Calculation of ejection force of hollow, thin walled,

and injection moulded cones

Kaizhi Shen, Li-Min Chen, and Long Jiang
As far as products of open or closed hollow cones or cylinders are concerned,
the moulded parts grip the mould cores after mould opening because of
dierential thermal contraction. To strip the parts from the mould core, most
injection and compression moulds have systems to eject the moulded parts
automatically. The ejection force is dened as the force needed to strip the
moulded parts from the mould cores. An injection mould with changeable
cavities and cores has been designed. Using dierent congurations of
the mould cavities and cores, open (or closed), hollow, thin walled cones
in various thicknesses, diameters, lengths, and cone angles were injected. The
ejection force was measured using a tensile machine and a specially designed
tool. The dependence of the ejection force on the size, wall thickness, cone
angle, elastic modulus, Poissons ratio of the moulded parts, and the friction
coecient between steel and plastics are considered and a new method for
calculating the ejection force in an acceptably accurate way is presented. The
relationship between the ejection force and plastics properties as well as mould
conguration is discussed. The calculation formula of the ejection force
indicates that: the ejection force is directly proportional to the thickness and
length of the part and has little relationship with the radius of the part; the
thermal contraction strain and Youngs modulus of the plastics impose
considerable inuence on the ejection force; a high friction coecient f leads
to a high ejection force; and for a cone angle of 2a, moulded parts can drop
down from the core automatically without ejection when tan af.
PRC/1434
1999 IoM Communications Ltd. The authors are in the Department of
Plastics Engineering, Sichuan Union University, Chengdu 610 065, PR China.
Manuscript received 2 April 1998; in nal form 9 July 1999.
INTRODUCTION THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
Many studies have been carried out on the ejection During the cooling phase, both the metal core and
force of plastic mouldings stripped from a mould the plastics moulding undergo thermal contraction.
core.13 The static melt pressure from the barrel is However, because the thermal expansion coecient
the only pressure exerted on the mould core when of the core is lower than that of the plastic, the
the temperature of the part is above the softening
shrinkage of the moulded cone is resisted by the core.
point. As the temperature decreases, the mould gates
Therefore stresses arise in the part, which applies
freeze and the moulded part begins to shrink, which
pressure normal to the core surface, as shown in Fig. 1.
makes the part grip the mould core tightly at the
time of mould opening. To remove the part from
Calculation of the pressure
the mould core, the ejection system must overcome
If both the core and the cone remained linearly elastic
the following resistant forces:
throughout the cooling stage, the pressure acting on
(i) the frictional force between the plastic and the
the core could be calculated simply by comparing the
mould core
actual shrinkage strain in the moulding e
obs
and
(ii ) air pressure (vacuum force) a vacuum occurs
the shrinkage strain that would have developed if
between the core and the moulded part during
the moulding had cooled without constraint e
max
. The
ejection when closed hollow products are
thermally induced stess would then be proportional
moulded
to the dierence in strains, e
max
e
obs
. However, plas-
(iii) the adhesive force between plastic and steel,
tics are viscoelastic materials, and therefore undergo
which is relatively small and is ignored in the
some stress relaxation when cooled under constraint,
present paper
especially in the temperature region immediately
(iv) friction forces between ejection mechanism
below the softening point temperature. Consequently,
components, which depend on the accuracy,
estimates of pressure obtained from the expression
complexity, and lubrication of the mechanism,
(e
max
e
obs
)E, where E is Youngs modulus at the
and are neglected in the present calculation
temperature of the cold moulding, will inevitably
because their values are small and dicult to
overestimate the pressure.
determine.
The pressure depends on the thermal contraction Of the above forces, the frictional force is the most
strain, Youngs modulus, and Poissons ratio of the prominent, which can be computed by multiplying
plastic, and can be calculated as follows. For a wall the pressure acting on the core surface, the contact
thickness t and diameter d of the moulded part and area, and the friction coecient between plastics
and steel. provided td/20, using four imaginary planes in a
Plastics, Rubber and Composites 1999 Vol. 28 No. 7 341 ISSN 14658011
342 Shen et al. Calculation of ejection force of hollow, thin walled, and injection moulded cones
1 Schematic diagram of mould core and
moulded part
direction normal to the surface of the moulded
part, an element of length ds
1
and width ds
2
can be
obtained, as shown in Fig. 2. The strains in the plastics
are then equal in each direction and the longitudinal
and transverse stresses, s
1
and s
2
, respectively, are
equal; the stresses on each point of a perpendicular
cross-section of the part are thought to be equal. The
summation of the forces in the X axis direction (i.e.
direction 3) is zero:
F
1
2F
2
=0
where F
1
is the total pressure on the element caused
by the core and F
2
is the projection on the x axis of
the tensile forces exerted on the element.
2 Schematic diagram of force and stress analysis
Introducing
of moulded cone part
F
1
=p ds
1
ds
2
and
Combining equation (3) with equation (4) gives
F
2
=st ds
1
sin
db
2 p=
st cos a
r
. . . . . . . . . . . . (5)
gives
According to the generalised Hookes Law5
p ds
1
ds
2
2st ds
1
sin
db
2
=0 . . . . . . (1)
e=
1
E
[s
1
m(s
2
s
3
)] . . . . . . . . (6)
where s=s
1
=s
2
, db is the angle included by two
imaginary planes, and p is the pressure.
where E is Youngs modulus, e is the elastic strain
When db is small
in the plastic due to dierential thermal contraction,
and m is Poissons ratio. In this case, s
3
(equal to p)
sin
db
2
#
db
2
in the normal direction is far lower than s
1
(s) and
s
2
(s), so it seems a reasonable simplication to treat
so equation (1) can be simplied to
the element as being in a state of plane stress. Therefore
equation (6) can be simplied to
s
db
ds
2
=
p
t
. . . . . . . . . . . . . (2)
e=
1
E
(sms)
Since
therefore
db=
ds
2
r
s=
Ee
1m
. . . . . . . . . . . . . (7) where r is the radius of curvature of the element,
equation (2) is reduced to
Substituting equation (7) into equation (5) gives
s
r
=
p
t
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3)
p=
Eet cos a
r(1m)
. . . . . . . . . . . (8)
It is apparent from dierential geometry4 that
r=
r
cos a
. . . . . . . . . . . . . (4) Calculation of resultant pressure
Cutting the cone by two planes normal to the axis of
the cone, an element as shown in Fig. 3 is obtained; where a is half the cone angle.
Plastics, Rubber and Composites 1999 Vol. 28 No. 7
Shen et al. Calculation of ejection force of hollow, thin walled, and injection moulded cones 343
3 Schematic diagram showing calculation of
resultant pressure on core
4 Schematic diagram showing calculation of
ejection force
the resultant pressure on the interior surface of the
element is
dP=pS=
Eet cos a
r(1m)

2pr dl
cos a
=
2pEet
1m
dl
10 N cm2, so the vacuum force Q
2
in N can be
obtained from
where dP is the resultant pressure on the element,
Q
2
=B10=10B . . . . . . . . . ( 13)
S is the surface area of the element, and dl is the
distance between the two planes.
where B is the projected area (in cm2) of the core
The resultant pressure P on the whole core surface is
surface in the direction of core axis.
Total ejection force
P=
P
l
0
2pEet
1m
dl =
2pEetl
1m
. . . . . . . (9)
As a result of the above, the total ejection force Q
can be obtained from
The direction of P is perpendicular to the core surface.
Q=Q
1
+Q
2
. . . . . . . . . . . ( 14)
Calculation of ejection force
Combining equations (9), (12), (13), and ( 14) gives
According to the analysis above, the ejection force
can be calculated by adding the friction force and the
vacuum force.
Q=
2pEetl
1m
cos a( f tan a)
1+f sin a cos a
+10B . . . . ( 15)
Friction force
When ejecting the part from the mould core, the This is thus the nal equation for the calculation of
ejection force equals the force Q
1
required for drawing the ejection force, where t and l are quoted in centi-
the mould core out of the cone as shown in Fig. metres, B is in cm2, E in N cm2 ( 104 Pa), and Q in
4. Owing to Q
1
, the resultant pressure applied on N. This equation implies:
the core surface decreases to PQ
1
sin a, hence the (i) the friction force is directly proportional to
friction force F is the thickness and length of the part and has
little relationship with the radius of the part;
F=f (PQ
1
sin a) . . . . . . . . . (10)
the vacuum force is directly proportional to
Moreover, the summation of forces in the axis of the
the projected area of the part
cone is zero, so
(ii ) the thermal contraction strain and Youngs
modulus of the plastics impose considerable
Q
1
+P sin aF cos a=0 . . . . . . . (11)
inuence on the ejection force, hence the force
Introducing equation (10) into equation (11) gives
can be decreased by ejecting the part at a
higher temperature f (PQ
1
sin a) cos a=Q
1
+P sin a
(iii) the higher the friction coecient the higher
namely
the ejection force, so the ejection force can be
f P cos aP sin a=P cos a( f tan a)
decreased by lubrication of the mould core
(iv) if tan af, the open hollow parts can drop
=Q
1
(1+f sin a cos a)
down from the mould core automatically even
Hence, for open hollow cones, the ejection force can
without applying an ejection force.
be calculated as follows
EXPERIMENTAL Q
1
=
P cos a( f tan a)
1+f sin a cos a
. . . . . . . . (12)
Materials
Since Q, decreases with increasing a, when tan
Two types of typical crystalline and amorphous
af , Q
1
0.
polymers were chosen for experimental materials:
polypropylene 2401 and polystyrene 666D, both manu- Vacuum force
Air pressure produces a vacuum force when closed factured by Yanshan Petrochemical Corporation,
Beijing, China. hollow cones are ejected. The air pressure is
Plastics, Rubber and Composites 1999 Vol. 28 No. 7
344 Shen et al. Calculation of ejection force of hollow, thin walled, and injection moulded cones
6 Tool used for drawing mould core out of
moulded part
5 Experimental mould with changeable core and
cavity
on a tensile machine. The ejection force was measured
by pulling the core out of the product as shown in
Injection moulding
Fig. 6. Five specimens were injected and measured
The experiment was conducted on an XS-ZY-125
for each conguration. The average values of the ve
injection machine (manufactured by Ningbo Injection
measurements are given in Tables 1 and 2. For each
Machine Corporation, Ningbo, China). The mould,
conguration, the ve measured values are similar
with changeable cavity and core as shown in Fig. 5,
and agree well with the calculated value.
was designed especially for this experiment. Using
The thermal contraction strain applied in the calcu-
this mould, open and closed hollow cones were pro-
lation is that measured just after stripping the product
duced in dierent thicknesses, diameters, lengths,
out of the mould core. Its value is normally half of
and cone angles by using dierent cavitycore
the conventional shrinkage strain observed in the
congurations.
absence of constraint. Hence a safety factor is included
if the ejection force is calculated on this basis. Other
variables such as friction coecient, Youngs modulus, Measurement of ejection force
After mould opening, the core, with the product still and Poissons ratio were all measured in the authors
laboratory using standard methods. in place, was removed from the mould and installed
Table 1 Ejection forces of polypropylene*
Core dimensions, mm
Ejection force, Ejection force,
Diameter closed cones, 10 N open cones, 10 N
a, at large Wall
Cavity Core deg. end Length thickness Measured Calculated Measured Calculated
A a 15 94 775 25 27 0 0 0
B b 75 86 78 19 62 88 59 24
c 75 84 77 29 72 100 96 63
C d 15 78 78 20 186 167 147 114
e 0 74 77 28 282 349 287 299
D f 0 76 78 20 242 267 222 216
g 0 77 785 15 248 213 160 163
* Friction coefficient f =015; Poissons ratio m=032; elastic strain in the plastic due to differential thermal contraction e=0008;
Youngs modulus of polypropylene E=125103 MPa.
Measured value is average of five readings.
A negative calculated value is given as zero.
Table 2 Ejection forces of polystyrene*
Core dimensions, mm
Ejection force, Ejection force,
Diameter closed cones, 10 N open cones, 10 N
a, at large Wall
Cavity Core deg. end Length thickness Measured Calculated Measured Calculated
A a 15 94 775 26 44 0 0 0
B b 75 86 78 20 82 100 53 37
c 75 84 77 29 121 116 95 53
C d 15 78 78 20 205 230 186 177
e 0 74 77 28 377 338 282 288
D f 0 76 78 20 325 259 223 209
g 0 77 785 15 208 208 141 158
* Friction coefficient f =018; Poissons ratio m=031; elastic strain in the plastic due to differential thermal contraction
e=00034; Youngs modulus E of polystyrene=24103 MPa.
Measured value is average of five readings.
A negative calculated value is given as zero.
Plastics, Rubber and Composites 1999 Vol. 28 No. 7
Shen et al. Calculation of ejection force of hollow, thin walled, and injection moulded cones 345
CONCLUSIONS mould core. Experiments have veried that the calcu-
lated ejection force agrees well with the measured Normally, moulded parts remain on the mould core
value. after mould opening. To eject the part from the core,
the ejection force must overcome the friction force,
the vacuum force, the adhesive force, etc. Proper REFERENCES
1. n. v. os:1o: Injection moulding handbook, Ch. 7; 1986. calculation of the ejection force is a prerequisite of
2. c. xrNcrs and i. xonrN: Anleitung fu r den bau von
the design of an ejection mechanism. The present
spritzgiewerkzeugen, Ch. 12.
paper has developed a formula to calculate the ejec-
3. :. x:xiNsxi xrssrN and nrrcnNrN voN rN1roxiNcs-
tion force of hollow, injection moulded cones on the
x:r: KunststoVe, 1976, 66, 4.
basis of a comprehensive force analysis. The formula
4. c. c. nsiiNc: A rst course in dierential geometry;
shows that the ejection force depends strongly on the
1981, Chichester, Wiley.
thermal contraction strain, Poissons ratio, Youngs
5. s. 1ixosnrNxo and . crr: Mechanics of materials,
modulus of the plastic, the size of the product, and
equation 232a; 1972, New York, Van Nostrand Rein-
hold. the friction coecient between the plastic and the
Plastics, Rubber and Composites 1999 Vol. 28 No. 7