The Effects of Parameter Settings on Shrinkage and Warpage in Injection Molding through Cadmould 3D-F Simulation and Taguchi Method

Abstract

This study is focused on the effects of process parameters in plastic injection molding towards shrinkage and warpage problem of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) specimen. The aim was to identify the main effects of different process parameters on warpage and shrinkage defects via numerical simulation software and experimental validation. Series of simulations were carried out using Cadmould 3D-F in order to utilize the combination of process parameters based on three level of L9 Taguchi orthogonal design. The Signal to Noise (S/N) ratio and the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to optimize the levels and to point out the impact of the process parameters on warpage and shrinkage. From the results, it showed that the most affected parameter on the warpage and shrinkage is packing time, with the P value of 48.93%, followed by melting temperature with 40.58%. The filling time and packing pressure were not a significant factor because they only contribute 7.30% and 3.19% of P value, respectively.