Multiobjective optimization design of heating system in electric heating rapid thermal cycling mold for yielding high gloss parts

Abstract

An optimization design method is developed for the electric heating system in rapid thermal cycling molding (RTCM) mold. First, a multiobjective optimization model is established, in which the distance between the mold cavity surface and the center of heating elements and the number and power density of heating elements are the design variables, the required heating time t h and the highest cavity surface temperature T max at time t h are the objective functions. Then, an optimization strategy consisting of design of experiment, finite element analysis, artificial neural network (ANN) and response surface methodology (RSM) models, and Paretobased genetic algorithm is proposed to solve the multiobjective optimization model. Finally, the optimization strategy is applied for the design of the heating system for an automotive spoiler blow mold. The results show that the temperature distribution uniformity on the blow mold cavity surface is obviously improved and high heating efficiency is also ensured with the optimized design parameters. Moreover, the ANN model exhibits its superiority over the RSM model in terms of modeling and predictive abilities. A RTCM blow mold with the optimized electric heating system is constructed and successfully utilized to mold high gloss automotive spoiler.

Optimization and application of temperature field in rapid heat cycling molding

“…Here, RSM [6,20] was applied to specify the effects of each heating rod power density on cavity surface temperature of the RHCM. The mathematical model of the expected responses for optimization was built through numerical experiment design and regression analysis [12,24].…”

Multi-objective optimization of heating system for rapid thermal cycling molding mold with internal induction heating

“…Mold thermal response performance refers to mold heating efficiency and cavity surface temperature uniformity, which are two important technical indicators of RTCM [4]. In this section, a numerical simulation method was adopted to evaluate the mold thermal response performance, and some influencing factors were then analyzed and discussed.…”

“…Mold temperature is one of the most important process parameters for polymer processing, because it directly affects the quality of molded parts. It has been widely demonstrated that higher mold temperature cannot only effectively improve the surface appearance [1][2][3][4] and mechanical strength [5] of molded parts, but also greatly increase the flow length of thin-wall parts [6] and replication fidelity of micro-and nano-structure on plastics parts [7,8]. However, higher mold temperature will extend the molding cycle and thus decrease the productivity.…”

Hydrogen silsesquioxane mold coatings for improved replication of nanopatterns by injection molding

“…Advanced mold designs and manipulators have been developed to reduce the cycle time below 30 s at the price of more complex and expensive mold fabrication methods and less thermal control of the mold surface. These involves heating of the stamper material itself by electrical (Joule heating) [26][27][28] or induction heating [29,30].…”