Defining allowable physical property variations for high accurate measurements on polymer parts

Abstract

Measurement conditions and material properties have a significant impact on the dimensions of a part, especially for polymers parts. Temperature variation causes part deformations that increase the uncertainty of the measurement process. Current industrial tolerances of a few micrometres demand high accurate measurements in non-controlled ambient. Most of polymer parts are manufactured by injection moulding and their inspection is carried out after stabilization, around 200 hours. The overall goal of this work is to reach ±5μm in uncertainty measurements a polymer products which is a challenge in today‘s production and metrology environments. The residual deformations in polymer products at room temperature after injection molding are important when micrometer accuracy needs to be achieved. Numerical modelling can give a valuable insight to what is happening in the polymer during cooling down after injection molding. In order to obtain accurate simulations, accurate inputs to the model are crucial. In rea...