1.

0 Introduction

Injection molding is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting material

into a mold. Injection molding can be performed with a host of materials, including
metals, glasses, elastomers, confections, and most commonly thermoplastic and thermosetting
polymers. Material for the part is fed into a heated barrel, mixed, and forced into a mold cavity
where it cools and hardens to the configuration of the cavity. After a product is designed, usually
by an industrial designer or an engineer, molds are made by a mold-maker (or toolmaker) from
metal, usually either steel or aluminum, and precision-machined to form the features of the
desired part. Injection molding is widely used for manufacturing a variety of parts, from the
smallest components to entire body panels of cars.

Parts to be injection molded must be very carefully designed to facilitate the molding
process; the material used for the part, the desired shape and features of the part, the material of
the mold, and the properties of the molding machine must all be taken into account. The
versatility of injection molding is facilitated by this breadth of design considerations and
possibilities.

Injection Molding Machine

2.0 Methodology

1. Ensure all the safety devices are operational and aware the EMERGENCY STOP button
2. Switch On the Chiller Unit. Make sure cooling and water pump indicator is in ON
position
3. Release RESET button and switch on menu screen.
4. Set the require temperature and press ON heater key
5. Wait until required temperature raised as displayed on menu screen
6. Fill polymer ( polyethylene and polypropylene) into the hopper
7. Close the safety gate
8. Press the MOULD CLOSE key until the mould is locked up
9. Press the NOZZLE ADVANCE key until the nozzle presses tight against the mould
10. Move the sensing ring until it is sensed by the nozzle forward proximity switch
11. Press the CHARGE key to fill polymer in the screw position. The screw will turn and
retract until the required position.
12. Press the INJECT key to fill the mould cavity and wait for cooling process

13. Press the MOULD OPEN key until the mould is completely open.
14. Press the EJECTOR ADVANCE key twice to eject the injection product
15. Examine the injection product. According to the surface defects, etc. adjust pressure,
stroke, time and temperature as needed.

16. Repeat the above procedure until the part is satisfactory

17. Press SEMI AUTO or AUTO OPERATION key for continuous injection.
18. Press RESET button to SHUT DOWN the system.
19. Switch off the isolator and DO the CLEANING PROCESS.
3.0 Results and Discussion

3.1 Explain the principle of injection molding machine.

Three stages shall be needed for the completion of injection and molding: plastication, injection
and molding.
1) Plastication. The raw materials of plastics fall into the charging barrel from the hopper and
are sent forward by the rotating screw. While in the charging barrel, the plastics, on the one
hand, receive heating and warming from outside of the barrel, and on the other hand, are
compacted due to the gradual reduction of the volume of spiral flute. Meanwhile, strong stirring
and cutting shall be applied to the plastics by the rotation of screw in the charging barrel,
resulting in the intense friction between plastics and between plastics and the barrel as well as
screw, and producing a lot of heat which leads to the gradual plastication and fusion of plastics
while being pushed forward. The screw while rotating also moves backwards due to the pressure
from the fusion of plastics by the head of screw, so that the plasticated fusant can be stored at the
top of the charging barrel for use during injection. The backward stroke of screw is determined
by the quality of materials injected as required by each molding of plastic parts.
2) Injection. When the screw stops rotating and moves backward, the mold clamping part
begins to work to close the mold and the injection unit subsequently moves forward to make the
nozzle and mold spruing gate joint with each other; the injection oil tank plunger drives the
screw to move forward rapidly, and the injection pressure and speed as required by the molding
technics inject the fused plastics into mold cavity. To avoid refluence of the materials injected
into the mold and to supplement the small amount of materials needed duet to the contraction
caused by the cooling and molding of parts, the screw, upon completion of injection, shall still
keep certain pressure on the fused materials, i.e. pressure maintaining, until the materials at the
gate have cooled and molded.
3) Molding. The fused materials in the mold cavity restore from viscous and fluid state to
glassy state after being cooled. After complete cooling and molding, the plastic parts in the mold
cavity are ejected by the ejector unit during mold opening, thereby the whole process of molding
of the injected parts being completed.
3.2 Can we mix polymer A and Polymer B to produce a polymer Blend AB. Explain your
answer.

Yes, we can mix polymer A and polymer B to produce a polymer blend AB. However the
polymers must be miscible to each other in order to achieve homogeneous polymer blend. It
has single phase structure and one Tg observed. The interaction of molecules between the
polymers must be occurred in order to form a miscible blend for example polarity of
molecules (negative and positive charge interaction).