Modeling and Analysis of Process Parameters for Evaluating Shrinkage Problems During Plastic Injection Molding of a DVD-ROM Cover

Abstract

Plastic injection molding plays a key role in the production of high-quality plastic parts. Shrinkage is one of the most significant problems of a plastic part in terms of quality in the plastic injection molding. This article focuses on the study of the modeling and analysis of the effects of process parameters on the shrinkage by evaluating the quality of the plastic part of a DVD-ROM cover made with Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) polymer material. An effective regression model was developed to determine the mathematical relationship between the process parameters (mold temperature, melt temperature, injection pressure, injection time, and cooling time) and the volumetric shrinkage by utilizing the analysis data. Finite element (FE) analyses designed by Taguchi (L 27 ) orthogonal arrays were run in the Moldflow simulation program. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was then performed to check the adequacy of the regression model and to determine the effect of the process parameters on the shrinkage. Experiments were conducted to control the accuracy of the regression model with the FE analyses obtained from Moldflow. The results show that the regression model agrees very well with the FE analyses and the experiments. From this, it can be concluded that this study succeeded in modeling the shrinkage problem in our application.

Shrinkage and Warpage Minimization of Glass-Fiber-Reinforced Polyamide 6 Parts by Microcellular Foam Injection Molding

“…In their study, the influence of packing and cooling times is the smallest among all factors, but these factors are still significant. In another study, melt temperature and cooling time were significant for shrinkage, but mold temperature was found to be insignificant when simulating the shrinkage of injection-molded DVD cover products made with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) [38]. In Chen's research, packing and cooling times were significant factors for the warpage of injection-molded polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) samples, but melt temperature was insignificant [39].…”

Investigation of Mechanical and Dimensional Features in Unfilled Polyketone Polymer

“…Some researchers investigated the effects of plastic injection parameters, which cause volumetric shrinkage and warping, on different polymers with the Taguchi method and experimental methods (Çakır & Güldaş, 2001), (Iyer & Ramani, 2002), (Jansen et al, 1998). In addition to these studies, optimization of process parameters based on Taguchi method on both volumetric shrinkage and warping was performed (Liao et al, 2004), (Öktem & Erzincanlı, 2012), (Öktem et al, 2007). An optimum cooling system is very important to more decrease the volumetric shrinkage in the injection process of polymer materials.…”

An evaluation of the melt crystallisation behaviour of injection-moulded high-density polyethylene (HDPE) based on a solidification kinetics analysis

“…During an IM process, the material is subject to high pressure, high shear rate, and high cooling rate [8][9][10][11][12][13], and all these factors jointly dictate the final property distribution across the injection-moulded article. For crystalline polymers, crystallisation always takes place during the solidification process, which remarkably influences both productivity and quality of the final products [14][15][16][17][18]. The crystallisation kinetics will determine the time needed for melt cooling as well as the entire cycling time.…”