Water assisted injection molding of thermoplastic materials

This study investigated the water-assisted injection molding of thermoplastic materials. The first part of this report was to develop a water assisted injection-molding system, which included a water pump, a water injection pin, a water tank equipped with a temperature regulator, and a control circuit. Two types of water injection pins were designed and made to mold the parts. The second part of this report is to test the moldability of the developed system on various thermoplastic materials, including polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene. A comparison has been made between the parts molded by water assisted injection molding and gas assisted injection molding. The final goal of this research is to gain better understanding of the moldability of water assisted injection-molded parts, so that steps can be taken to optimize the process. This would provide significant advantages in improving parts quality.