A physical model for a quality control concept in injection molding

In this work, a model is presented, which is the basis of a quality control concept for the injection molding process. Contrary to statistical methods, this model uses physical dependencies of two quality parameters on four influencing parameters. The influences of holding pressure, holding time, melt temperature, and mold temperature on part mass and dimensions are described based on the fundamental material behavior such as pvT‐data or energy equation. Furthermore, the influence of viscosity changes is indirectly taken into account using the injection work. Assuming only small deviations of the influencing parameters around an optimized operating point, the four parameters are treated as being independent from each other. With this assumption, a product ansatz was chosen with different functions for each influencing factor. Applying basic algebra, the starting equation was transformed into a form that describes either the change in part mass or characteristic part dimensions as a function of the influencing factors. The final equation for the part mass contains six model parameters, whereas nine model parameters are necessary for the equation for the part length. To obtain those model parameters some systematic experiments are required. Once the parameters are known, the model is able to calculate the change of the target values when the influencing factors vary around the operating point. The model was tested experimentally with focus on dimensions using a plastic cover made of an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) grade. For the investigated part geometry and material grade, the process behavior was described well by the model. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011