Conformal cooling channel design and CAE simulation for rapid blow mould

Abstract

Blow moulding is one of the most important polymer processing technologies to produce hollow-shaped parts at a short time. The cooling stage takes up approximately two thirds of the complete blow moulding cycle. It becomes the major factor to determine the productivity and the quality of the blow-moulded part. The cooling time and the quality part are controlled by an adequate cooling channel design inside the blow mould. Inappropriate cooling channel design will increase the cooling time after part ejection. Recently, the success of integrating conformal cooling channel (CCC) design in the injection moulding process has been proven by different research publications and practices. The merit of the applications of CCC can also be extended to the existing blow moulding process. In this study, an effective design method is proposed for integrating CCC into the blow mould with the aid of computer-aided design and analysis tools. The fabrication of integrating CCC into the blow mould by rapid tooling technology is explored. Computer-aided engineering simulation is employed to verify the cooling performance of the CCC corresponding to the blow mould surface geometry. The analysed results are compared with those using the traditional straight line-drilled cooling channel (SLDCC) used in the blow moulding process. The results indicated that the cooling time and temperature uniformity of the blow-moulded part can be effectively improved. The proposed CCC design has a shorter cooling time and a lower part temperature than the SLDCC one.