Water-assisted Injection Molding Research Articles

The Investigation of Overflow Water-Powered Projectile-Assisted Injection Molded Short-Glass-Fiber-Reinforced Polypropylene

Water-powered projectile-assisted injection molding (W-PAIM) is a novel injection molding technology that has been recently developed based on the ripe water-assisted injection molding (WAIM). Fiber orientation pattern and residual wall thickness (RWT) are two crucial factors determining the quality of W-PAIM parts composed of short fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (SFRTCs). However, limited work has been conducted on W-PAIM of SFRTC parts, which restricts its application process. In this work, an intensive investigation of W-PAIM parts composed of short fiber-reinforced polypropylene was conducted via a newly lab-developed W-PAIM platform. The results indicated that fibers were quite well oriented in the region extending from the core zone to the water channel, especially in the water channel zone, but randomly aligned in a small region near the mold wall. Nevertheless, fibers in the water channel zone of W-PAIM part were highly oriented, presenting an opposite alignment trend in fiber orientation compared to that in the water channel zone of the WAIM part as reported earlier. These disparities in fiber orientation between W-PAIM and WAIM parts were primarily attributed to the strong flow fields generated by projectile penetration. Additionally, the influence of three main processing parameters that significantly affected the projectile penetration on these two crucial factors was also investigated using the single-factor method. It was discovered that water injection delay time constituted the primary factor affecting the projectile penetration process, and reducing this time could greatly increase the relative thickness of the ordered area and the uniformity of RWT. More importantly, within the value range of the tested processing parameters, increased water pressure, elevated melt temperatures, and shorter water injection delay time could simultaneously improve fiber orientation and the uniformity of RWT in W-PAIM parts, which may improve the properties of W-PAIM parts and enlarge their application scope. This work provides a comprehensive guide for the fabrication of W-PAIM parts of SFRTCs.

Shrinkage and Warpage Mechanism of Overflow Water-Assisted Injection Molding Short Fiber-Reinforced Polymers

Experimental study on the shrinkage of short fiber-reinforced polymer injection molding products during the overflow water-assisted injection molding (OWAIM) process, and and analysis of the influence of process parameters with the computer-aided engineering (CAE) were performed. The investigation shows that the shrinkage of the product increases linearly along the melt flow with the increase of water injection pressure. The shrinkage of products is on the rise with the increase of water injection pressure, melt temperature, and mold temperature, but it is decreasing with the increase of flow delay time and fiber mass content. Based on the Taguchi orthogonal array design, an experiment study was conducted to characterize the effect of processing parameters on the shrinkage of OWAIM pipe. The results show that decreasing the mold temperature and increasing the fiber mass content can effectively reduce the shrinkage and warpage of products, thus improving the product quality.

Experimental analysis of fluid‐assisted injection molding of pipe fittings with different angles by short‐shot method

AbstractBased on the self‐assisted injection experimental platform, experimental studies on gas‐assisted injection molding (GAIM), and water‐assisted injection molding (WAIM) of 2 curved pipe fittings by adopting short‐shot method were carried out. UDF model was constructed for numerical simulation analysis. The influence rules of auxiliary medium and bending angle on the terminal morphology, inner wall surface quality at bending angle, medial and lateral residual wall thickness, variation range, and residual wall thickness deviation rate of short‐shot fluid assisted injection molding (SSFAIM) bending samples were compared. Meanwhile, the influence mechanism was investigated. The following experimental findings were obtained. SSFAIM had secondary penetration, while water produced multiple penetrations. There are multiple vacuum shrinkage pores in the unpenetrated area at the end of the SSWAIM sample, as well as serious shrinkage depressions on the surface. The shape of the penetration front of water is arc‐shaped with many penetration holes. The shape of the penetration front of the gas at the end of the SSGAIM sample is “pointy.” Compared with the SSWAIM sample, the residual wall thickness of SSGAIM has a narrow distribution range when the bending angle is 0°. With the increase of the bending angle, the “foaming” phenomenon of the inner wall surface quality at the bending angle of the SSGAIM sample becomes less and less obvious. Moreover, the deviation of the inner and outer residual wall thickness of SSGAIM is more obvious than that of SSWAIM due to the increase of bending angle.

Fiber Orientation Analysis of Overflow Water-Assisted Injection Molding with Short Glass Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene

The fiber orientation is playing an important performance indexed for glass fiber reinforced polypropylene for water-assisted injection molding. Based on the viscoelastic constitutive equation (White-Metzner) and the fiber orientation model (iARD-RPR), the effects of fiber mass content, water injection delay time, water injection pressure, and melt temperature, which are on the fiber orientation along the flow direction and shear rate distribution of the melt, were investigated. Studies found that the orientation degree of the fiber along the flow direction was reduced with the increase of the fiber mass content, the extension of the water injection delay time, and the improvement of the melt temperature and that the orientation degree of the fiber along the flow direction was raised with the increase of the water injection pressure flow in the laminar flow state, but it was reduced with the increase in the turbulent state. It can be further learned from the shear rate distribution that decreasing fiber mass content, reducing the water injection delay time, lower melt temperature, and increasing water injection pressure in laminar flow conditions will increase the shear rate in the channel layer and the shear rate gradient along the thickness direction of the melt, while the water injection pressure in the turbulent state is on the contrary.

A Novel High Flow Rate Pin for Water-assisted Injection Molding of Plastic Parts with a More Uniform Residual Wall Thickness Distribution

Abstract Three types of water pins are currently used in the water-assisted injection molding technologies to mold plastic parts, including orifice, ring and piercing type pins. Nevertheless, the former two types of pins have the disadvantages of a low flow rate and high pressure drop, while the drawbacks for the latter type are that timing the piercing pin into the cavity is a challenge and the cost of a mold is high. This report describes the development a novel high flow rate water pin for water-assisted injection molding of plastic parts. The pin, which consists of a sintered porous surface outlet, has been tested on parts with two different geometries: a plate with a channel across the center and a float-shaped tube part. The experimental results suggests that the proposed water injection pin can mold parts of a large size with a more uniform residual wall thickness distribution.

Water Penetration Stability in Water Assisted Injection Molded Symmetric Ribs

AbstractWater assisted injection molding technology has received extensive attention in recent years, due to its light weight, relatively lower resin cost per part, faster cycle time, and its flexibility in the design and manufacture of plastic parts. However, there are still some unsolved problems that confound the overall success of this technology. Unstable water penetration in molded symmetric channels is one of them. This report was to study the water penetration behavior in the water assisted injection molded symmetric cavity. Experiments were carried out on an 80-ton injection-molding machine equipped with a water injection unit. A plate cavity with symmetric water channels was used. The materials used were amorphous polystyrene and semi-crystalline polypropylene. Various processing variables were studied in terms of their influence on the water penetration behavior inside the symmetric parts: melt temperature, mold temperature, melt fill speed and fill pressure, short-shot size, water temperature and water pressure, and water injection delay time and water hold time. The effect of channel layout was also investigated. Tapered channels were found to mold parts with better penetration stability than flat channels. In addition, the penetration behaviors of water and gas in molded symmetric parts were also compared. The experimental results suggested that water penetration stability is more stable than that of gas in molded symmetric parts.

Formationmechanism of high‐pressure water penetration induced fiber orientation in overflow water‐assisted injection molded short glass fiber‐reinforced polypropylene

AbstractRecently, there has been growing interest in water‐assisted injection molding (WAIM) not only for its advantages over gas‐assisted molding (GAIM) and conventional injection molding (CIM), but also for its great potential advantages in industrial applications. To understand the formation mechanism of water penetration induced fiber orientation in overflow water‐assisted injection molding (OWAIM) parts of short glass fiber‐reinforced polypropylene (SGF/PP), in this work, the external fields and water penetration process within the mold cavity were investigated by experiments and numerical simulations. The results showed that the difference of fiber orientation distribution in thickness direction between WAIM moldings and CIM moldings was mainly ascribed to the great external fields generated by water penetration. Besides, fiber orientation depended on the position both across the part thickness and along the flow direction. Especially in the radial direction, fiber orientation varied considerably. The results also showed that the melt temperature is the principal parameter affecting the fiber orientation along the flow direction, and a higher melt temperature significantly facilitated more fibers to be oriented along the flow direction, which is quite different from the results as previously reported in short‐shot water‐assisted injection molding (SSWAIM). A higher water pressure, shorter water injection delay time, and higher melt temperature significantly induced more fibers to be orderly oriented in OWAIM moldings, which may improve their mechanical performances and broaden their application scope.

Study of Residual Wall Thickness and Multiobjective Optimization for Process Parameters of Water-Assisted Injection Molding

Residual wall thickness is an important indicator for water-assisted injection molding (WAIM) parts, especially the maximization of hollowed core ratio and minimization of wall thickness difference which are significant optimization objectives. Residual wall thickness was calculated by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The response surface methodology (RSM) model, radial basis function (RBF) neural network, and Kriging model were employed to map the relationship between process parameters and hollowed core ratio, and wall thickness difference. Based on the comparison assessments of the three surrogate models, multiobjective optimization of hollowed core ratio and wall thickness difference for cooling water pipe by integrating design of experiment (DOE) of optimized Latin hypercubes (Opt LHS), RBF neural network, and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was studied. The research results showed that short shot size, water pressure, and melt temperature were the most important process parameters affecting hollowed core ratio, while the effects of delay time and mold temperature were little. By the confirmation experiments for the best solution resulted from the Pareto frontier, the relative errors of hollowed core ratio and wall thickness are 2.2% and 3.0%, respectively. It demonstrated that the proposed hybrid optimization methodology could increase hollowed core ratio and decrease wall thickness difference during the WAIM process.

Numerical Simulation during Short-Shot Water-Assisted Injection Molding Based on the Overflow Cavity for Short-Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polypropylene

Compared with water penetration condition of short-shot water-assisted injection molding with or without overflow cavity, it can be known from theory and common knowledge that short-shot water-assisted injection molding with overflow cavity has many advantages, such as it can save materials and energy. Then, the effects of melt short shot size, water injection delay time, melt temperature and water injection pressure on the penetration of water after penetration, and the orientation distribution of short fibers during water-assisted injection molding of the overflow cavity short-shot method were studied. It is found that the melt short shot size had the greatest influence on it, followed by water injection pressure, water injection delay time, and finally, melt temperature. With the increase of the melt short shot size, the thickness of the residual wall of the whole main cavity becomes thinner, the orientation of short fiber along the melt flow direction becomes higher, and the degree of fiber orientation changes becomes lower. In the front half of the main cavity, with the decrease of water injection pressure, the delay time of water injection, and the melt temperature, in the front part of the main cavity, the residual wall thickness becomes thinner, the fiber orientation along the melt flow direction becomes lower, and the fiber orientation changes degree becomes higher; in the latter half of the main cavity, the influence of the water penetration and the orientation distribution of short fibers along the melt flow direction are not significant.

Numerical Simulation on the Penetration Behavior of the Projectile during the Water Injection Stage of Water-Projectile-Assisted Injection Molding Process

Water-projectile-assisted injection molding (W-PAIM) is a novel molding process for plastic pipes with complicated shape. It utilizes high-pressure water as a power to push a solid projectile to penetrate through the melt to form a hollow space. In order to investigate the penetration behavior of the projectile during the water injection stage of W-PAIM process, numerical simulation of the water injection stage of a W-PAIM pipe with straight and curved segments was carried out. A turbulent flow for the driving water was considered in the motion equation, and the dynamic mesh technology was used to deal with the moving solid projectile. The simulation results, including RWT and the flow fields, were compared with those of water-assisted injection molding (WAIM) pipe with the same outer dimensions. It was found that the residual wall thickness (RWT) of the W-PAIM pipe is much thinner than that of the WAIM pipe. The projectile has a crucial influence on the RWT. The pressure fields of W-PAIM and WAIM are very similar in both straight and curved segments. The velocity field and strain rate field near the penetration front in W-PAIM are quite different from those in WAIM due to the drag flow caused by the projectile penetration.

Optimization of Residual Wall Thickness Uniformity in Short-Fiber-Reinforced Composites Water-Assisted Injection Molding Using Response Surface Methodology and Artificial Neural Network-Genetic Algorithm

This study aimed at improving the residual wall thickness uniformity (RWTU), which was closely related to the mechanical properties of plastic parts with a hollow cross-section, in short-fiber reinforced composites (SFRC) overflow water-assisted injection molding (OWAIM). The influences of five independent process parameters (melt temperature, mold temperature, delay time, water pressure, and water temperature) on RWTU were investigated through the methods such as central composite design, regression equation, and analyses of variance. Response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) optimized by genetic algorithm (GA) were employed to map the relationship between the process parameters and the standard deviation (SD) depicting the RWTU. Comparison assessments of three models (RSM, ANN, and ANN-GA) were carried out through some statistical indexes. It was concluded that the effect of melt temperature, delay time, and water temperature were significant to RWTU; the hybrid ANN-GA model had the best performance for predicting SD compared with RSM and ANN; the least SD obtained in optimization using ANN-GA as a fitness function was 0.0972.

Effect of Process Parameters on Short Fiber Orientation along the Melt Flow Direction in Water-Assisted Injection Molded Part

The short fiber orientation (SFO) distribution in the water-assisted injection molding (WAIM) is more complicated than that in traditional injection molding due to the new process parameters. In this work, an improved fiber orientation tensor method was used to simulate the SFO in WAIM. The result was compared with the scanning electron micrograph, which was consistent with the experiments. The effect of six process parameters, including filling time, melt temperature, mold temperature, delay time, water pressure, and water temperature, on the SFO along the melt flow direction were studied through orthogonal experimental design, range analysis, and variance analysis. An artificial neural network was used to establish the nonlinear agent model between the process parameters and A11 representing the fiber orientation in melt flow direction. Results show that water pressure, melt temperature, and water temperature have significant effects on SFO. The three-dimensional (3D) response surfaces and contour plots show that the values of A11 decrease with the increase in water pressure and melt temperature and increase as the water temperature rises.

Large-scale formation of shish-kebab in water-assisted injection-moulded high-density polyethylene with a high-molecular weight

To promote flow-induced orientation and reserve the formation of the shish-kebab structure, a modified injection-moulding technology named water-assisted injection moulding (WAIM), was applied to provide twice the shear flow and a rapid cooling rate on high-molecular weight high-density polyethylene (HDPE) melt in a mould cavity. Large-scale distribution of highly oriented shish-kebab was successfully achieved in a WAIM sample with a high-molecular weight. More importantly, the high-orientation degree of lamellae (larger than 0.4) in the thickness direction for a high-molecular weight WAIM sample is >60%, which is much more than a conventional injection-moulded sample (15%). This work provides a new insight to achieve injection-moulded products with enhanced oriented structures.

Overview of the Experimental Trends in Water‐Assisted Injection Molding

AbstractIn recent years, a new and promising polymer processing technology known as water‐assisted injection molding (WAIM) has attracted attention not only for academic reasons but also for its industrial applications. WAIM technology provides a new way to fabricate hollow or other complicated products due to its faster cycling time and light weight. This paper aims to give an overview of the basic principles and applications of WAIM as well as the current research status in academia. The origin and development of WAIM technology are first described and then, their advantages and applications are given. This review focuses on the experimental trends of WAIM such as computer simulation, the effect of processing parameters on the WAIM samples, and the morphology as well as related WAIM–molded composites and polymer blends' work.

Water Assisted Injection Molding for Single and Multi-branched Tubular Components

To produce hollow polymeric parts with complex geometries the Fluid Assisted Injection (FAI) technology is currently used. In this technology water and gas can be employed with or without the aid of a projectile. The process consists in the injection of water at high pressures, after the closing of the mold and polymer injection, and up to the filling of the whole molding zone. The injection of water at high pressures will force the polymer from the core to be expelled to a reservoir. This material expulsion is possible, not only thanks to the high water pressures, but also because the polymer is still in a viscous state, thus facilitating the evacuation. Even though the FAI technology is by direct injection of water/gas or with aid of a projectile, there is a common limitation, which is the inability to produce hollowed parts with forking channels. However, even if creating these branches is possible, there is the impossibility of them being geometrically complex and/or extensive. In these cases, the branches are created with inserts inside the mold, meaning that they will always be limited by a molding insert, and not controlled by the water jet. For cases where it is desired to add complex and/or extensive ramifications, subsequent steps of production and assembling must be added, influencing the overall production time. This work aims, therefore, at studying a new approach for the production of hollow parts with extensive branched channels and complex geometries within a single injection cycle, and thus eliminating subsequent processes that are currently required. The first approach is the application of several water injectors, guided towards the respective branches where hollow sections are intended to be produced. This innovation will have an impact on the serial production of high complexity tubular type parts, reducing the production time with the elimination of subsequent processes. Furthermore, a saving of raw materials is achieved by eliminating the necessity of a creation of additional molds. In this work, a detailed experimental study of the water assisted injection process was done to serve as a knowledge base to the concept of the new process named Multi-Path.H2O.

Effects of the viscosity and thermal property of fluids on the residual wall thickness and concentricity of the hollow products in fluid-assisted injection molding

Water-assisted injection molding (WAIM) is a method of producing plastic products with hollow internal sections. The flow instability and boiling effect of the water cause non-uniform residual wall thickness (RWT) and void in the wall in WAIM. Due to the high heat capacity and thermal conductivity of the water, the RWT is affected by the viscosity change of injected plastics when the hollow sections are formed. In this study, the effects of process parameters on the distribution of the RWT and the concentricity of the hollow sections in the products with amorphous ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene: amorphous polymer) and crystalline PP (Polypropylene: semi-crystalline polymer) were compared, and the water (0.86 mPa · s @ 25 °C) and high viscosity silicone oil (970 mPa · s @ 25 °C) were used as the secondary injection fluids in the experiments. The RWT was more stable, with the silicone oil having higher viscosity and boiling point compared to the water. The capillary number which could decide the shape of the flow front was also affected by the viscosity of the fluids. Due to the higher capillary number of the silicone oil, the flow front was formed with narrow and long elliptical shape. The higher capillary number also caused the stable flow of the flow front, resulting in stable RWT with the silicone oil. The concentricity of the hollow sections was higher with the silicone oil than with the water.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Process Conditions on Residual Wall Thickness and Cooling and Surface Characteristics of Water-Assisted Injection Molded Hollow Products

Recently, water-assisted injection molding was employed in the automobile industry to manufacture three-dimensional hollow tube-type products with functionalities. However, process optimization is difficult in the case of water-assisted injection molding because of the various rheological interactions between the injected water and the polymer. In this study, the boiling phenomenon that occurs because of the high melt temperature when injecting water and the molding characteristics of the hollow section during the water-assisted injection process were analyzed by a water-assisted injection molding analysis. In addition, the changes in the residual wall thickness accompanying changes in the process conditions were compared with the analysis results by considering water-assisted injection molding based on gas-assisted injection molding. Furthermore, by comparing the cooling characteristics and inner wall surface qualities corresponding to the formation of the hollow section by gas and water injections, a water-assisted injection molding technique was proposed for manufacturing hollow products with functionality.

Process‐induced phase and crystal morphologies in water‐assisted injection molded polypropylene/polymeric β‐nucleating agent blend parts

By adding a polymeric β‐nucleating agent (acrylonitrile–styrene copolymer, SAN), in situ microfibril reinforced isotactic polypropylene (iPP)/SAN blend parts with high contents of β‐form crystals and transcrystals were molded via water‐assisted injection molding (WAIM). Thanks to the unique stress and temperature fields occurring during the WAIM, SAN microfibers formed across the whole residual wall of iPP/SAN blend parts with relatively large thickness. Numerical simulations on high‐pressure water penetration and cooling stages of the WAIM were carried out to reveal the stress and temperature fields. Comprehensive analysis of both experimental and simulated results showed that not only the shear flow field but also elongational flow field occurring during the WAIM was responsible for the formation of SAN microfibers and unique crystal morphology distribution in the WAIM iPP/SAN blend part. Moreover, during the WAIM, the high cooling rate also played an important role in the formation of both phase and crystal morphologies. The preferential formation of transcrystals in the inner layer of WAIM iPP/SAN blend part could be ascribed to the strong elongation, rather than the strong shear. It was believed that the quantification of stress and temperature fields of the WAIM via numerical simulation could provide a guidence for molding high‐performance products. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:1698–1705, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers

Recent Advances on Fluid Assisted Injection Molding Technique

Fluid assisted injection molding (FAIM) technique greatly improves the quality of the molded plastic articles through the introduction of pressurized fluid. The FAIM has two main realizations: the gas assisted injection molding (GAIM) and the water assisted injection molding (WAIM). The characteristics and practical applications of GAIM and WAIM are discussed in detail in this article. Besides that, several optimization techniques of GAIM and WAIM are also briefly introduced, including cooling gas assisted method, vibrated gas-assist molding method, plastic expulsion process (PEP) method, external gas assisted method, and WAIM-GAIM method. For each method, the article quotes one or several patents to illustrate its features. Finally, the future development of the FAIM technique is also discussed.

The Effects of Processing Parameters on the Residual Wall Thickness Distribution at the Sharp Angle Corner of Water Assisted Injection Molded Parts

Abstract Water-assisted injection molding (WAIM) has been widely used for tubular plastic parts due to its advantages of relatively low cost and fast cycling time. However, the non-uniform distribution of the wall thickness, especially at the sharp corner, is still a basic problem in the WAIM process. This work presents the effects of sharp corner angles on wall thickness distribution in sections near corners for various processing conditions of the WAIM process, including melt temperature, mold temperature, water delay time, water holding time, and holding pressure. Three grades of polypropylene (PP) resins with different melt flow indices were studied using seven mold geometries that varied the angle of the sharp corner section. The wall thickness distribution at the corner sections were characterized in terms of inner and outer residual wall thicknesses, hollow core ratio, and the percentage of difference between the inner and outer wall thicknesses. In addition, computational fluid dynamic simulations with Moldflow Plastics Insight version 4.1 were performed for each sharp corner angle. It was found that the wall thickness distribution of the straight tube was more uniform than those of the curve tubes. Water injection delay time and water pressure were the major parameters that had a significant impact on the hollowed core ratios, while the percent difference between inner and outer wall thicknesses was mainly influenced by melt temperature.