Simulation-Based Optimization of Plastic Injection Molding Parameter for Automotive Car Wheel Fabrication Using Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

Abstract

In the era of revolution industry 4.0, most companies can expect metal-to-plastic conversion to result in cost savings. The objectives of this study are to find the most appropriate material composition and the injection molding process parameter to produce a plastic car wheel as a substitute for metal and aluminum alloy. The Polyetherimide (PEI) with different compositions are simulated using MoldFlow software and optimized the quality of injection molding process parameter by using Central Composite Design (CCD) in Response Surface Methodology (RSM) as to get an optimal response and meets the car wheel requirement specification. The crucial factors are melting temperature, injection time and cooling time. The quadratic model fits the model response. As the results, the optimum values suggested by the software were melt temperature of 370.27°C, 1.8s of injection time and 2599.89s of cooling time for 0% of filler (pure PEI). With small differences error value between solution and simulation, 0.1% of shrinkage and 0.9% for warpage, the results were acceptable.