MSci PolySci-Lab

Modul P104
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Injection molding

1 Introduction

Figure 1: Injection molding machine Arburg 320 S (Neue Materialien Bayreuth GmbH)

About 60 % of all polymer-processing machines are injection molding machines for which
reason injection molding is a very important processing strategy for thermoplastics. This way
it is possible to produce parts with a weight in the range from less than one mg to more than
100 kg. Minor further treatment after processing is the main advantage. Figure 1 and 2 show
some typical injection molding machines.

Figure 2: Injection molding machines for several applications and material systems (Krauss-Maffei;
Sumitomo-Demag; Ferromatik Milacron; Engel)
MSci PolySci P104 Injection molding 2

Figure 3 shows schematically the injection molding process including the three main steps
plasticizing, injection and demolding.

a) The turning screw conveys the granulate from the feed hopper through the screw
channels to the screw tip Plasticizing
b) The mold closes, the injection unit moves forward to the sprue bush, the screw
presses the molten polymer like a piston into the mold Injection
c) The ejectors demold the frozen molding from the open mold, the screw conveys new
material to the screw tip, the injection unit moves backward Demolding

Figure 3: Process description of injection molding

Like in all types of processing methods the output of parts per time unit (cycle time) is crucial
for productivity. The cycle time depends particularly on the cooling time. The cooling time
increases proportionally with the wall thickness in second power. This is of high importance
in molding parts with high wall thicknesses.
Characteristics of injection molding are:
Direct processing from bulk material to finished part
No or minor post-processing
Fully automated process
High reproducibility
High quality of molded parts

2 Literature

1. Michaeli, W., Einfhrung in die Kunststoffverarbeitung, Hanser-Verlag Mnchen 1999.

2. Menges, G., Mohren, P., Spritzgiewerkzeuge, Hanser-Verlag Mnchen 1998.

3. Johannaber, F., Michaeli, W., Handbuch Spritzgieen, Hanser-Verlag Mnchen 2001.

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3 Keyword Glossary

Barrel Zylinder
Cavity Formnest
Clamping force Schliekraft
Clamping unit Schlieeinheit
Compression section Kompressionszone
Compression stage Kompressionsphase
Control cabinet Schaltschrank
Cooling time Khlzeit
Cycle time Zykluszeit
Demolding Entformen
Ejectors Auswerfer
Ejector bolts Auswerferbolzen
Ejector pins Auswerferstifte
Ejector plate Auswerferplatte
Feed hopper Einflltrichter
Feed section Einzugszone
Feeding stroke Dosierweg
Flange Flansch
Gate Anschnitt, Anguss
Heating equipment Temperiergert / -einheit
Holding pressure Nachdruck
Hydraulic clamping system Hydraulische Schlieeinheit
Injection Einspritzen
Injection pressure Einspritzdruck
Injection speed / velocity Einspritzgeschwindigkeit
Injection stage Einspritzphase
Injection unit Einspritzeinheit
Machine bed Maschinenbett
Metering Dosieren
Metering section Austragszone
Metering stroke Dosierhub
Mold (Spritzgie-) Werkzeug
Molding Formteil
Moving (clamping) platen Bewegliche Aufspannplatte
Nozzle Dse
Piston Kolben
Plasticizing Plastifizieren
Plasticizing cylinder Plastifizierzylinder
Plasticizing unit Plastifiziereinheit
Pre-drying Vortrocknen
Primary shaping Urformen
Reciprocating screw Schneckenkolben
Residual melt cushion Restmassepolster
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Runner system Angusssystem

Screw Schnecke
Screw channels Schneckengnge
Screw tip Schneckenspritze
Shrinkage Schwindung
Shrink mark Einfallstelle
Slide bar Schieber
Sprue bush Angussbuchse
Stationary claming plate Feste Aufspannplatte
Suction valve Ansaugventil
Switching point Umschaltpunkt
Three-zone screw Dreizonenschnecke
Tie bar Holm
Toggle Kniehebel
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4 Injection molding machine

Injection molding machines are normally general-purpose machines. DIN 24450 defines the
task as follows: Discontinuous production of moldings from primarily macromolecular
substances, whereas primary shaping is performed under pressure.
The different devices of an injection molding machines are depicted in figure 4:

Figure 4: Setup of an injection molding system

4.1 Injection / Plasticizing unit

The plasticizing unit melts, homogenizes, conveys, meters and injects the polymer into the
mold. Thus the injection unit has two main tasks: On one hand it plasticizes the polymer and
on the other hand it injects the melt into the mold. Standard machines have typically
reciprocating screws, which means the screw acts also as an injection piston. Nowadays
there are also approaches existing which separate plasticizing and injection unit. Common
screws for injection molding consist of three zones:
Feed section
Compression section
Metering section
The screw rotates in a heated barrel and a feed hopper delivers granulate or powder into the
barrel.
Usually the injection unit is mounted flexibly on the machine bed. Barrel, screw and nozzle
are exchangeable. In doing so the injection unit is adaptable to the type of polymer and the
shot volume.
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4.2 Clamping unit

The clamping unit resembles to a horizontal press. The moving platen slides on four bars
and the halves of the mold are mounted on both platens. Common drive systems are
working:

Hydraulically
o Hydraulically activated toggle
o Clamping by a hydraulic cylinder

Electrically
The so-called full electrical injection molding machines are driven exclusively by
servo-drives. The position detection occurs directly at the motor axes. Thus very short
reaction times are possible. In comparison to hydraulic machines the full electrical
principle exhibits different advantages:
o Higher precision due to fast reaction times of the electro-mechanical drives
o Energy saving by higher efficiency
o Low maintenance of electro-mechanical drives
o High reproducibility by direct mechanical connection of motors and axes
o Higher output due to parallel operation mode
o No use of hydraulic oil results in cleaner production

Hydraulic driven toggles are normally used for smaller and medium machine sizes, Figure 5.

Figure 5: Toggle clamping system

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Advantageous are the force-speed-characteristics of these clamping units. This means the
course of force depends on the position of the toggle or the course of the speed of the
platens depends on this position respectively. There from results a high moving speed of the
platens combined with low clamping forces and a slow clamping speed with high clamping
forces in the end of clamping. On the other side breakages of the tie bars are possible.
Further disadvantages are permanent deformation of the mold after poor adjustment of the
toggle and the high maintenance. When using a hydraulic clamping system no breakages of
the tie bars will occur. Hence these systems achieve more and more acceptance, figure 6.

Figure 6: Fully hydraulic clamping system

Advantages of fully hydraulic systems are: higher precision, variable positioning, no

unacceptable mold deformation and no breakages of tie bars. Disadvantages are slower
clamping speed, minor stiffness of the clamping unit caused by the high compliance of the oil
medium and the high energy demand.

4.3 Machine bed and control

The plasticizing and clamping unit are fixed in the machine bed. Furthermore it contains the
reservoir for the hydraulic oil and the hydraulic drives. Sometimes also the machine controls
are mounted in the machine bed.
The control cabinet contains all the instruments, the electrical circuit elements, controllers
and actuators and the power supply. Modern machines provide the possibility for information
input by a keyboard and screen dialog. The integrated processor cares for the sequence
control, monitors process and production data, saves the data and keeps records of the
process.
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4.4 Mold
Since it is constructed for each molded part individually, the mold for injection molding
belongs not directly to the machine. It contains two main parts minimum, which are mounted
on the clamping plates. The maximum mold size depends on the size of the clamping plates.
Thereby the distance between the adjacent tie bars limits the size of the mold.
Generally the mold consists of the following elements:
Plate with cavity
Runner system
Heating system
Ejector system

These elements fulfill the following tasks:

Melt intake and spreading
Drawing of the pattern
Quenching of the melt
Demolding

The costs for an injection molding tool are very high from averagely 5.000 up to 500.000
for complicated multi-part molds with slide bars. Hence the fabrication of such molds is only
profitable, when high quantities of molded parts are expected.

4.5 Demolding system

The demolding system with its ejector plates and pins is a moving element of the mold. After
finishing the cooling time the clamping unit opens the mold and a hydraulic cylinder moves
the ejector bolts towards the molding in order to push it out of the cavity by the ejector pins.
Frequently also compressed air is employed supportingly.

4.6 Runner system

During injection the melt is pressed through the runner system and the gate into the cavity,
where the final part is going to be molded. Therefore different systems are in use, in order to
guarantee a sufficient filling dependent on the molding geometry. It is also possible to apply a
certain temperature to the runner system.
By using more than one cavity per mold the efficiency is improved. This case the main runner
channel coming from the nozzle splits into several channels, which deliver the melt to each
single cavity. The balance of the runner system is of special importance. That means that the
melt has to fill each cavity at the same time. Furthermore it is crucial that the melt has the
same pressure and temperature when entering the cavities. Thus a constant quality of the
moldings is assured.
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5 Process flow of injection molding

The procedure of injection molding is depicted in figure 7.

Figure 7: Injection molding cycle

It is clear that all procedure steps of injection molding take place one after another except for
the important cooling stage, which overlaps with the holding pressure, the backward
movement of the plasticizing unit, metering and plasticizing stage. The machine control
coordinates each process step and repeats it every injection molding cycle. To achieve a
high output and hence a high process efficiency the cycle time should be kept as short as
possible.

5.1 Metering
The screw, which rotates in the plasticizing cylinder, conveys the melt from the hopper to the
end of the screw. This way the material is going to be densified and brought into a molten
stage. While the screw conveys the melt, the screw moves backward because the delivered
material conglomerates at the screw tip. While moving backwards a definite pressure is
applied to the screw, which is called back pressure. In doing so the screw has to convey
against this pressure and the homogenization and the dissipation heating improves. This
back pressure is adjustable.
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At a certain screw position the metering stops, because the mass of melt for filling the whole
cavities is reached. The position of the screw or the way the screw moves backward
respectively represents the metering volume and is called feeding stroke or metering stroke.
Both parameters have to be adjusted for each new molding process.

5.2 Injection
During injection the screw moves forward without rotating and injects the metered material
through the nozzle into the mold. In doing so the screw acts like an injection piston. A
residual melt cushion remains in front of the screw for applying the following holding
pressure. The maximum injection pressure is a prefixed parameter and an upper limit for the
applied injection pressure. Another prefixed parameter is the injection speed. However it is
variable during injection stage. It is also possible to apply an increasing or decreasing
velocity profile during injection and holding pressure stage.

5.3 Melt flow in the cavities during injection

The melt flow can be divided into three stages, depicted in Figure 8:
A) Injection stage
B) Compression stage
C) Holding pressure

Figure 8: Cavity pressure during mold filling

During injection stage the mold is going to be filled volumetrically. Afterwards the velocity
slows down and compression takes place. For densification more melt is conveyed into the
mold, while the pressure in the cavity rises rapidly and steeply. When reaching a certain
pressure value the holding pressure stage begins. When switching too late from compression
MSci PolySci P104 Injection molding 11

to holding pressure stage a high peak pressure arises in the melt that exhibits still a very low
viscosity. Thus overmolding becomes possible.
While cooling down the polymer shrinkage occurs. Hence more molten material has to be
conveyed into the cavity during holding pressure stage in order to keep the volume of the
molding constant. This stage is finished when the gate freezes.
The switching point from compression to holding pressure is of high importance. When
switching too early the density of the molding is too low and shrink marks are visible on the
surface.

5.4 Cooling stage

Cooling begins with injection and ends with demolding. Afterwards the molding has to exhibit
a certain temperature and enough stability. Cooling channels in the mold nearby the cavities
support cooling. A cooling medium mostly oil or water flows through the channels. Its
temperature is set at a definite value and controlled by a cooling aggregate.
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6 Experiments & Tasks

First make yourself familiar with the injection molding machine and the control
system. Identify the machine components, hopper, plasticizing cylinder, mold, die.
Afterwards to start the injection molding process, adjust the parameters like injection
velocity, temperatures and make a filling study of the cavity.
Finally determine proper injection molding parameters for neat and nucleated
polypropylene and produce parts for following mechanical tests.
Draw your conclusions about the relation between molding parameters and the parts
quality and its characteristics like shrink marks.

Starting / recommended injection molding parameters for polypropylene

[Spritzgieen - kurz und bndig, Demag Plastics Group]

Pre-drying: Not necessary

Barrel temperatures:
Cylinder zone Temperature range / Recommended temperature
Flange 30 50 C / 50 C
Zone 1 160 250 C / 200 C
Zone 2 200 300 C / 220 C
Zone 3 220 300 C / 240 C
Zone 4 220 300 C / 240 C
Nozzle 220 300 C / 240 C

Mold temperature:
Back pressure:
Injection speed:
Holding pressure:
Injection speed:
Rotating speed of the screw: Up to 1,3 m/s circumferential speed. The plasticizing stage
Metering stroke:
Residual melt cushion:
20 70 C
50 200 bar
Due to the high viscosity of polypropylene only low injection
pressure will occur (800 1400 bar), exception: thin-walled
packaging parts
A long holding pressure stage is necessary in order to avoid
shrink marks (about 30 % of the cycle time), level of holding
pressure is about 30 60 % of the required injection pressure
High when molding thin-walled parts, otherwise moderate
pressures
should be finished within the cooling time.
0,5 4,0 D (screw diameter)
2 6 mm, dependent on metering stroke and screw diameter