Optimization of injection moulding process in manufacturing the flip cover of water meter

Abstract

The conventional optimization process in Injection Moulding includes actual shop floor trials in which melt temperature, mold temperature, injection time, injection pressure, pattern, feeder size, shape and location cores, mould layout, gating etc. are changed in each iteration which involves high machining cost, tooling cost, modification cost, melting cost, and transportation cost as well as, materials, energy, time are wasted in each trial until and unless the required results are obtained. Water meter components (Flip Cover) are designed in CREO 5.0, and then components are 3D printed to cross check the dimensions and also to confirm whether all the other components can be accommodated or not. Then the mold flow analysis will be performed on a water meter components using different materials and changing the process parameters. The input process parameters considered are melt temperature, mold temperature and injection time, whereas the responses are warpage, volumetric shrinkage, cycle time and quality prediction. Grey relational analysis is carried out to determine the optimum injection moulding process parameters. L9 Orthogonal Array (OA) table is chosen for the analysis. The effort has been made to minimize the warpage, volumetric shrinkage, cycle time and maximize the quality prediction Mold cavity and core for the components are designed in CREO 5.0 and manufactured using P20 tool steel. Then the water meter components are manufactured by inputting the optimal process parameters in injection moulding machine to achieve high productivity and quality.