The impact of injection mold’s gate modification on the quality of PC/ABS blend using CAE simulation

Abstract

PC/ABS blend is widely used in producing the automotive components due to its thermal and mechanical properties. However, variations in the process condition can have an effect on its properties. Finding the optimal injection process parameters plays a very important role in controlling the quality and the mechanical properties of the molded parts. A material temperature of 260 °C, an injection pressure of 50 bar, a holding time of 8 s and a mold temperature of 60 °C are the optimal combination parameters yielded a better shear stress and no injection defects. These results were found in our previous work and confirmed using the Taguchi method and SolidWorks Plastics. Moreover, factors affecting on the part’s quality can be essentially the injection parameters or the mold cavity. This paper presents a simple way to investigate the impact of a modification in the mold’s gate size system on injected PC/ABS parts’ quality. Optimal parameters are tested via SolidWorks simulation to explore the defects occurring following this modification. This study outcomes show some defects with the new mold’s gate size like weld lines and the residual stresses, also a high inlet pressure achieved compared to the actual mold’s gate.