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Effects of temperature and pressure on viscosity during injection molding

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 ANTEC

Effects of Temperature and Pressure on Viscosity during

Injection Molding
Fo

Journal: ANTEC

Manuscript ID: PENG-11-2010-0534.R2

r

Wiley - Manuscript type: Proceeding

Re

Date Submitted by the

05-Jan-2011
Author:

Complete List of Authors: Rudolph, Natalie; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Polymer

Engineering Center
vi

Pichl, Florian; University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute of

Polymer Technology
Osswald, Tim; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Polymer
ew

Engineering Center

Injection Molding < Processing, Viscosity and Viscoelasticity <

Keywords:
Testing and Characterization, Polycarbonate (PC) < Polymers

The pressure effect on viscosity is often neglected during injection

On

molding. However, the pressure shift factor is in the same order of

magnitude as the temperature shift factor. In the presented work, a
new dimensionless number R is presented which relates the
temperature to the pressure effect on viscosity. By calculating R for
Abstract:
the temperature and pressure profile, it can be seen that the
ly

influence of pressure is always high at the entrance of the cavity

but can be neglected at high melt temperatures. It is shown that
the opposing effect of viscous dissipation on viscosity has to be
considered.
Page 1 of 6 ANTEC

Effects of Temperature and Pressure on Viscosity during Injection Molding

Dr.-Ing. N. Rudolph1, F. Pichl2, Prof. Prof. hon. Dr. T. A. Osswald1

1
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Polymer Engineering Center, WI
2
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute of Polymer Technology, Germany

Abstract more or less pronounced. The pressure at the entrance

The effect of pressure on viscosity is often neglected
in the injection molding process. However, as thin injec-
tion molding and thick precision parts, both requiring
higher pressures, become more prevalent and as more and
more experimental values for the pressure shift factor b
become available and show a similar order of magnitude
Fo
as the temperature shift factor a, the question of whether
to include those values or not has to be answered. In the
presented work, both shift factors are calculated from ex-
perimental data. A new dimensionless number R is pre-
r
depends on the slit height and drops further over the flow
length. Both parameters have the opposing effect as can
be seen in Fig 1. Increased pressure and temperature shift
the viscosity curve to higher or lower values, respectively.
The shear thinning effect, represented by the power law
index n is constant. The temperature and pressure sensitiv-
ity of the melt is represented by the shift factors a and b,
respectively.

sented which relates the effect of temperature to the effect

of pressure on viscosity. By calculating R for the temper-
Re

ature and pressure profile of an injection molding process

for two different slit heights, it can be seen that the influ-
ence of pressure is always high at the entrance of the cavi-
ty but can be neglected at high melt temperatures as well
vi

as at the end of long flow paths. However, for thin as well

as short parts the influence is significant. Additionally, it
is shown that the opposing effect of viscous dissipation on
ew

viscosity has to be considered.

Figure 1. Effect of pressure, temperature and shear rate on
Introduction viscosity as measured in high capillary rheometers.

While the shift factor a is accessible with state-of-the-

Injection molding is used to produce plastic parts
On

art test devices like high capillary rheometers, the mea-

with an economical fast process in high quantities. While
surement of the pressure dependence is still under way.
one trend is to decrease the wall thickness to less than
However, more and more devices are build to measure the
1 mm to produce micro- or very thin parts, there are other
pressure shift factor b [1-8], while by now only one is a
applications where the wall thickness is above 10 mm.
commercially available testing device [7]. As the shift
ly

High injection speeds and high injection pressures of up to

factor b is in a similar order of magnitude as the factor a,
2000 bar are required for thin parts. Whereas parts with
an application related comparison of the two factors was
wall thicknesses of up to 20 mm are demanded for optical
sought. Most work is done on thin wall injection molding,
applications like projector lenses or head lights for the
among which Garcia et al. [9] presented a dimensional
electronic or automotive industry, respectively. In addi-
analysis, which points to the pressure dependence of the
tion to very low injection speeds for the development of
viscosity as one of the more important factors in that
fountain flow, the cooling leads to cycle times of several
process. However, the opposing effect of viscous dissipa-
minutes. A general consideration of the injection molding
tion is mostly neglected.
process leads to the same qualitative effects for tempera-
ture and pressure, regardless of the part thickness. The
The goal of this paper is the analysis of the filling
process starts with the space in front of the screw, where a
process with respect to the temperature as well as the
specific melt temperature and pressure is achieved by the
pressure shift factors of viscosity. For that reason the
plasticating unit. By passing through the normally cold
pressure and temperature profile was analyzed for differ-
runner system and gate the melt cools due to heat conduc-
ent part thicknesses over the flow length. By introducing a
tion while the effect is counteracted by the viscous dissi-
new dimensional number the influence of temperature
pation. At the same time the pressure drops, which is con-
versus pressure was quantified for the different scenarios.
tinues as the melt enters the cavity. Depending on the
The results of this analysis are presented in this paper.
mold wall temperature, the effect of viscous dissipation is
 ANTEC Page 2 of 6

Materials The above list has nine (m) variables that can be described
by four (n) dimensions. Therefore, n repeating variables
In this study, polycarbonate PC from Bayer Mate- are chosen: η, H, u and ∆T. The dimensional matrix (Ta-
rialScience AG is used; a material suitable for optical ap- ble 1) is set up with the repeating variables in the first
plications. The pressure dependent properties are all columns to form a square matrix. The other variables are
measured with Makrolon 2805. This resin has a solid den- in the remaining columns to form the residual matrix.
sity of 1.20 g/cm3 and the melt volume rate (MVR) for the With algebraic operations (shown in the second half of
resin is 9.5 (300°C, 1.2 kg). The temperature increase due table 1), the core matrix is turned into the identity matrix.
to viscous heating was measured in injection molding The analysis resulted in 5 dimensionless groups given by
tests. Here, measurements with two different slit heights
were performed with Makrolon OD2015 to achieve op- 𝛥𝑝 ∙ 𝐻
𝜋1 = (2)
timal mold filling at the necessary low injection speeds for 𝜂∙𝑢
thick wall parts. This resin has a solid density of 1.19
g/cm3 and the melt volume rate (MVR) for the resin is 𝑘 ∙ ∆𝑇 1
𝜋2 = = (3)
15.5 (250°C, 2.16 kg). 𝜂 ∙ 𝑢2 𝐵𝑟
Fo
Dimensional Analysis 𝜋3 = 𝑎 ∙ ∆𝑇 (4)
𝑏∙𝜂∙𝑢
Dimensional analysis, often referred to as the Buck- 𝜋4 = (5)
ingham Pi-theorem is based on the fact that every system 𝐻
r

that is governed by m physical quantities can be reduced

𝐿
to a set of m-n mutually independent dimensionless 𝜋5 =
Re

𝐻 (6)
groups, where n is the number of basic dimensions that
are present in the physical quantities. The classic Π -
where π2 is the inverse of the well known Brinkman
theorem technique to determine dimensionless numbers is
number, which defines the ratio of viscous dissipation to
cumbersome to use in cases where the list of related phys-
vi

heat transfer. By using the remaining groups, the Nahme-

ical quantities is large. Pawlowski [10, 11] developed a Griffith as well as two new dimensional groups can be
matrix transformation technique that offers a systematic derived:
approach to the generation of Π -sets. This technique was
ew

𝜋3 𝜂 ∙ 𝑢2
used in the present analysis. =𝑎∙ = 𝑁𝑎 (7)
𝜋2 𝑘
The considered problem is a slit-mold cavity filling
process. In the analysis, a non-newtonian, shear-thinning
𝜋1 ∙ 𝜋4 = 𝑏 ∙ ∆𝑝 (8)
and pressure dependent viscosity is assumed. The viscosi- 𝜋3 𝑎 ∙ ∆𝑇
On

ty η is described by the Power-law or Ostwald-de Waele = = ℜ (9)

model
𝜋1∙ 𝜋4 𝑏 ∙ ∆𝑝
η=𝜂0 𝑒 −𝑎(𝑇−𝑇0 ) 𝑒 𝑏(𝑝−𝑝0 ) 𝛾̇ 𝑛−1 (1) The new number takes the opposing effects of tem-
perature and pressure on viscosity into account. For R <1
where a and b represent the temperature (T) and pres-
ly

the effect of pressure is bigger than the effect of tempera-

sure (p) shift factors of viscosity, respectively; η0 is the
zero-shear viscosity, n is the power law index and 𝛾̇ is the
shear rate, Figure 1.
The variables related to the filling process are:
target quantities: b, a;
geometric variable: H, L;
physical or material properties: η, k;
process variables: ∆T, u, ∆p
ture on viscosity, causing the the viscosity to increase. For
R = 1 the effects balance each other. Here, the viscosity is
only shear rate dependent. As soon as R increases and
gets larger than 1 the effect of temperature governs vis-
cosity, which leads to a viscosity decrease. To evaluate R
the needed values of a, b, ∆T as well as ∆p were calcu-
lated or measured for a slit of 160 mm length and two
different slit heights H.

where b is the pressure coefficient of viscosity, a is Procedure

the temperature coefficient of viscosity, H is the thickness
of the slit, L is the flow length, η is the viscosity of the
melt, k is the thermal conductivity, ∆T is the temperature
increase due to viscous dissipation superposed by the
cooling on the cold mold wall, u is the injection speed and
∆p is the pressure difference between the inlet and outlet
pressure in the cavity.
The viscosity shift factors b and a
Pressure dependent zero-shear viscosity data up to
700 bar was measured in a High-Pressure-Sliding-Plate
rheometer at the McGill university, Montreal, Canada.
The principle as well as the measuring procedure of this
Page 3 of 6
device is explained by the developers [1, 2]. Figure 2
shows the zero-shear viscosity as a function of pressure
for different temperatures above the glass transition tem-
perature (Tg = 150°C).
Fo
r
Re
Figure 2. Increase of viscosity with pressure and decrease
with temperature.
vi
It can be seen that the viscosity increase due to pres-
sure is increasing almost exponentially at temperatures
close to Tg. However, at temperatures above 220°C the
ew
increase of η0 with pressure is linear.
Figure 3. Master curve for the pressure dependence of
viscosity from the melt region to the glass transition of the
material.
This can be explained by the distance between the
molecule chains [12]. Close to Tg the free volume be-
ANTEC
tween the chains is very small. That is why a small tem-
perature step – or pressure increase as shown here - results
in a large change in viscosity.
By shifting all curves to create a master curve, Fig. 3,
it becomes obvious that the exponential increase in vis-
cosity with pressure occurs at all temperatures as soon as
the material approaches the glass transition. With increas-
ing pressure the dependence becomes smaller. At 240°C
the slope of the master curve is constant, which results in
a constant pressure dependence for higher temperatures.
The pressure shift factor b is calculated as follows:
𝜂0 (𝑝)
𝑙𝑛
𝜂0 (𝑝0 ) (10)
𝑏=
𝑝 − 𝑝0
As the pressure dependence at temperatures above
240°C is assumed constant, the same shift factor, table 2,
is used at processing temperatures. The temperature shift
factor a is calculated by:
𝜂0 (𝑇)
𝑙𝑛
𝜂0 (𝑇0 ) (11)
−𝑎 =
𝑇 − 𝑇0
The values for a (T, γ) are calculated from the Cam-
pus Plastics Database [13] with the Cross WLF model. It
was found that a is highly dependent on the shear rate. For
that reason, a is calculated at zero shear viscosity
(γ=1 s-1) as well as at the average shear rate of 150 s-1.
The temperature measurement ∆T
The temperature in the cavity is measured with three
IR temperature sensors over the flow length. The position-
ing of these sensors can be seen in Figure 6a and was cho-
On
sen to monitor the thermal conditions during the injection
molding process. The comparison of the temperature read-
ing with simulation results (which are not shown here)
indicate, that the measurement depth of the sensors for
this PC is at a distance of approximately 0.2 mm from the
ly
mold wall. This temperature is set as reference for the
analytical solution of the viscosity and the pressure drop.
To quantify the influence of pressure or temperature
on the filling process, especially on viscosity, the experi-
ments were performed with two melt temperatures (290°C
and 330°C) and two slit heights (2 mm and 6 mm). The
injection velocity of the 6 mm parts was increased to
reach the same shear rate as in the 2 mm slit. Figures 4
and 5 depict the variation in melt temperature as well as
the variation in slit height. From both figures it can be
seen that the temperature decreases from the space in front
of the screw to the entrance of the cavity. In this area the
heat transfer between melt and mold is higher than the
viscous dissipation. The Brinkman number is smaller than
1. As soon as the melt flow is fully developed, the tem-
perature increases (Br>1). The measured temperature at
sensor position 2 in comparison to sensor 3 shows nearly
 ANTEC
constant thermal conditions. In this area, the Brinkman
number is 1.
Fo
Figure 4. Measured temperature increase ∆T in a 2 mm
slit.
r
Re
vi
ew
Figure 5. Measured temperature increase ∆T in a 6 mm
slit.
A schematic of the complete temperature profile is
depicted in Fig. 6b. However, for the analysis only the
temperature in the cavity is considered.
Figure 6. Injection molding test
a) Part design and dimensions
b) Temperature and pressure drop over flow length
I: runner and gate, II: evaluated part length
Page 4 of 6
The pressure calculation ∆p
The prediction of the pressure drop over the flow
length is performed by using the above described tem-
perature profiles. The flow through a slit is represented by
the pressure flow equation where the shear rate in a slit for
the gate and cavity is given by
6 ∙ 𝑉̇
𝛾̇ = (12)
𝑊 ∙ 𝐻2
and for a tube such as the runner by the Hagen-Poisseulle
equation
4 ∙ 𝑉̇
𝛾̇ = (13)
𝜋 ∙ 𝑅3
where W is the width, H is the height of the slit and R
is the radius of the runner.
The calculation of the volume flow rate can be
seen in the following equation
v(𝑇𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑡 ) 𝑉𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
𝑉̇ = ∙ (14)
v(23°𝐶) 𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
where Vtotal is the volume of the part for the two di-
mensions 2mm and 6mm and tinjection is the approximated
injection time in dependence of the part thickness and the
injection velocity. The first factor on the right side of equ-
ation (14) considers also the specific volume in depen-
dence of the temperature. The pressure drop over the flow
length for the slit is given by
12 ∙ 𝑉 ̇ ∙ 𝜂 ∙ 𝐿
𝛥𝑝 = (15)
𝑊 ∙ 𝐻³
and for the pipe by
8 ∙ 𝑉̇ ∙ 𝜂 ∙ 𝐿
𝛥𝑝 = (16)
𝜋 ∙ 𝑅4
On
The viscosity η is approximated with the Cross-WLF
function at the corresponding temperature. The shear rate
is calculated with equation (12) and (13).
The runner system and the gate (I) is considered in
ly
the calculation of the pressure drop, but only the pressure
in the part (II) is investigated further, Fig. 6b. For the as-
sessment of the dimensionless number R, a and b are cal-
culated from the predicted pressure and measured temper-
ature over the flow length.
Discussion
Figure 7 and 8 show the dimensional number R for
different melt temperatures and slit heights at shear rates
of 1 and 150 s-1. In all figures a higher dimensional num-
ber R is seen with the low shear rate. The reason for this
is the decrease of the temperature shift factor a with in-
creasing shear rate. Over the flow length the dimensional
number always increases, because the effect of pressure is
decreasing. Although a becomes smaller with temperature
rise, the decrease is less pronounced compared to b. As
Page 5 of 6
soon as Br = 1, only the pressure decreases which leads to
a slight increase in R.
Figure 7 illustrates the effect of a higher melt temper-
ature on R. A shift of the curves as well as an increase in
the slope can be seen. This results from the different ini-
tial pressures at the inlet (∆𝑝(290℃) = 2 ∙ ∆𝑝(330℃))
as well as the higher pressure drop at higher temperatures.
Fo
r
Re
Figure 7. Dimensionless number R for 2 mm and differ-
ent melt temperatures
vi
The increase of the slit height leads to higher dimen-
sionless numbers R. The pressure drop over the flow
ew
length is larger for the 2 mm slit than for the 6 mm slit.
Therefore the pressure drop does not have a big influence
with a thick plate and the dimensionless number R can be
seen as nearly constant as soon as a certain pressure drop
level is reached.
Figure 8. Dimensionless number R for 290°C and differ-
ent slit heights
The results show the same temperature profile for dif-
ferent melt temperatures as well as different slit heights.
Because of that, the temperature increase due to viscous
heating always has a significant influence on the viscosity.
ANTEC
By normally assuming a viscosity in the cavity based on
the melt temperature in the space in front of the screw
(290 or 330°C), the value is either too low at the entrance
of the cavity or too high once the temperature has reached
a steady state.
Depending on the pressure at the entrance of the cavi-
ty, the effect is either stronger than the temperature effect
or at least decreasing it significantly. The effect is even
more pronounced at lower melt temperatures. For R = 2,
the pressure effect on viscosity halves the opposing effect
of temperature. For R = 4 the temperature effect is de-
creased by only 25%. In general, it can be concluded that
the pressure effect should be considered as long as the
dimensionless number R stays below 4. However, this
strongly depends on the geometry. For example, optical
lenses normally have a shorter flow path ranging from a
couple of millimeters up to around 80 mm. From the pre-
sented results it can be seen that the influence of pressure
might be strong within the first half or even a third of this
flow path. If the part, however, is thicker than the 6 mm
used in this study, the pressure at the entrance might be
even smaller. On the other hand, thin walled parts show a
much higher pressure. At the same time the temperature
increase is similar or smaller than the presented cases,
because viscous dissipation is compensated by faster heat
conduction over the part thickness. The pressure depen-
dence plays a major role.
Conclusions
The presented case study of a flow length up to 160
mm and slit heights of 2 and 6 mm shows that viscous
dissipation plays a major role on viscosity. The effect of
On
pressure cannot be neglected for short parts. However, at
very high melt temperatures as well as for low pressures
in very thick parts, the pressure effect seems to be neglig-
ible. That is why future work will have to focus on the
ly
effects presented here for a broader range of wall thick-
nesses. Furthermore, a better understanding of the viscosi-
ty in non-isothermal flow in the process is sought. This
will be attempted by measuring the temperature as well as
the pressure profiles over the flow length and calculating
the viscosity out of this data while taking the temperature
and pressure shift factors into account.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the DFG (German Science
Foundation) for the financial support of this work as well
as Prof. John M. Dealy’s work group, especially dr. H. E.
Park, at the McGill University in Montreal, Canada, for
performing the viscosity measurements at elevated pres-
sure. Our special thanks are addressed to Prof. Dietmar
Drummer as well as Alexander Schmitt from the Institute
of Polymer Technology at the University of Erlangen-
 ANTEC Page 6 of 6

Nuremberg, where the injection molding tests were per- 8. R. Cardinaels, P. Van Puyvelde, P. Moldenaers,
formed. Rheologica Acta, 46, 495 (2006)
9. S. Garcia, A. Roldan, J. P. Hernandez-Ortiz, T. Oss-
References wald, Proceedings of the ANTEC conference 2004
(2004)
1. F. Koran, J. M. Dealy, Journal of Rheology, 43, 1279 10. J. Pawlowski, Die Aehnlichkeistheorie in der Physi-
(1999) kalisch-Technischen Forschung – Grundlagen und
2. H. E. Park, S. T. Lim, H. M. Laun, J. M. Dealy, Anwendung, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, (1971)
Rheologica Acta, 47, 1023 (2008) 11. T. Osswald, J. P. Hernandez-Ortiz, Modeling and
3. H. M. Laun, Rheologica Acta, 42, 295 (2003) Simulation in Polymer Processing, Hanser Publisher,
4. F. Klaiber, I. D. L. Gomez, T. Osswald, L. S. Turng, Cincinnati (2006)
Proceedings of the ANTEC conference 2006, 2320 12. H. Geisler, H. G. Müller, Rheologica Acta, 18, 96
(2006) (1979)
5. S. E. Kajik, B. H. A. A. Van den Brule, Polymer En- 13. http://www.campusplastics.com, visited 11/18/2010
gineering & Science, 34, 1535 (1994)
6. Y. Son, Journal of polymer research, 16, 667 (2009)
Fo
7. A. Goubert, J. Vermant, P. Moldenaers, A. Göttfert, Key Words: pressure dependent viscosity, pressure shift
B. Ernst, Applied Rheology, 11, 26 (2001) factor, temperature shift factor, viscous dissipation,
dimensional analysis.
r Re

η H u ∆T ∆p k a b L
M 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 -1 0
vi

L -1 1 1 0 -1 1 0 1 1
T -1 0 -1 0 -2 -3 0 2 0
ew

Θ 0 0 0 1 0 -1 -1 0 0
M 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 -1 0
L+2M+T 0 1 0 0 -1 0 0 1 1
(-T-M) 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 -1 0
On

Θ 0 0 0 1 0 -1 -1 0 0

Table 1. Dimensionless matrix

ly

b
pressure 1-100 101-200 201-300 301-400 401-500 501-600 601-700
[bar]
160 0.012533 0.013866 0.023899
180 0.009955 0.011166 0.011757 0.0123943 0.0139160 0.0142327 0.0155970
temperature [°C]

200 0.005390 0.005948 0.006616 0.0071040 0.0074276 0.0076612 0.0081322

220 0.005855 0.005963 0.005898 0.0057565 0.0058322 0.0056687 0.0055798
240 0.003508 0.003483 0.003427 0.0034528 0.0034117 0.0034024 0.0034002
260
280
300
320

Table 2. pressure shift factor b

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