Dual-scale modeling and simulation of skin layer thickness in injection molding with variable mold temperatures

Bei Su, Ying Guo Zhou*, Lih Sheng Turng

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

Abstract

Compared with the constant mold temperature in conventional injection molding (CIM), injection molded parts with variable mold temperatures undergo a different thermomechanical history. As a result, the microstructure-for example, the skin-core structure found often in CIM-can be changed. However, unlike conventional injection molding, there have been few studies on the microstructure of injection molding with variable mold temperatures (IMVMT), possibly because the experimental control of variable mold temperatures remains difficult. In this paper, the skin layer thickness of CIM and IMVMT under different mold temperatures was carefully investigated by optical microscope. The higher mold temperatures and longer holding times during the injection flow stage caused a thinning of the highly oriented skin layer, and vice-versa. A dual-scale modeling was then proposed based on the prediction of crystal dimensions, and it was further used to predict the thickness of the skin layer. The predicted results were in agreement with the experimental observations under the different mold temperatures during IMVMT processing, and the proposed model proved to be effective.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7125-7136
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience
Volume13
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2016 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Crystallization
  • Injection molding with variable mold temperature (IMVMT)
  • Morphology
  • Skin layer
  • Spherulites

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Dual-scale modeling and simulation of skin layer thickness in injection molding with variable mold temperatures'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this