Abstract
The most time-consuming phase of the injection molding cycle is cooling. Cooling efficiency can be enhanced with the application of conformal cooling systems or high thermal conductivity copper molds. The conformal cooling channels are placed along the geometry of the injection-molded product, and thus they can extract more heat and heat removal is more uniform than in the case of conventional cooling systems. In the case of copper mold inserts, cooling channels are made by drilling and heat removal is facilitated by the high thermal conductivity coefficient of copper, which is several times that of steel. Designing optimal cooling systems is a complex process; a proper design requires injection molding simulations, but the accuracy of calculations depends on how precise the input parameters and boundary conditions are. In this study, three cooling circuit designs and three mold materials (Ampcoloy 940, 1.2311 (P20) steel, and MS1 steel) were used and compared using numerical methods. The effect of different mold designs and materials on cooling efficiency were examined using calculated and measured results. The simulation model was adjusted to the measurement results by considering the joint gap between the mold inserts.
Highlights
Injection molding has seen rapid progress in the past decades, and it is one of the most important polymer processing technologies
Our aim was to compare the cooling efficiency of mold inserts of different materials and different cooling circuits using a numerical method in the case of a product which is of small volume and simple geometry, but still difficult to cool with a conventional cooling system
The effect of different mold layouts and materials on cooling efficiency and product quality were examined at identical simulation parameters
Summary
Injection molding has seen rapid progress in the past decades, and it is one of the most important polymer processing technologies. The most significant phase of the injection molding cycle is cooling, which—in the case of large-volume products—high processing temperature or complicated geometry can amount to more than half of the entire cycle. With such products, a reduction in cooling time considerably improves productivity. As opposed to a conventional cooling system, this system follows the geometry of the product; it can extract more heat and heat removal is more uniform This results in a reduction of cycle time and an improvement of product quality [1]
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