Effects of film and substrate dimensions on warpage of film insert molded parts

Three‐dimensional flow and structural analyses were carried out for film insert injection molding to investigate warpage of film insert molded (FIM) parts with respect to variation of film and substrate thickness. Asymmetry of temperature distribution in the thickness direction was increased with increasing film thickness but decreased with increasing substrate thickness. Asymmetry of the in‐mold residual stress distribution in the FIM specimen was generated by the nonuniform temperature distribution, and it was increased with increasing film thickness but reduced with increasing substrate thickness. Warpage of the ejected FIM specimen was determined by relaxation of the asymmetric in‐mold residual stress distribution, and it was increased with increasing film thickness but reduced with increasing substrate thickness. Warpage of FIM specimens annealed at 80°C for 30 min showed complex behavior, and the behavior was understood by using factors such as degree of warpage of the ejected part, thermal shrinkage of the inserted film, and retardation of heat transfer. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2010. © 2010 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Residual stress and viscoelastic deformation of film insert molded automotive parts

Complex automotive parts were produced by film insert molding and the ejected parts were annealed to investigate the viscoelastic deformation. Warpage of the part was predicted by numerical simulation of mold filling, packing, and cooling stages with non‐isothermal three‐dimensional flow analysis. The flow analysis results were transported to a finite element stress analysis program and the stress analysis was performed by using time‐temperature superposition principle to investigate viscoelastic deformation. Predicted residual stresses, viscoelastic deformation, and warpage showed good agreement with experimental results. Thermal shrinkage of the inserted film and relaxation of the residual stress affected the viscoelastic deformation of the part significantly during annealing. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Molded geometry and viscoelastic behavior of film insert molded parts

Virgin injection‐molded tensile specimens without any inserted film and four kinds of film insert molded (FIM) tensile specimens were prepared. They were annealed at 80°C to investigate the effect of residual stresses and thermal shrinkage of the inserted film on thermal deformation of tensile specimens. The FIM specimens with the unannealed film were bent after ejection in such a way that the film side was protruded and the warpage was reversed gradually during annealing and the film side was intruded. Warpage of the FIM specimen with the film annealed at 80°C for 20 days was not reversed during annealing. Processing of the FIM specimens have been modeled numerically to predict thermoviscoelastic deformation of the part and to understand the warpage reversal phenomenon (WRP). Nonisothermal three‐dimensional flow analysis was carried out for filling, packing, and cooling stages. The flow analysis results were transported to a finite element stress analysis program for prediction of deformation of the FIM part. The WRP was caused by the combined effect of thermal shrinkage of the inserted film and relaxation of residual stresses in the FIM specimen during annealing. It is expected that this study will contribute towards the improvement of the FIM product quality and prevention of large viscoelastic deformation of the molded part. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Residual stresses and thermoviscoelastic deformation of laminated film prepared for film insert molding

Residual stresses and thermoviscoelastic deformation of a laminated film utilized for film insert molding was investigated through measurement of thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) and relaxation modulus. Thermoviscoelastic deformation of the film was also analyzed with numerical analysis by applying measured relaxation modulus, CTE, and residual stress to finite element method (FEM). Stress relaxation of the pristine film showed significantly different behavior from that of the unannealed film during annealing. Effects of the CTE and relaxation modulus on the thermoviscoelastic deformation were predicted by considering thermal shrinkage and structural relaxation. Moreover, numerical results on thermoviscoelastic deformation were in good agreement with experiments when initial stress distribution in the solid specimen was applied to the numerical analysis. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2012. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Development of warpage and residual stresses in film insert molded parts

Residual stresses, bending moments, and warpage of film insert molded (FIM) parts were investigated by experimental and numerical analyses. Thermally induced residual stresses in FIM parts were predicted by numerical simulations with both commercial and house codes. Bending moments and warpage of FIM tensile specimens were calculated numerically and compared with experimental results. Thermally induced residual stresses were predicted by utilizing a one‐dimensional thermoelastic model where constant material properties are assumed. The residual stress distribution depended remarkably on the Biot number and the heat was removed rapidly through the surface resulting in high residual stresses. Asymmetric residual stresses generated by nonuniform cooling of the part provoked nonuniform shrinkage and warpage of the molded tensile specimen. It was found that the numerically calculated bending moment is in good agreement with the experimental results. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Thermoviscoelastic Behavior of Film‐Insert‐Molded Parts Prepared under Various Processing Conditions

Film‐insert‐molded (FIM) tensile specimens were prepared under various molding conditions to investigate the effects of wall temperature and packing pressure on the residual stress distribution and thermoviscoelastic deformation. The warpage of the specimen increased with increasing mold‐wall temperature difference and decreased with increasing packing pressure. The FIM specimens produced with unannealed films showed the warpage reversal phenomenon (WRP) during annealing and the degree of WRP was affected significantly by the molding conditions and thermal shrinkage of the film. The warpage of the specimen was predicted by three‐dimensional flow and stress analyses and the prediction was in good agreement with the experimental results.

     

A unified K-BKZ model for residual stress analysis of injection molded three-dimensional thin shapes

The flow-induced and thermally induced residual stresses during injection molding of a thin part with complex geometries are predicted. The injection molding precess was considered to consist of a filling and a post-filling stage (packing coupled with cooling). Additionally, the analysis were applied to successive stages of the process. The model takes into account the viscoelasticity of the molding polymer, which has been neglected in most previous works, because of the complexity of its inclusion. A unified K-BKZ viscoelastic constitutive model, capable of modeling both the fluid-rubbery state and the glass state of amorphous polymers, was employed for simulating this problem. For the flow-induced residual stress predictions of the filling stage, a quasi-steady state approximation was employed for each element of the part, for the calculation of stress profile and subsequent stress relaxation after cessation of flowf. Stress calculations were provided for the thermally induced residual stress predictions of the post-filling stage. These explicit calculations led to the results of pressure and temperature distributions of the part during the post-filling stage into the viscoelastic constitutive model. Additionally, the pressure and asymmetric temeprature profiles of the post-filling stage were based on finite element packing analysis coupled with a boundary element cooling analysis of the molding process. Finally, the total residual stress in the part was obtained via superposition of the flow-induced and thermally induced residual stresses. An example is provided to demonstrate the entire concept. The results indicate that thermally induced residual stress is higher than the flow-induced residual stress by one to two orders of magnitude.     

Precision Glass Molding: Validation of an FE Model for Thermo-Mechanical Simulation

In precision glass molding process, the required accuracy for the final size and shape of the molded lenses as well as the complexity of this technology calls for a numerical simulation. The current paper addresses the development of an FE model for thermo-mechanical simulation of the precision glass molding process including heating, pressing, and cooling stages. Temperature-dependent viscoelastic and structural relaxation behavior of the glass material are implemented through a FORTRAN material subroutine (UMAT) into the commercial FEM program ABAQUS, and the FE model is validated with a sandwich seal test. Subsequently, precision molding of several glass rings is performed at three different pressing temperatures, and the experimental deformation of the glass rings at the end of the molding is compared with the predicted ones from FE simulation. Furthermore, the transient and residual stress distribution inside the glass rings are calculated by the developed FE model, and the effects of some important process parameters such as interface friction and mold temperature on the FE results are assessed. The developed FE model can be employed to predict the deformation behavior, final size/shape, and the residual stress state inside the glass lenses in a precision glass molding process.     

Prediction of the film thickness distribution and pattern change during film insert thermoforming

Various surface process methods have been developed to decorate plastic or metallic products. Film insert molding (FIM) is one of the methods that enhance the functional and/or aesthetic qualities of a product's surface. However, the drawbacks of FIM are that the thickness of the film can change, depending on the product configuration, and further, the pattern of the decorated film may change. Therefore, this article attempts to quantify the changes in the thickness and in the pattern of the decorated film during the FIM process. G'Sell's viscoelastic constitutive law was adopted to describe the rheological behavior of polymer film. A constant‐velocity uniaxial tensile test at high temperature, which is a new method proposed in this research, was used to obtain the rheological parameters. We also suggested a visual method for predicting pattern change, which was validated by comparing analytical results with those of real products. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2009. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Birefringence and interface in sequential co‐injection molding of amorphous polymers: Simulation and experiment

Modelings of the interface distribution and flow‐induced residual stresses and birefringence in the sequential co‐injection molding (CIM) of a center‐gated disk were carried out using a numerical scheme based on a hybrid finite element/finite difference/control volume method. A nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive equation and stress‐optical rule were used to model the frozen‐in flow stresses in disks. The compressibility of melts is included in modeling of the packing and cooling stages and not in the filling stage. The thermally induced residual birefringence was calculated using the linear viscoelastic and photoviscoelastic constitutive equations combined with the first‐order rate equation for volume relaxation and the master curves for the relaxation modulus and strain‐optical coefficient functions of each polymer. The influence of the processing variables including melt and mold temperatures and volume of skin melt on the birefringence and interface distribution was analyzed for multilayered PS‐PC‐PS, PS‐PMMA‐PS, and PMMA–PC–PMMA molded disks obtained by CIM. The interface distribution and residual birefringence in the molded disks were measured. The measured interface distributions and the gapwise birefringence distributions in CIM disks were found to be in a fair agreement with the predicted interface distributions and the total residual birefringence obtained by the summation of the predicted frozen‐in flow and thermal birefringence. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:88–106, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Birefringence in injection‐compression molding of amorphous polymers: Simulation and experiment

The influence of the processing variables on the residual birefringence was analyzed for polystyrene and polycarbonate disks obtained by injection‐compression molding under various processing conditions. The processing variables studied were melt and mold temperatures, compression stroke, and switchover time. The modeling of flow‐induced residual stresses and birefringence of amorphous polymers in injection‐compression molded center‐gated disks was carried out using a numerical scheme based on a hybrid finite element/finite difference/control volume method. A nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive equation and stress‐optical rule were used to model frozen‐in flow stresses in moldings. The filling, compression, packing, and cooling stages were considered. Thermally‐induced residual birefringence was calculated using the linear viscoelastic and photoviscoelastic constitutive equations combined with the first‐order rate equation for volume relaxation and the master curves for the Young's relaxation modulus and strain‐optical coefficient functions. The residual birefringence in injection‐compression moldings was measured. The effects of various processing conditions on the measured and simulated birefringence distribution Δn and average transverse birefringence <n_rr?n_θθ> were elucidated. Comparison of the birefringence in disks manufactured by the injection molding and injection‐compression molding was made. The predicted and measured birefringence is found to be in fair agreement. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2013. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Integrated numerical modeling of the blow molding process

The numerical modeling of the extrusion blow molding of a fuel tank is considered in this work. The integrated process phases are consecutively simulated, namely, parison formation, clamping, and inflation, as well as part solidification, part deformation (warpage), and the buildup of residual stresses. The parison formation is modeled with an integral type viscoelastic constitutive equation for the sag behavior and a semi-empirical equation for the swell behavior. A nonisothermal viscoelastic formulation is employed for the clamping and inflation simulation, since parison cooling during extrusion strongly affects the inflation behavior. Once the parison is inflated, it solidifies while in the mold and after part ejection. Warpage and residual stress development of the part are modeled with a linear viscoelastic solid model. Numerical predictions are compared with experimental results obtained on an industrial scale blow molding machine. Good agreement is observed. A process optimization based on a desired objective function, such as uniform part thickness distribution and/or minimal part weight, is performed. The integrated clamping, inflation, and cooling stages of the process are considered. The optimization is done by the systematic manipulation of the parison thickness distribution. Iterations are performed employing a gradient based updating scheme for the parison thickness programming, until the desired objective of uniform part thickness is obtained.     

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.     

基于黏弹性热流固耦合作用的模内微装配成型过程数值模拟

模内微装配成型技术有望成为高效低成本产业化聚合物微小机械系统制造技术,而如何准确预测和精确控制热流固耦合变形仍是其工业化的技术瓶颈。为此研究建立了考虑二次黏弹性熔体充填流动边界约束作用的模内微装配成型黏弹性热流固耦合变形的理论预测模型,研究表明热流固耦合变形受控于微装配面所承受的热流固耦合压力、黏弹性支撑正应力、黏性摩擦拖曳剪切应力和微型轴的抗变形刚度,且随成型熔体注射速度提高而减小,而微型轴近表面局部跨越393 K区域的PMMA刚度急剧下降是导致微型轴热流固耦合变形随熔体注射速度增加而减小的主控因素。     

黏弹特性对模内微装配成型热流固耦合变形的影响

建立了综合考虑二次成型黏弹性熔体充填流动约束环境影响的模内微装配成型过程黏弹性热流固耦合变形机理的理论模型,并通过有限元数值模拟,研究了二次成型熔体黏度对模内微装配成型过程黏弹性热流固耦合变形的影响规律。结果表明,黏弹性热流固耦合作用诱导的预成型微型轴变形的驱动力来源于微装配界面形成的热流固耦合压力和黏性拖曳剪应力,而二次成型熔体流动的弹性正应力对耦合变形具有抑制作用,微装配界面的热流固耦合载荷和微型轴的变形均随着二次充填熔体的黏度增大而增大,减小二次成型熔体黏度有利于提高其微装配加工精度。     

Fluid–structure interaction analysis on the film wrinkling problem of a film insert molded part

Back‐injection of polymeric liquid to preformed films, also known as film insert molding (FIM), provides the surface quality of polymeric parts. The back‐injection material is responsible for mechanical and thermal properties of the part, especially such as stiffness and thermal expansion. In the back‐injection molding it is important to ensure that the inserted films are not wrinkled by the injection of molten polymers. In this study, FIM was carried out with utilizing polycarbonate/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PC/ABS) alloy and polymethyl methacrylate/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PMMA/ABS) film. The wrinkling of films was observed by the atomic force microscope (AFM). Numerical simulations were performed to understand the mechanism of the film wrinkling and optimize the processing conditions of FIM for high precision parts by using commercial packages including Hypermesh?, Moldflow?, and COMSOL?. A critical shear rate for the film wrinkling of a center garnish part was determined based on the deformation energy of plate. It was found that the critical shear rate calculated numerically was in good agreement with that of the film insert molded parts. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Numerical modeling of injection/compression molding for center-gated disk: Part I. Injection molding with viscoelastic compressible fluid model

The present study attempted to numerically simulate the process in detail by developing an appropriate physical modeling and the corresponding numerical analysis for injection molding and injection/compression molding processes of centergated disks. In Part I, a physical modeling and associated numerical analysis of injection molding with a compressible viscoelastic fluid model are presented. In the distribution of birefringence, the packing procedure results in the inner peaks in addition to the outer peaks near the mold surface, and values of the inner peaks increase with the packing time. Also, values of the density in the core region increase with the packing time. From the numerical results, we also found that birefringence becomes smaller as the melt temperature gets higher and that it is insignificantly affected by the flow rate and the mold temperature. As far as the density distribution is concerned, mold temperature affects the distribution of density especially near the wall. But it was not significantly affected by flow rate and melt temperature. Numerical results of birefringence coincided with experimental data qualitatively, but not quantitatively.     

Effect of mold temperature on the long‐term viscoelastic behavior of polybutylene terepthalate

The effect of mold temperature variation during injection molding on the long‐term viscoelastic behavior of polybutylene terepthalate (PBT) was studied by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and flexural creep tests. The time–temperature superposition (TTS) principle was applied to the experimental data and the master curves were created to predict their long‐term behavior. The WLF and Arrhenius models were verified for the shift data in the investigating temperature range and the activation energies for the deformation process were calculated based on the Arrhenius equation. Further a four‐element Burger model was applied to the creep results to represent the creep behavior of the PBT processed at two different mold temperatures and to better understand the deformation mechanism. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and density measurements were accomplished to characterize the process‐dependent microstructures. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Superposed flow properties of ceramic powder‐filled polymer melts

Complicated shape products from ceramic composite materials are nowadays intensively processed via flow molding technologies. Rheological properties of these materials are essential for the clarification of the deformation behavior through channels under various conditions. In this article, ceramic powder (zirconia) was mixed (10–50 vol%) with polypropylene, paraffin, and stearic acid in an elastic extruder. Parallel superposed steady and oscillatory shear flows were measured on a cone‐plate rheometer. Flow properties at high shear rates were evaluated on a capillary rheometer. The effects of powder content, shear rate/angular frequency, and temperature were clarified. The studied filled systems showed highly non‐Newtonian behavior and apparent yield stress; their viscoelastic properties were influenced remarkably under the superposed shear flow at low shear rate and angular frequency, and they showed significantly different behavior from unfilled and fiber‐filled systems. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

薄壁塑件注射压缩成型工艺的模拟分析

基于正交分析法和单因素分析法,用Moldflow软件数值模拟注射压缩成型中不同工艺条件对薄壁制品残余应力的影响.计算的残余应力沿厚度方向的分布表明:薄壁制品残余应力主要为流动诱导残余应力.模具温度与压缩距离对制品残余应力影响显著,模具温度越高,压缩距离越大,制品残余应力越小;其他工艺参数对残余应力均有不同程度的影响.