selectively heating the mold surface. With this method, the electrical insulation layer beneath the mold surface can be eliminated, resulting in a mold insert made of a single metal. A mold with a cavity of 25 × 50 mm² was constructed with careful design on its electrical, structural, and thermal performance. Air pockets with reinforcing ribs were embedded right beneath the mold surface for enhancing the heating performance. The resulting mold cavity can be rapidly heated from room temperature to about 240°C in 5 s with an apparent heating power of 93 W/cm². The new mold heating method was applied to thin‐wall molding and micromolding, and in all testing cases, short cycle times less than a minute were achieved. POLYM. ENG. SCI. 46:938–945, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers     

ELIMINATING FLOW INDUCED BIREFRINGENCE AND MINIMIZING THERMALLY INDUCED RESIDUAL STRESSES IN INJECTION MOLDED PARTS*

Eliminating flow-induced birefringence and stresses and reducing thermally induced stresses in the injection molded parts have been studied using rapid thermal response (RTR) molding technique. In the RTR molding, mold surface temperature can be rapidly raised above T _g in the filling stage, while the normal injection molding cycle time is still maintained. Therefore, the melt can fill the cavity at temperatures above T _g, which enables the flow-induced stresses to relax completely in a short time after filling and before vitrification. Residual stresses and birefringence in a RTR molded strip specimen are compared with the conventional molded parts by applying layer removal method and retardation measurement. For the material (Monsanto® Lustrex Polystyrene) and process conditions chosen, the birefringence level decreased as the RTR temperature approached and exceeded the glass transition temperature until it almost disappeared at a RTR temperature of 180°C. Reduction of magnitude and shift of peak location were observed in the gapwise stress profile for RTR molded specimen.

     

Mold replication in injection molding of high density polyethylene

In order to deepen the mechanisms at the basis of mold surface replication onto the molded plastic surface, a novel experimental approach is proposed. Up to 20 different mold surface textures were made by machining with repetitive patterns of peaks and valleys. Mold replication tests were performed by over-molding of high density polyethylene (HDPE) on steel inserts. The surface morphology of inserts and injection molded parts was acquired by surface analyzer, and all the main roughness parameters were extracted and compared as well as the geometrical profiles. Surface morphology was also measured on molded samples after thermal relaxation at 100°C. As expected, a strong correlation was found between the roughness of mold insert and molded part over the full experimented range. Profiles on the molded surface have the same repetitive pattern of the corresponding insert surface but with lower peaks, higher valleys, and a horizontal shrinkage. Comparing molded HDPE surface profiles before and after thermal relaxation, it was observed a similar change to the one highlighted between mold insert and molded part. This occurrence suggests that the final surface appearance of the molded part is also a function of the relaxation mechanism during or immediately after injection molding.     

Curing kinetics and viscosity change of a two‐part epoxy resin during mold filling in resin‐transfer molding process

The curing kinetics and the resulting viscosity change of a two‐part epoxy/amine resin during the mold‐filling process of resin‐transfer molding (RTM) of composites was investigated. The curing kinetics of the epoxy/amine resin was analyzed in both the dynamic and the isothermal modes with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The dynamic viscosity of the resin at the same temperature as in the mold‐filling process was measured. The curing kinetics of the resin was described by a modified Kamal kinetic model, accounting for the autocatalytic and the diffusion‐control effect. An empirical model correlated the resin viscosity with temperature and the degree of cure was obtained. Predictions of the rate of reaction and the resulting viscosity change by the modified Kamal model and by the empirical model agreed well with the experimental data, respectively, over the temperature range 50–80°C and up to the degree of cure α = 0.4, which are suitable for the mold‐filling stage in the RTM process. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 77: 2139–2148, 2000     

Thermal response of an electric heating rapid heat cycle molding mold and its effect on surface appearance and tensile strength of the molded part

Rapid heat cycle molding (RHCM) is a newly developed injection molding technology in recent years. In this article, a new electric heating RHCM mold is developed for rapid heating and cooling of the cavity surface. A data acquisition system is constructed to evaluate thermal response of the cavity surfaces of the electric heating RHCM mold. Thermal cycling experiments are implemented to investigate cavity surface temperature responses with different heating time and cooling time. According to the experimental results, a mathematical model is developed by regression analysis to predict the highest temperature and the lowest temperature of the cavity surface during thermal cycling of the electric heating RHCM mold. The verification experiments show that the proposed model is very effective for accurate control of the cavity surface temperature. For a more comprehensive analysis of the thermal response and temperature distribution of the cavity surfaces, the numerical‐method‐based finite element analysis (FEA) is used to simulate thermal response of the electric heating RHCM mold during thermal cycling process. The simulated cavity surface temperature response shows a good agreement with the experimental results. Based on simulations, the influence of the power density of the cartridge heaters and the temperature of the cooling water on thermal response of the cavity surface is obtained. Finally, the effect of RHCM process on surface appearance and tensile strength of the part is studied. The results show that the high‐cavity surface temperature during filling stage in RHCM can significantly improve the surface appearance by greatly improving the surface gloss and completely eliminating the weld line and jetting mark. RHCM process can also eliminate the exposing fibers on the part surface for the fiber‐reinforced plastics. For the high‐gloss acrylonitrile butadiene styrene/polymethyl methacrylate (ABS/PMMA) alloy, RHCM process reduces the tensile strength of the part either with or without weld mark. For the fiber‐reinforced plastics of polypropylene (PP) + 20% glass fiber, RHCM process reduces the tensile strength of the part without weld mark but slightly increases the tensile strength of the part with weld mark. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

椎间融合器金属粉末注塑成型工艺参数实验研究

通过密炼机混炼出不同比例金属粉末与粘结剂的金属喂料,对不同配比的金属喂料进行喂料流动性能对比实验,得到最佳注塑成型实验所用的最佳喂料配方,不锈钢粉末占不锈钢喂料质量分数为92.6%时,不锈钢喂料综合性能较好;利用所确定的喂料配方和已加工好的椎间融合器模具在阿博格精密注塑机上进行性能测试,分别控制注塑喂料温度、模具温度、注射压力进行椎间融合器的注射,并对注射结果进行重量测量及注射时间记录,分析出此种配方最适合的注射工艺条件。结果表明：最佳注射工艺参数为：模具温度：50℃;注射压力：70MPa;喂料温度180℃,且用注塑机控制四段加热区间：180/175/170/165℃。     

Numerical Simulation for Injection Molding with a Rapidly Heated Mold,Part I: Flow Simulation for Thin Wall Parts

The rapid thermal response (RTR) injection molding is a novel process developed to raise the mold surface temperature rapidly to the polymer melt temperature prior to the injection stage and then cool rapidly. The resulting filling process is achieved inside a hot mold cavity by prohibiting formation of frozen layer so as to enable thin wall injection molding without filling difficulty. The present work covers flow simulation of thin wall injection molding using the RTR molding process. Both 2.5-D shell analysis and 3-D solid analysis were performed, and the simulation results were compared with the prior experimental results. Coupled analysis with transient heat transfer simulation was also studied to realize more reliable thin-wall-flow estimation for the RTR molding process. The proposed coupled simulation approach based on solid elements provides reliable flow estimation by accounting for the effects of the unique thermal boundary conditions of the RTR mold.     

液晶聚合物的注射成型技术

叙述了特种工程塑料液晶聚合物的结构、性能特点及应用；介绍了液晶聚合物制品和模具的设计应考虑的因素；重点阐述了液晶聚合物制品的注射成型工艺，包括原料干燥、料筒温度、注射压力和速度、嵌件预热模具温度、成型周期和注意事项。     

INCREASING FLOW LENGTH IN THIN WALL INJECTION MOLDING USING A RAPIDLY HEATED MOLD

Injection molded parts are driven down in size and weight especially for portable electronic applications. While gains are achieved via cost reduction and increased portability, thinner parts encounter more difficulty in molding due to the frozen layer problem. To increase moldability in thin wall molding, a rapid thermal response (RTR) mold was investigated. The RTR mold is capable of rapidly raising the surface temperature to the polymer melt temperature prior to the injection stage and then rapidly cooling to the ejection temperature. The resulting filling process is done inside a hot mold cavity and formation of frozen layer is prohibited. Concepts of scalable filling and low-speed filling are discussed in the article to address the benefit of this molding method. Simulation results showed that significant reduction in injection pressure and speed can be achieved in RTR molding. In contrast to the filling behavior in conventional molding, the injection pressure in RTR molding decreases as the injection speed decreases, and therefore, extremely thin parts can be molded at lower injection speeds. Filling lengths of both RTR and conventionally molded polycarbonate samples, with two levels of thickness, under two levels of injection speed were experimentally studied. The experimental results demonstrated the advantage of the new molding method.     

基于外置式感应加热的注塑缺陷模拟及实验研究

针对注塑过程中常见的欠充缺陷,应用感应加热原理,对模腔表层金属进行快速加热,由此改善了因料流冷却过早产生的欠充缺陷。建立了Moldfolw模型,模拟研究了模具温度对流动填充影响的因素。并通过实验验证了局部加热对注塑件欠充的改善效果,以及温度设置对欠充的影响。