Injection molding in disk‐shaped cavities

Abstract

AbstractExperimental results together with predictions based on a numerical simulation are reported for the filling by injection molding of a center gated, disk‐shaped cavity with acrylonitrile‐butadiene‐styrene terpolymer (Lustran ABS Q714) and with polypropylene (Pro‐fax 6523). At a specified fractional fill, the output of a pressure transducer (Δπzz) near the sprue was measured and the clamp force (F) was obtained by. integrating the output of four pressure transducers over the projected area. A systematic study was made to determine the effect of the (1) material properties, (2) cavity thickness, (3) melt temperature in the barrel, and (4) injection rate on the measured and simulated values for the pressure transducer output and clamp force. For a given barrel temperature, cavity thickness and intermediate‐to‐high injection rates, the pressure transducer output and clamp force were found to be nearly independent of injection rate for ABS and to increase with increasing injection rate for polypropylene. As the injection rate approached zero, the pressure transducer output and clamp force increased because of the long time available for cooling the flowing melt. For ABS the simulated results were about 5‐25 percent higher than experiment, whereas for polypropylene they were about 10 percent lower than experiment when the viscosity model included solidification Flow instabilities were observed to occur at conditions where the pressure transducer output curve showed a marked upturn with decreasing injection rate.