Injection Moulding Process

The definition of injection moulding process

The general injection moulding process is to feed polymer pellets or powder
into the injection moulding machine via barrel, After heated, compression,
shear, mixing and transmit, it gets homogeneous and melting (The process is
called the plasticizing) there. Then with pressure applied by the plunger or
screw, the high temperature melt polymer would go through the nozzle via the
runner system into pre- closed low temperature plastic mould cavity, cool and
get solidified there, and finally it is ejected out of the plastic mould after mould
open. A Plastic product with a certain geometry and accuracy will be achieved
and this method can be applied for the complex shape plastic production, also
it is one of the most important methods for the mass production.
injection moulding process

Plastic injection moulding process is generally divided into 4 stages:

1. Filling,

2. Packing,
3. Cooling and
4. Ejection,
and These 4 stages is a complete and continuous process and directly
determine the quality of the products:
1, Filling Stage; filling is the first step in the process of a whole injection
moulding process cycle, the time starts from the plastic mould close until the
mould cavity filled about 95%. In theory, the shorter the filling time is, the
higher the production efficiency will be, but in practice, the moulding time or
injection speed should be restricted by many conditions.
High speed filling: the shear rate will be higher when the injection speed
is high, and the viscosity is reduced by shear, which leads to lower
overall flow resistance, and the local viscous heating can also cause the
solidified layer thickness smaller. Therefore, in the flow control stage, the
filling behavior is often determined by the size of the volume. Due to the
high speed filling, the shear thinning effect become larger and the cooling
effect of the thin wall is not obvious.
Low speed filling. The heat transfer control is filled with low speed, and
the shear rate is lower. And the flow resistance is larger for the local
viscosity is higher. Due to the slow heat transferring, the heat transfer
effect is more obvious, and the heat quickly is taken away by the cold
mould wall. With a small amount of viscous heating, the thickness of the
solidified layer is thicker, so the flow resistance of the wall is further
increased.
Due to fountain flow, the plastic polymer chain flow front moves almost parallel.
Therefore contact surface polymer chains are parallel to each other when two
strands of plastic melt meet and the heterogeneous nature of the two strands
of the melt due to different time, pressure and temperature, results in meet
area poor strength. In the light of the appropriate angle, naked eye can find a
clear joint line, which is the forming mechanism of the weld line.
Weld line not only affect the appearance of plastic parts, but also make the
stress concentration because of the loose structure, which leads to the joint
part broken easily. Generally speaking, under the high temperature, the
strength of the weld line is better, because the high temperature makes the
polymer chain more active and can penetrate each other. In addition, near high
temperature region, the thermal properties of the melt are almost same.so the
strength is very good there.
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2, Packing(holding) Stage; packing(holding) is to continue to exert pressure

to the melt to increase the density of plastic, in order to compensate the
shrinkage of plastic. In the process of holding pressure, due to the mould
cavity has been filled with plastic, back pressure is high. In the holding process,

the injection moulding machine can only move slowly forward, and the plastic
flow velocity is also relatively slow, which process is called the pressure
holding flow.
During the holding period, the melt plastic accelerates to get cooled due to the
mould wall, and the melt viscosity increases quickly, so the flow resistance in
the mould cavity is very big. In the late period of the holding pressure, the
density of the material increases continuously, and the plastic parts are
gradually formed. The holding pressure is kept until the gate is sealed.
In the holding period, due to the very high pressure, the melt plastic can be
compressed. In the area of high pressure, the plastic is more compact, the
density is higher; while the pressure is lower on other place, the plastic is loose
and its density is lower, so the density distribution changes with different
position and time. In the holding process, plastic flow rate is very low so the
flow is no longer a leading role, and the pressure now is the main factor
affecting the packing process.
In the process of holding pressure, the plastic fill the mould cavity, which is
gradually solidified at this time. In the cavity pressure is transfer to the mould
wall surface by means of the solidifying plastic, which pressure trends to open
the mould. Therefore, it is necessary to apply appropriate clamping force to the
mould. In normal circumstances, the pressure will slightly open the mould a
little, which is helpful for mould venting; but if this force is too large, it easily
cause moulding flash, overflow and even open the mould. Therefore, when
buy the injection moulding machine, we should choose machine with large
enough clamping force, in order to prevent the mould open and can effectively
keep holding pressure.
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3 Cooling Stage; for the injection mould, cooling system design is very
important. This is because after released from the mould the moulded plastic
products only cool to certain rigidity to avoid deformation due to external force.
Since the cooling time accounts for about 70% ~ 80% of the whole moulding
cycle, a good cooling system can greatly shorten the moulding time, improve
the injection production and reduce the cost.
Improper design will make the moulding time longer and increase the cost.
And the poor cooling even will cause the plastic products warping deformation .
According to the experiment, the heat transferred from the melt into the mould
is generally divided into two parts, 5% by radiation and convection transferred
to the atmosphere, and the remaining 95% moves from the melt to the mould
wall directly.Heat in the melt plastic is transferred to the water cooling pipe via
mould base where heat is carried away by the coolant. Other heat that is not
cooled by cooling water continues to be scattered into the air.

The injection moulding process cycle consists of the close time, filling time,
packing time, cooling time and ejection time. Cooling time takes the largest
proportion of cycle time, about 70% ~ 80%. So the cooling time will directly
affect the plastic product manufacture cycle time and production.
After ejection out of the mould, the temperature of the plastic products should
be cooled lower than that of the deformation, in order to prevent the distortion
caused by the residual stress and the external force. Factors mainly affect the
cooling quality lists following:

The main factor is plastic product wall thickness. The greater the
injection part wall thickness is, the longer the cooling time will be.
Generally speaking, the cooling time is approximately proportional to the
square of the thickness of the plastic products, or it is proportional to the
1.6 time of the maximum flow channel diameter. That is, if the thickness
of the plastic product doubles, the cooling time will increase by 4 times.
Plastic mould steel and its cooling mode. The mould steel here mainly
includes the mould core, cavity and mould base. The higher the thermal
transfer coefficient of the mould steel is, the better effect of the heat
transfer in the unit time will be and the cooling time will be shorter. The
layout of cooling water pipe is very important. The closer the cooling
water pipe is to the mould surface, the bigger the diameter is and the
more the number are, the better the cooling effect is and the shorter the
cooling time is.
Coolant flow. The quicker the cooling water flow is, the more heat the
cooling water takes. Properties of coolant, the viscosity and heat transfer
coefficient of the cooling liquid also affect the heat transfer effect of the
mould. The lower the viscosity of the cooling liquid is, the higher the heat
transfer coefficient will be. The lower the temperature is, the better the
cooling effect will be.
Plastic choice, Plastic Thermal Conductivity is a measure of a plastic
that transfer the heat from the hot to the cold. High Plastic Thermal
Conductivity coefficient means the better thermal transfer effect or the
low specific heat of plastic (temperature is easy to change).the better the
heat transfer effect is, the shorter the cooling time will be.
Injection moulding process parameter. The higher the material
temperature and mould temperature are, the longer the cooling time will
be.
Cooling system design : the cooling pipes are designed to ensure the
uniform and rapid cooling effect. The purpose of the cooling system is to
maintain the proper and efficient cooling. Cooling pipes shall be
machined in standard size for easy processing and assembly. In the
design of cooling system, the mould design must be based on the wall
thickness, size of the plastic parts, the location and size of the cooling

pipes, the length of the pipes, the pipes type, layouts of the pipes, the
flow rate and the heat transfer characteristics of the cooling material.
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4 Ejection Stage; it is the last stage of the plastic injection moulding

process cycle. Although the products have been solidified, the ejection is very
important for the product quality, the improper ejection may lead to the
deformation and other defects when the force is uneven.
There are two main ejection ways: ejection pins and stripper plates. Mould
ejection system should be designed according to the structural of the product
in order to ensure product quality. For the ejection pins mould, ejection pins
layout should be as uniform as possible and the large ejection resistance and
high strength and stiffness area should be chosen for ejection to avoid plastic
deformation and damage. And stripper plates are generally used for the deep
and thin-wall container which does not allow the ejection traces, especially for
the transparent products. The advantages of the stripper plate are the large
and uniform ejection force, smooth movement, no obvious ejection traces.
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