Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of process parameters on warpage of rapid heat cycle moulding plastic part

  • Published:
Journal of Central South University Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The effects of process parameters in rapid heat cycle moulding (RHCM) on parts warpage were investigated. A vehicle-used blue-tooth front shell (consisting of ABS material) was considered as a part example manufactured by RHCM method. The corresponding rapid heat response mould with an innovational conformal heating/cooling channel system and a dynamic mould temperature control system based on the J11-W-160 type precise temperature controller was proposed. During heating/cooling process, the mould was able to be heated from room temperature to 160 °C in 6 s and then cooled to 80 °C in 22 s. The effects of processing conditions in RHCM on part warpage were investigated based on the single factor experimental method and Taguchi theory. Results reveal that the elevated mould temperature reduces unwanted freezing during the injection stage, thus improving mouldability and enhancing part quality, whereas the overheated of mould temperature will lead to defective product. The feasible mould temperature scope in RHCM should be no higher than 140 °C, and the efficient mould temperature scope should be around the polymer heat distortion temperature. Melt temperature as well as injection pressure effects on warpage can be divided into two stages. The lower stage gives a no explicit effect on warpage whereas the higher stage leads to a quasi-linear downtrend. But others affect the warpage as a V-type fluctuation, reaching to the minimum around the heat distortion temperature. Under the same mould temperature condition, the effects of process parameters on warpage decrease according to the following order, packing time, packing pressure, melt temperature, injection pressure and cooling time, respectively.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. HYANG M S, TAI N S. Experimental rapid surface heating by induction for micro-injection molding of light-guided plates [J]. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2009, 113(2):1345–1354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. YAO D, KIM B. Injection molding high aspect ratio microfeatures [J]. Journal Injection Molding Technology, 2002, 6(1):11–17.

    Google Scholar 

  3. YAO D, KIMERLING T E, KIM B. High-frequency proximity heating for injection molding applications [J]. Polymer Engineer & Science, 2006, 46(7):938–954.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. CHANG P C, HWANG S J. Simulation of infrared rapid surface heating for injection molding [J]. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 2006, 49(21/22):3846–3854.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. YU M C, YOUNG W B, HSU P M. Micro-injection molding with the infrared assisted heating system [J]. Materials Science and Engineering: A, 2007, 460/461:288–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. CHEN S C, JONG W R, CHANG J A. Dynamic mold surface temperature control using induction heating and its effects on the surface appearance of weld line [J]. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2006, 101(2):1174–1180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. CHEN S C, LIU Y W, CHIEN R D, LI H M. Variable mold temperature to improve surface quality of microcellular injection molded parts using induction heating technology [J]. Advances in Polymer Technology, 2008, 27(4):224–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. XIE L, ZIEGMANN G. A visual mold with variotherm system for weld line study in micro injection molding [J]. Microsystem Technologies, 2008, 14(6):809–814.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. CHEN H L, CHIEN R D, CHEN S C. Using thermally insulated polymer film for mold temperature control to improve surface quality of microcellular injection molded parts [J]. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 2008, 35(8):991–994.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. LEONG Y W, UMEMURA T, HAMADA H. Film insert molding as a novel weld-line inhibition and strengthening technique [J]. Polymer Engineering & Science, 2008, 48(11):2147–2158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. HASSAN H, REGNIER N, BOT C L, DEFAYE G. 3D study of cooling system effect on the heat transfer during polymer injection molding [J]. International Journal of Thermal Science, 2010, 49(1):161–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. WANG Gui-long, ZHAO Guo-qun, GUAN Yan-jin, LI Hui-ping. Research and application of a new rapid heat cycle molding with electric heating and coolant cooling to improve the surface quality of large LCD TV panels [J]. Polymers for Advanced Technologies, 2011, 22(5):476–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. WANG Gui-long, ZHAO Guo-qun, LI Hui-ping, GUAN Yan-jin. Analysis of thermal cycling efficiency and optimal design of heating/cooling systems for rapid heat cycle injection molding process [J]. Materials & Design, 2010, 31(7):3426–3441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. GAO Yue-hua, WANG Xi-cheng. An effective warpage optimization method in injection molding based on the Kriging model [J]. International Journal of Advanced Manufacture Technology, 2008, 37(9/10):953–960.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. GAO Yue-hua, WANG Xi-cheng. Surrogate-based process optimization for reducing warpage in injection molding [J]. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2009, 209(3):1302–1309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. DENG Yi-min, ZHANG Yong, LAM Y C. A hybrid of mode-pursuing sampling method and genetic algorithm for minimization of injection molding wrapage [J]. Materials & Design, 2010, 31(4):2118–2123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. YIN Fei, MAO Hua-jie, HUA Lin, GUO Wei, SHU Mao-sheng. Back propagation neural network modelling for warpage prediction and optimization of plastic products during injection molding [J]. Materials & Design, 2011, 32(4):1844–1850.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. ZHANG Y, DENG Y M, SUN B S. Injection molding warpage optimization based on a mode-pursuing sampling method [J]. Polymer-Plastics Technology and Engineering, 2009, 48(7):767–774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. OZCELIK B, SONAT I. Warpage and structural analysis of thin shell plastic in the plastic injection molding [J]. Materials & Design, 2009, 30(2):367–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. TANG S H, TAN Y J, SAPUAN S M, SULAIMAN S, ISMAIL N, SAMIN R. The use of Taguchi method in the design of plastic injection mould for reducing warpage [J]. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2007, 182(1/2/3):418–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. ALTAN M. Reducing shrinkage in injection molding via Taguchi, ANOVA and neural network methods [J]. Materials & Design, 2010, 31(1):599–604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. YIN Fei, MAO Hua-jie, HUA Lin. A hybrid of back propagation neural network and genetic algorithm for optimization of injection molding process parameters [J]. Materials & Design, 2011, 32(6):3457–3464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. SHEN Chang-yu, WANG Li-xai, LI Qian. Optimization of injection molding process parameters using combination of artificial neural network and genetic algorithm method [J]. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 2007, 183(2/3):412–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. CHEN W C, FU G L, TAI P H, DENG W J. Process parameter optimization for MIMO plastic injection molding via soft computing [J]. Expert Systems with Applications, 2009, 36(2):1114–1122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. KURTARAN H, ERZURUMLU T. Efficient warpage optimization of thin shell plastic parts using response surface methodology and genetic algorithm [J]. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 2006, 27(5/6):468–472.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. CHIANG K T. The optimal process conditions of an injection-molded thermoplastic part with a thin shell feature using grey-fuzzy logic: A case study on machining the PC/ABS cell phone shell [J]. Materials & Design, 2007, 28(6):1851–1860.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. FARSHI B, GHESHMI S, MIANDOABCHI E. Optimization of injection molding process parameters using sequential simplex algorithm [J]. Materials & Design, 2011, 32(1):414–423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. POSTAWA P, KWIATKOWSKI D. Residual stress distribution in injection molded parts [J]. Journal of Achievements in Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, 2006, 18(1/2):171–174.

    Google Scholar 

  29. BASSIOUNY E, YOUSSEF H M, Two-temperature generalized thermopiezoelasticity of finite rod subjected to different types of thermal loading [J]. Journal of Thermal Stress, 2008, 31(3): 233–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. GE Z Q, CHEN T, SONG Z H. Quality prediction for polypropylene production process based on CLGPR model [J]. Control Engineering Practice, 2011, 19(5):423–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. WANG Gui-long, ZHAO Guo-qun, LI Hui-ping, GUAN Yan-jin. Multi-objective optimization design of the heating/cooling channels of the steam-heating rapid thermal response mold using particle swarm optimization [J]. International Journal of Thermal Science, 2011, 50(5):790–802.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China

    Dong-lei Liu  (刘东雷), Yong Xin  (辛勇), Wen-hua Cao  (曹文华) & Ling Sun  (孙玲)

  2. National Engineering Research Center for Application Plastic Processing Technology (NERC-APPT), Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 451002, China

    Dong-lei Liu  (刘东雷)

Authors
  1. Dong-lei Liu  (刘东雷)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yong Xin  (辛勇)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wen-hua Cao  (曹文华)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ling Sun  (孙玲)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dong-lei Liu  (刘东雷).

Additional information

Foundation item: Project(20122BAB206014) supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China; Project(51365038) supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province, China; Project(GJJ13068) supported by the Science and Technology Program of Educational Committee of Jiangxi Province, China

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, Dl., Xin, Y., Cao, Wh. et al. Effects of process parameters on warpage of rapid heat cycle moulding plastic part. J. Cent. South Univ. 21, 3024–3036 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-014-2272-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-014-2272-1

Key words

Search

Navigation