Journal of Materials Processing Technology 110 (2001) 1±9

The effective factors in the warpage problem of an injection-molded

part with a thin shell feature
Ming-Chih Huang*, Ching-Chih Tai
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tatung Institute of Technology, 40 Chungshan North Road, 3rd Sec., Taipei, Taiwan 104, PR China
Received 14 March 1999

Abstract

Communication and electronic products have been developing towards the design concept of being light, thin, short, and small. To
acquire the maximal internal space for parts to be packed closely into the product, one way is to reduce the wall thickness of the housing
components. Therefore, the production technique of plastic injection molding of a part with a thin shell feature is becoming increasingly
more important. Many factors lead to the defects of parts, such as warpage, shrinkage, sink marks, residual stress, and so on. This research
used the experimental design of Taguchi method to determine the injection molding conditions, and the injection processes were simulated
using the commercial software C-MOLDTM. Both molding conditions and factors were discussed regarding the degree of warpage of a thin
shell part. The results showed that the packing pressure had the greatest in¯uence on the warpage, followed by mold temperature, melt
temperature, and packing time. However, the warpage was only slightly in¯uenced by the gate dimension and the ®lling time in thin shell
injection molding. In addition, applying the experimental design of Taguchi method is a quite effective method to deduce the optimum set
of effective factors in injection molding to produce plastic parts with minimum warpage. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Injection molding; Effective factor; Warpage; Thin shell part; Experimental design

1. Introduction The procedure of injection molding is described as fol-

The development of communication and electronic con-
sumer products, such as portable computers and mobile
telephones, etc., has had the trend for products to be light,
thin, short, and small. The concept of product design insists
on smaller and more convenient products. As a result, the
shapes of products are changing and more features (i.e., the
internal components) have to be packed into smaller
volumes within the housing. One way of doing this is to
reduce the wall thickness of the housing parts to give more
space for the tightly packed components inside [1]. These
walls, which were originally of 2 or 3 mm in thickness, can
be reduced to 1 mm or less in thickness. The main way to
produce plastic product housings is to use injection molding.
However, as the wall thickness of plastic parts becomes
thinner, the injection molding operation becomes more
dif®cult. Hence, the industry has the demand for techniques
of plastic injection molding to produce plastic parts with thin
wall features.
lows. Firstly, the raw material is heated to its melting
temperature. By high pressure, the melted polymer is
injected into the cavity via a delivery system and a gate.
When ®lling is nearly completed, the cavity is maintained at
a constant pressure for the packing stage. Packing pressure is
used to ®ll the remaining volume of the cavity and to
compensate for shrinkage in the cooling stage, the shrinkage
resulting in the decreasing of the dimensions as the cavity
cools down. After the interior of cavity has become stable,
the product is ejected from the mold. Defects of the pro-
ducts, such as warpage, shrinkage, sink marks and residual
stress, are caused by many factors during the production
process. These defects in¯uence the quality and accuracy of
the products. Therefore, it is of critical importance to
effectively control the factors of in¯uence during the mold-
ing procedure.
2. The warpage problem in injection molding

It is an important issue in plastic injection molding to

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: ‡886-2-2592-5252, ext: 3410;
predict the warpage problem before manufacturing takes
fax: ‡886-2-2599-7142. place. There have been some publications on this topic, both
E-mail address: cphuang@ara.seed.net.tw (M.-C. Huang). on theoretical simulation and on experimental results.

0924-0136/01/$ ± see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 6 4 9 - X
2 M.-C. Huang, C.-C. Tai / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 110 (2001) 1±9
Jacques [2] simulated the thermal warpage resulting from
unbalanced cooling in a ¯at plate of amorphous polymer,
which revealed that the warpage phenomenon of the molded
product results from the bending moment due to the asym-
metrical stress distribution over the thickness of the plastic
parts. The thinnest part warps the greatest amount because of
its relatively small second moment of area in bending.
Matsuoka et al. [3] integrated both simulation and experi-
mental studies related with warpage, the programs consist-
ing of molding polymer ®lling±packing±cooling, ®ber
orientation, material properties and stress analysis. The
warpage is predicted from the temperature difference
between the upper and lower surfaces, the temperature
distribution, ¯ow-induced shear stress, shrinkage, and ani-
sotropic mechanical properties caused by ®ber orientation.
The theoretical simulation result for a 4-ribbed square plate
in ®ber-reinforced polypropylene (FRPP) was in good
agreement with experimental results, both producing a
saddle-like warpage. Bushko and Stokes [4] studied the
effects of the manufacturing conditions, such as mold
temperature, melt temperature, packing pressure, and wall
thickness, on the shrinkage and residual stresses. The pack-
ing pressure is shown to have a signi®cant effect on the
shrinkage of the molded part, higher packing pressures
resulting in lower shrinkage, both in the in-plane and
through-thickness direction. The mold and melt tempera-
tures are shown to have a much smaller effect.
Leo and Cuvelliez [5] explored the effect of the packing
parameters and gate geometry on the ®nal dimensions of a
molded part by experiment. The result shows that a thinner
gate gives a more equable shrinkage for approximately the
same applied packing pressure. Clearly, with a constant
packing pressure and a thick gate, there is no way to produce
a part with uniform shrinkage. In a complex ``real life''
geometry, this variable shrinkage can cause signi®cant
warpage of the part [6].
Jansen and Titomanlio [7] considered a thin slab model in
which shrinkage occurred before mold opening. A simple
elastic model was used to study the effect of in-mold
shrinkage on the ®nal product dimensions and residual stress
distribution. It was shown clearly that longer holding time
produces less ®nal length shrinkage. Chang and Tsaur [8]
also presented their theoretical simulation and experimental
results on shrinkage, warpage, and sink marks of crystalline
polymer injection-molded parts. The model includes mold
cooling analysis, the injection-molding ®lling, packing and
cooling processes, the polymer viscoelastic behavior, the
pressure±volume±temperature and crystallization behavior
of the polymer, and the solid mechanics analysis. Both the
qualitative and the quantitative results of the theoretical
predictions correlated suf®ciently with the experimental data.
3. Motive and aim
In the procedure of injection molding, as the wall thick-
ness decreases, it becomes harder to get the plastic material
to ¯ow successfully through the distance to the desired area.
From the above review, it is known that as the wall thickness
reduces to below 2 mm, the ratio of the frozen skin layer to
the melted core layer increases, i.e., there is relatively less
material in the melted core to ®ll and pack out the part.
Owing to a greater portion of the melted plastic material
being in contact with the relatively cold mold wall at thinner
sections, heat dissipates quickly, and the material freezes
quickly. Consequently, higher shear stress on the material
and more molecular orientation will be expected, which may
contribute to warpage. The higher L:T ratio (the ratio of the
length to the thickness in an injected item) will also result in
more warpage.
From a previous literature review, the effective factors
of warpage in the injection-molded products can be identi-
®ed, including the ®lling time, mold temperature, gate
dimensions, melt temperature, packing pressure and pack-
ing time. The following are brief descriptions of the
effective factors in the warpage of a plastic injection-molded
product.
1. Filling time. The ®lling time is obtained by dividing the
volume of the cavity by the injection velocity. A higher
injection velocity results in a shorter ®lling time.
However, in the melt ¯ow area of both rapid velocity
and high pressure, the melt temperature is heightened as
the heat-transfer time is shorter and viscous heat is
higher. Further, the higher molecular orientation is able
to easily effect the deformation of the product as a result
of the higher melt temperature.
2. Mold temperature. The stress that is resulted from the
temperature difference between the upper and lower
molds causes the warpage of the injection molding item.
3. Gate dimension. The ®lling rate affects the average
shrinkage under thin gate condition. Additionally, the
®lling rate, the gate dimension and the ®lling time are all
related.
4. Melt temperature. The melt temperature affects the ¯ow
rate and curing time of the melt, and the curing time is
related with the warpage of the product. Consequently,
the melt temperature is an important effective factor in
molding during the ®lling stage.
5. Packing pressure and packing time. A suitable packing
pressure and packing time can provide enough melt
volume in the curing stage, i.e., they can reduce the
shrinkage of the product volume. Thus, warpage caused
by unbalanced shrinkage can also be reduced.
The purpose of this research is to analyze the effective
factors of warpage in injection-molded items applying the
Taguchi method. Computer simulations of the injection
molding process will be carried out to obtain the warpage
data. Then, the contribution percentage of each factor can be
found and the optimum set of parameters driving the effec-
tive factors in injection molding can be determined to
produce a product with the minimum warpage.
 M.-C. Huang, C.-C. Tai / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 110 (2001) 1±9 3

4. Taguchi's experimental method Table 1

The orthogonal array L27(313) used in this research
The Taguchi method is a quite effective method targeted Trial No. Column
at quality improvement for product development. It uses
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
fractional factorial experimental design, called an orthogo-
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
nal array, to reduce the number of experiments under 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
permissive reliability. A primary component of Taguchi 3 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
method is parameter design. The product parameters are 4 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3
determined such that the product's functional characteristic 5 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1
is optimized, with minimal sensitivity to noise [9]. Noise in 6 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 2
7 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 3 3 3 2 2 2
this instance includes all uncontrollable design factors. The 8 1 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 3 3 3
purpose of parameter design is to minimize the loss of 9 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1
product quality resulting from noise, by making the product 10 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
functionally acceptable under variations in design para- 11 2 1 2 3 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1
meters. 12 2 1 2 3 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2
13 2 2 3 1 1 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 2
The following descriptions outline the parameter design 14 2 2 3 1 2 3 1 3 1 2 1 2 3
procedure: 15 2 2 3 1 3 1 2 1 2 3 2 3 1
16 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 3 1 2 2 3 1
1. To designate the quality characteristic: A suitable 17 2 3 1 2 2 3 1 1 2 3 3 1 2
quality characteristic has to be speci®ed as the target 18 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 2 3 1 1 2 3
19 3 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2
value with the requirement of experiment. In this 20 3 1 3 2 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3
research, the smaller the warpage of the injection- 21 3 1 3 2 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1
molded item, the better is the quality. 22 3 2 1 3 1 3 2 2 1 3 3 2 1
2. To determine the effective factors and levels: How many 23 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 3 2 1 1 3 2
factors should be included and the levels of each factor 24 3 2 1 3 3 2 1 1 3 2 2 1 3
25 3 3 2 1 1 3 2 3 2 1 2 1 3
may be decided from experience, preliminary studies or 26 3 3 2 1 2 1 3 1 3 2 3 2 1
using brain-storming techniques. 27 3 3 1 1 3 2 1 2 1 3 1 3 2
3. To select the appropriate orthogonal arrays: The
orthogonal array is composed of a number of rows
and columns. Each column represents one of the
effective factors for experiment, and each row represents 3.6. To decide the combination of experimental level in
an assembly of the effective factors with a speci®c level accordance with the numbers of layout columns for
in one trial. The orthogonal array used in this research is all factors.
shown in Table 1. 3.7. All of the tests in the process are performed
When the orthogonal array is set up, the interactive according to random order.
effect should be designated as an additional effective 4. To select the appropriate formulations of quality
factor, if there is interaction between any two of the characteristics, the SN (signal-to-noise) ratio is one of
effective factors. This can be carried out using the the measurement indexes for quality characteristics. It is
interactive orthogonal array presented in Table 2. The regarded as the signal for the average of repeated trials,
general layout steps with interaction is described as and noise for the variance. The SN is de®ned as follows:
follows: For smaller-the-better:
3.1. To compute the sum of all factors and the degrees
of freedom with interaction, it is equivalent to the SN ˆ ÿ10 log…MSD†
sum of the degrees of freedom for all factors. where
3.2. To select a larger degree of freedom than the sum
of the degrees of freedom and at the same level as 1X n

the smallest experiment times in the orthogonal MSD ˆ y2

array.
3.3. To dispose the two relative factors on the
orthogonal array after selecting an interaction, then
to proceed randomly on the orthogonal array
according to the interactive orthogonal array.
3.4. To repeat the third step until all interactive factors
have been disposed.
3.5. To arrange the residual factors randomly on the
residual column of orthogonal array.
n iˆ1 i
in which MSD is the mean square deviation. The best
combination of parameter levels is that which produces
the highest SN ratio. There is minimum variance and the
most close to the target characteristic of a part is to be
produced under such parameter levels.
5. The SN ratio can be obtained from experimental data.
6. Auxiliary tables and response diagram: Taguchi pro-
posed auxiliary tables and a response diagram. The
4 M.-C. Huang, C.-C. Tai / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 110 (2001) 1±9

Table 2
L27(313) interaction column

Column Column

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
1 (1) 3 2 2 6 5 5 9 8 8 12 11 11
4 4 3 7 7 6 10 10 9 13 13 12
2 (2) 1 1 8 9 10 5 6 7 5 6 7
4 3 11 12 13 11 12 13 8 9 10
3 (3) 1 9 10 8 7 5 6 6 7 5
2 13 11 12 12 13 11 10 8 9
4 (4) 10 8 9 6 7 5 7 5 6
12 13 11 13 11 12 9 10 8
5 (5) 1 1 2 3 4 2 4 3
7 6 11 13 12 8 10 9
6 (6) 1 4 2 3 3 2 4
5 13 12 11 140 9 8
7 (7) 3 4 2 9 3 2
12 11 13 2 8 10
8 (8) 1 1 5 3 4
10 9 4 7 6
9 (9) 1 7 2 3
8 3 6 5
10 (10) 6 4 2
5 7
11 (11) 1 1
13 12
12 (12) 1
11
13 (13)

methods provide easy distinction and control of the
degree of in¯uence. The purpose of the auxiliary table is
searching for the average of the sums of factor levels.
The response diagram can then be constructed by using
the factor's effects:
PF P3
iˆA jˆ1 yij
Mij ˆ
ij
where Mij is the average of the sums of the SN ratio in
the ith effective factor and jth level, yij the SN ratio of ith
effective factor and jth level, and i and j are the ith
effective factor and jth level.
5. Experimental method
Simulation of the injection molding process using com-
puter software has made promising progress recently. In this
research, the commercial mold ¯ow analysis software, C-
MOLDTM, is used to carry out all of the injection molding
experiments. This software uses the ®nite element and ®nite
difference methods to calculate a series of mathematical
functions representing the molding process. The software
modules include C-FLOW, C-PACK, C-COOL and C-
WARP application software, etc. These simulations provide
information such as the distribution and variation of the
temperature, pressure, ¯ow rate, skin property, molecular
orientation, shear stress and shear rate of the material in the
®lling, packing and cooling stages. The results together with
the molding conditions can be useful in product and mold
design, which may include the optimal gate position and
runner size, and predicting the weld line location, shrinkage
and warpage. In addition, the molding conditions of the
injection process can be optimized.
1. Assumptions. There are many factors affecting the
injection molding process, which may include the kind
of material, the types of machine, the geometrical shape
of the product, the kind of mold material, the allocation
of coolant runners and the selection of the coolant
liquid. For easy conduction of experimental simulation,
only the factors regarding the control of the process are
considered. Consequently, the analysis will be carried
out under the following assumptions.
1.1. Because the product can be in various shapes, the
effects due to the geometrical dimensions of the
mold and the product are neglected.
1.2. Only the effects of the ®lling, packing, and cooling
processes are discussed.
1.3. The core and cavity mold halves are assumed to
have the same temperature to minimize warpage.
The layout of the cooling channels is assumed to
maintain a constant temperature everywhere in the
mold.
 M.-C. Huang, C.-C. Tai / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 110 (2001) 1±9 5

Table 3
The physical properties of PC/ABS

Specific heat, Cp (J/kg8C) 1871

Glass transition temperature, Tg (8C) 112
Thermal expansion coefficient, a (mm/m8C) 74
Elastic modulus, E (MPa) 2.63103
Poisson's ratio, u 0.23
Thermal conductivity, K (w/m8C) 0.27

1.4. The ejection temperature is set at 1108C and the

temperature of the environment is 258C.
1.5. The coolant is pure water.
2. Plastic material. In this research, the plastic material
used in all of the simulations is the amorphous
thermoplastic PC/ABS blend, Cycoloy C2950HF from
GE. Its viscosity is between 102 and 104 poise when the
shear rate is in the 102±103 sÿ1 range. The range of melt
temperature is between 220 and 4008C approximately.
The basic physical and mechanical properties of PC/
ABS are shown in Table 3.
3. Geometrical model building. The dimension of the
simulated item is a rectangle cover of length 120 mm,
width 50 mm, height 8 mm and wall thickness 1 mm.
The inlet of the melt is of pin gate type. The coolant
channels are symmetrical with respect to the cover, and
of diameter 8 mm individually. The runner system
includes the sprue, runner, and cylindrical gate. The
con®guration of the cooling channels and the cavity
geometry can be seen in Fig. 1. They were divided into
484 pieces of triangular elements. The diagram of the
®nite element meshes of the part is presented in Fig. 2.
4. Experimental design and analysis. Taguchi method is
used in the design of the experiments. There are six
factors identi®ed previously that control the injection
process: mold temperature (x1), melt temperature (x2),
®lling time (x3), gate dimension (x4), packing pressure
(x5), and packing time (x6). Each factor has three levels,
their values, as shown in Table 4 being decided
according to the suggestions of experts. An orthogonal
array L27(313) is chosen for this design.
Fig. 2. The ®nite element meshes of the geometrical model.
When proceeding with the layout of the orthogonal array,
two pairs of interactions within the factors have been
considered in addition to the six effective factors. The ®rst
pair is the interaction between mold temperature and melt
temperature, which is assigned to columns 3 and 4 according
to the table of interaction columns (see Table 2). The other
pair is the interaction between ®lling time and melt tem-
perature, which is assigned to columns 8 and 11. The
injection pressure is regarded as signal factor and is assigned
to the outer orthogonal array. This is due to the injection
pressure being dif®cult to control precisely and because the
pressure loss that occurs during the entire molding process
may affect the part signi®cantly. The completed experimen-
tal design is shown in Table 5.
According to the assigned values in Table 5, experiments
of the injection molding process will be carried out in
random order, each at both 120 and 124 MPa, using the
C-MOLDTM software. The resulting warpage data under the
two different injection pressures will be averaged and then
transformed to an SN ratio, after which they are used to
produce the response table of the SN ratio and the response
diagram of the SN ratio. The signi®cant factors can be
identi®ed from this table and this diagram. The combination
of each factor at the level that produces the highest SN ratio
will be the optimum process condition. Using this optimum
set of factors in simulation will give the minimum warpage
value in this design of experiment.

Table 4
The three levels of effective factors for experimental variance

Factors Levels

1 2 3
Mold temperature, x1 (8C) 55 70 85
Melt temperature, x2 (8C) 240 265 290
Filling time, x3 (s) 0.1 0.3 0.5
Gate dimension, x4 (mm) 0.8 1 1.2
Packing pressure, x5 (MPa) 60% 75% 90%
Packing time, x6 (s) 0.6 0.8 1
Fig. 1. The con®guration of the cooling channels and the cavity geometry.
6 M.-C. Huang, C.-C. Tai / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 110 (2001) 1±9

Table 5
The orthogonal array with three levels and the results of experiment

Trial Control factor Signal factor Average SN

No. (120 MPa) Z

x1 x2 x1x2 x1x2 x3 x4 x5 x2x3 x6 e x2x3 e e 0 ‡4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.2273 0.2273 0.2273 12.87

2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0.1572 0.3519 0.2546 11.29
3 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 0.5392 0.6448 0.5920 4.52
4 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 0.1128 0.1128 0.1128 18.95
5 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 0.3120 0.3120 0.3120 10.12
6 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 0.1558 0.1558 0.1558 16.15
7 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 3 3 3 2 2 2 0.2320 0.2320 0.2320 12.69
8 1 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 3 3 3 0.1009 0.1009 0.1009 19.92
9 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 0.3203 0.3203 0.3203 9.89
10 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 0.4624 0.4624 0.4624 6.70
11 2 1 2 3 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 0.1176 0.1290 0.1233 18.17
12 2 1 2 3 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 0.2245 0.2763 0.2504 11.98
13 2 2 3 1 1 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 0.2746 0.2746 0.2746 11.23
14 2 2 3 1 2 3 1 3 1 2 1 2 3 0.1137 0.1137 0.1137 18.88
15 2 2 3 1 3 1 2 1 2 3 2 3 1 0.1027 0.1027 0.1027 19.77
16 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 3 1 2 2 3 1 0.1031 0.1031 0.1031 19.73
17 2 3 1 2 2 3 1 1 2 3 3 1 2 0.1045 0.1045 0.1045 19.62
18 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 2 3 1 1 2 3 0.2029 0.2029 0.2029 13.85
19 3 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 0.1823 0.1823 0.1823 14.78
20 3 1 3 2 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 0.1503 0.1249 0.1376 17.19
21 3 1 3 2 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 0.1104 0.1187 0.1146 18.81
22 3 2 1 3 1 3 2 2 1 3 3 2 1 0.0888 0.0888 0.0888 21.03
23 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 3 2 1 1 3 2 0.2096 0.2096 0.2096 13.57
24 3 2 1 3 3 2 1 1 3 2 2 1 3 0.1532 0.1532 0.1532 16.29
25 3 3 2 1 1 3 2 3 2 1 2 1 3 0.0966 0.0966 0.0966 20.30
26 3 3 2 1 2 1 3 1 3 2 3 2 1 0.1672 0.1672 0.1672 15.54
27 3 3 2 1 3 2 1 2 1 3 1 3 2 0.0905 0.0905 0.0905 20.87

The warpage data obtained in the process simulations are pressure (x5) and packing time (x6). The ®lling time (x3)
also analyzed using ANOVA. The level of con®dence is set and gate dimension (x4) were non-signi®cant factors. The
at 0.05. The results will be used to compare with the results optimum set of factors can be formulated from the SN
obtained from the SN ratio. Furthermore, the interaction response diagram by selecting the level with the highest
effect of factors will be identi®ed and the contribution of SN value of each factor. The result is a combination of x13,
each factor to the total effect will also be calculated. More x23, x32, x43, x51 and x61 as the best set of factors. Using this
detailed studies of each factor's effect on the warpage will set of factors in simulation has produced a warpage of
also be carried out by simulation under the condition that all 0.09 mm. It is worth mentioning that the result of trial
other factors are kept at their optimum level while varying no. 22 in Table 5 produced a warpage of 0.088 mm, which
one factor through a wider range but with ®ner steps of level. seems to indicate that there is an interaction effect between
factors.
The warpage data in Table 5 were also analyzed using
6. Results and discussion ANOVA and the factors' signi®cance were identi®ed by F-
test at a ˆ 0:05. The results are shown in Table 7, where it
6.1. The effective factors for the analysis of product can be seen that the signi®cant factors were mostly the same
warpage
Table 6
According to the design of experiments, 54 trials of The response table of SN ratio
simulation were taken, the results being presented in Level Factor
Table 5. The SN response table (see Table 6) and SN
x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6
response diagram (see Fig. 3) were constructed based on
1 12.933 12.923 15.364 15.157 17.461 17.624
these data. It can be noted from the SN response table that a
2 15.548 16.221 16.033 14.966 15.893 15.433
larger absolute value of DT indicates that the factor is more 3 17.598 16.934 14.681 15.927 12.724 13.021
signi®cant in affecting warpage. Thus, the signi®cant factors
|DT| 4.65 4.011 1.352 0.961 4.737 4.603
were mold temperature (x1), melt temperature (x2), packing
 M.-C. Huang, C.-C. Tai / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 110 (2001) 1±9 7

Fig. 3. The response diagram of SN.

as in the SN ratio analysis, but with the addition of the
interaction effect between the mold temperature (x1) and the
melt temperature (x2). The interaction between the melt
temperature (x2) and ®lling time (x3) previously considered
has been proven non-signi®cant. These non-signi®cant fac-
tors were pooled into the error term and each factor's
contribution to the total effect of warpage was presented
as a percentage. The packing pressure was the most in¯u-
ential factor with a contribution of 15.59%, followed by
mold temperature at 12.14%, melt temperature at 10.76%,
and packing time at 9.61%. The contributions of gate
dimension and ®lling times were very small. However,
the interaction between the mold temperature and melt
temperature shows a contribution of 23.63%, which was
in fact, the most important factor of all.
Assigning the injection pressure as the signal factor in the
injection molding process, and proceeding with experimen-
tal simulation at both 120 and 124 MPa injection pressures
for obtaining more precise experimental data seems to be
reasonable from the above analysis of the results.
6.2. The effect of warpage for each factor
Using the optimum set of effective factors obtained from
the previous analysis, more simulations were carried out by
changing one factor at a time and keeping the others at the
best level, to investigate the effect of each factor on the
warpage. The injection pressure was set at 120 MPa. The
results are as follows.
1. The range of packing pressure was set from 40 to 100%
of the injection pressure. The warpage values varied
with different packing pressure, as shown in Table 8.
When the packing pressure was higher than 85% of the
injection pressure, the warpage was obviously increas-
ing.
2. The range of mold temperature was set from 40 to
1058C. The warpage values varied with different mold
temperature, as shown in Table 9. When the mold
temperature was lower than 508C, the warpage seemed
to increase more apparently. When the mold temperature
was over 1058C, the warpage also increased. The ideal
mold temperature range was from 85 to 958C.
3. The range of melt temperature was set from 230 to
3508C. The warpage values at different melt tempera-
tures are shown in Table 10. The warpage was larger
between 245 and 2808C. Although the warpage was very
small when the melt temperature was 2308C (0.1 mm),
this temperature was very close to the lowest melt
temperature of PC/ABS (2208C) and it may not be an

Table 7
Analysis of variance

Source of Sum of Degrees of Mean of F0 F0.05 SS0 Percent sum

variation squares freedom square of squares

x1 0.063 2 0.0315 6.18a 3.7389 0.0528 12.14

x2 0.057 2 0.0285 5.59a 3.7389 0.0468 10.76
x3 0.011 2 0.0055 1.08 3.7389
x4 0.003 2 0.0015 0.29 3.7389
x5 0.078 2 0.0390 7.65a 3.7389 0.0678 15.59
x6 0.052 2 0.0260 5.10a 3.7389 0.0418 9.61
x1x2 0.113 4 0.0285 4.92a 3.1122 0.1028 23.63
x2x3 0.022 4 0.0055 1.08 3.1122
e 0.036 6 0.006
Total 0.435 26 0.435 100.0
Pooled e 0.072 14 0.0051 0.123 28.27
a
Signi®cant items.
8 M.-C. Huang, C.-C. Tai / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 110 (2001) 1±9

Table 8
The variation of warpage values with different packing pressures

Packing pressure (%) 40 50 60 70 80 85 90 100

Warpage (mm) 0.102 0.094 0.090 0.084 0.087 0.096 0.108 0.134

Table 9
The variation of warpage values with different mold temperatures

Mold temperature (8C) 40 45 50 65 85 95 105

Warpage (mm) 0.162 0.162 0.101 0.135 0.090 0.086 0.114

Table 10
The warpage values for different melt temperatures

Melt temperature (8C) 230 240 245 250 270 280 290 310 330 350
Warpage (mm) 0.104 0.108 0.121 0.163 0.164 0.129 0.090 0.092 0.114 0.094

ideal setting. However, this phenomenon is worth
noting. A higher temperature range is advantageous
for the ®lling of melt and the warpage is also small, but
it may easily cause the degradation of the resin.
4. The range of packing time was set from 0.1 to 2 s, the
results being shown in Table 11. It can be noted that the
variation of warpage values was irregular. When the
packing time was longer than 1 s, the warpage obviously
increased, but from 1.1 to 2 s, there was no further
increase of warpage, when the packing pressure and
melt temperature were kept constant. Also, there were
higher warpages at 0.3 and 0.4 s.
5. The range of ®lling time was set from 0.1 to 1.5 s.
Table 12 shows the warpage variation with the changes
in ®lling time. When the ®lling time is longer than 0.5 s,
the warpage increases rapidly. It can be postulated that
as the ®lling time increases, the ®lling rate decreases
accordingly. This may cause a temperature difference in
the melt as it solidi®ed and result in more warpage.
6. The range of gate dimension was set at from 0.2 to
1.2 mm. Table 13 shows the warpage related to the gate
dimension. It can be seen that when the gate dimension
is smaller than 0.4 mm, the warpage is gradually
increased. However, when the gate is larger than
0.4 mm, its effect on warpage is not so apparent. This
might have been due to the ®lling rate and the ¯ow
patterns, that were affected by the gate dimension.
From the above discussion, each factor's effect on war-
page has been characterized. Comparing these results with

Table 11
The irregular variation of warpage with different packing times

Packing time (s) 0.1 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.5 2
Warpage (mm) 0.101 0.170 0.125 0.090 0.088 0.087 0.133 0.129 0.138 0.138

Table 12
The variation of warpage with change in ®lling time

Filling time (s) 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.9 1.2 1.5
Warpage (mm) 0.089 0.109 0.095 0.092 0.090 0.151 0.169 0.228 0.372 0.811

Table 13
The warpage values related to the gate dimension

Gate dimension (s) 0.2 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.6 1.2

Warpage (mm) 0.121 0.098 0.097 0.090 0.093 0.090
 M.-C. Huang, C.-C. Tai / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 110 (2001) 1±9
the level of the factors in the orthogonal array, it is suggested
that the levels of the factors have been assigned reasonably
well. By gradual manipulation of each factor, a better set of
process conditions can be achieved.
7. Conclusions
Injection molding is a very complex process, and the
behavior of the resin within the mold is extremely dif®cult to
characterize. Using computer simulation of the process
provides an ef®cient and economical way of replacing the
traditional method of trial and error, for engineering design
and analysis.
As the shell thickness of a molded part falls below 2 mm,
the ratio of the frozen skin layer to the molten core layer
rises, i.e., there is relatively less plastic material in the
molten core to ®ll and pack out the part. This causes higher
shear stress in the material and more molecular orientation
in injection molding, which may contribute to warpage.
Because a greater volume of injection melt polymer is in
contact with the cold mold walls at thinner sections, heat
dissipates quickly and the material freezes quickly. Most of
the previous publications have used a ¯at plate part in their
analysis. In this research, a box-shaped geometric model
with a thin shell feature was used for mold ¯ow simulation,
which has made the results closer to reality.
The conclusions of the research are as follows.
1. Of all the effective factors regarding warpage in the
injection molding of a thin shell part, the packing
pressure is the most in¯uential factor, which shows a
contribution rate of 15.59%. The second is the mold
temperature at 12.14%, followed by the melt tempera-
ture at 10.76%, and the packing time at 9.61%. The less
in¯uential factors are the gate dimension and ®lling
time. The interaction of factors between mold tempera-
ture and melt temperature has shown a contribution rate
of 23.63%, which must not be neglected.
2. Using a Taguchi orthogonal array can effectively reduce
the number of trials in experimental design. The
effective factors can be determined using ANOVA.
9
The results have shown that the packing pressure, melt
temperature, mold temperature, and packing time are the
signi®cant factors. The in¯uences of the ®lling time and
the gate dimension are not so signi®cant. Applying the
experimental design of Taguchi is a quite effective
method of deducing the optimum set of effective factors
in injection molding to produce plastic parts with
minimum warpage.
3. Each factor's effect on the warpage has been character-
ized, which may be helpful in determining more precise
process conditions in injection molding.
4. In future studies, other methods of optimization may be
employed, such as regression analysis, to achieve an
ideal set of process conditions for minimizing warpage
in injection molding.
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