| Abstract: | Details are given below of how the heat-up process for radiation methods may be expressed mathematically. In order to fulfill practical requirements, a process must ensure calculation of necessary heating time using process-specific characteristic curves with a minimum of mathematical effort. To this end the amount of heat actually absorbed by the surface of the O product must be known when sheets are heated by radiation. This can easily be determined through measurement of sheet surface temperature. It will be shown that if certain preconditions are satisfied, then variations in the distance of the IR-heaters have no effect on the temperature profile of the sheet. With poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) the nature of coloration does not play a significant role. Investigations into the cooling process centered on a number of cooling methods and tool materials. The dynamic behavior of tempered and untempered thermoforming tools showed similarities to work already carried out in the injection molding sector. Consideration was given to possible ways of using the “Thermolog” analog computer, developed at IKV, to calculate the necessary cooling times in the production of thermoformed parts. Input values and basic data on temperature-time curves, necessary for the compilation of cooling curves using the analog simulator, were derived from appropriate tests on a thermoforming machine. |
