FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

BMM 3611
MANUFACTURING PROCESSES LABORATORY

Injection Mold process

Lab Instructor
Refer to schedule
Lab Location
FKM Lab

Lab Objectives

By the end of semester, students should be able to:

 Acknowledge the principles of injection moulding system design, its processing
materials, the molding cycle and system construction

Name Student ID Section Signature

Ahmad Azril Bin Azmi MH08060 M01

 BMM 3611
MANUFACTURING PROCESSES LABORATORY
Injection Mold process
Ahmad Azril Bin Azmi
1
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Universiti Malaysia Pahang
Locked Bag 12, 25000 Kuantan, Pahang, MALAYSIA

Abstract :

Injection velocity has been recognized as a key variable in thermoplastic injection molding. Its
closed-loop control is, however, difficult due to the complexity of the process dynamic
characteristics. The basic requirements of the control system include tracking of a predetermined
injection velocity and load rejection pressure . It is difficult for a conventional control scheme to
meet all of these requirements. Injection velocity dynamics and load rejection pressure are first
analyzed in this paper. The proposed velocity control has been experimentally demonstrated to
be effective for a wide range of processing conditions. From the analysis we can define the most
suitable injection location, velocity and pressure for injection for the good quality of product.

1.0 Introduction plastic material, and a mold. The plastic is

melted in the injection molding machine and
One of the most common methods of then injected into the mold (figure 2),
converting plastics from the raw material
form to an article of use is the process of
injection molding. This process is most
typically used for thermoplastic materials
which may be successively melted,
reshaped and cooled. A wide variety of
products are manufactured using injection
molding, which vary greatly in their size,
complexity, and application.

Figure 2. Typical mold tool arrangement.

where it cools and solidifies into the final

Figure 1. Reciprocating screw injection molding
unit
The injection molding process requires the
use of an injection molding machine, raw
part. Injection molding is used to produce
thin-walled plastic parts for a wide variety
of applications, one of the most common
being plastic housings. Plastic housing is a
thin-walled enclosure, often requiring
 many ribs and bosses on the interior. These
housings are used in a variety of products
including household appliances, consumer
electronics, power tools, and as automotive
dashboards. Other common thin-walled
products include different types of open
containers, such as buckets. Injection
molding is also used to produce several
everyday items such as toothbrushes or
small plastic toys. Many medical devices,
including valves and syringes, are
manufactured using injection molding as
well.
2.0 Literature Review
Much effort has been devoted to the
modelling and control of injection
velocity. Davis (1976) developed a transfer
function model relating injection velocity
to the opening of a typical servo-valve, as
described by Thayer (1965). Extending the
works of Thayer and Davis (1980), Wang
et al. (1985) developed a fourth-order
transfer function for air-shot
injection operations. The air-shot
operations are different from real
injection operations, as the nozzle pressure
in actual molding, which resists the screw's
forward motion, is a strong function of
mold geometry. An alternative simple
model was developed by Abu Fara
(1984), ignoring the dynamics between
injection velocity and the servo-valve
opening. All of the above models assumed
that injection velocity is linear and time-
invariant, neglecting the non-linearity due
to the non-Newtonian polymer flow and the
time-varying nature caused by the
increasing flow resistance from the
pressure build-up in the mold as the filling
progresses.
Pandelidis & Agrawal,
1987 and Pandelidis performed a series of
simulations on injection velocity control,
based on the linear model developed
by Wang et al. (1985). Good performance
was obtained in their simulation. However,
none of their work was tested
experimentally. The non-linear and time-
varying characteristics of injection velocity
during the filling phase were also ignored.
The closed-loop control of
injection velocity is still not common in the
molding industry due to the strong non-
linear and time-varying characteristics of
the process. Recently, the non-linearity and
time-varying nature of injection velocity
have been carefully analyzed by Tsoi and
Gao (1999). They have shown that a fuzzy
velocity controller can work reasonably
well under different molding conditions.
The design, however, requires the operator
to have extensive process experience.
In this project, the non-linear and
time-varying characteristics of injection
velocity were briefly demonstrated. An
adaptive self-tuning regulator (STR)
scheme (Åström & Wittenmark, 1995)
using a pole-placement design was adopted
to overcome the control difficulties
associated with these characteristics. The
work was further extended by utilizing a
generalized predictive control (GPC)
design ( Clark, Mohtadi & Tuffs, 1987), to
enhance the control system robustness to
the model mismatch.
3.0 Experimental Method
3.1 Material choosing criteria
The advantages of ABS that being
derived from Acrylonitrile, Butadiene and
Styrene it combines the rigidity and
strength of the Acrylonitrile and Styrene
Polymers along with the toughness of the
Polybutadiene Rubber. The most
important properties of ABS are the
toughness of the material and the
resistance. The properties of the ABS
used in this study are summarized in
Table 1.
 will be set to a different temperature. For this
ABS material, first section will be set to
Molding Properties ABS
2000 C , second section will be provided
0
Driying Temperature 70-80 with 240 C and the last section are
0
260 C . The ABS material will be heated
Drying Time 2 Hr through the molding tool from the first
section to the last section. This could prevent
Injection Forming Cylinder 200-260
a defeat occur to the material.
Temperature
All of this parameters are used to get to run
Injection Molding Tool 50-80 the process (table 2).
Temperature

Injection Molding Pressure 560-1760 Specification NS20-2A

Compression Molding 160-180

Screw Diameter (mm) 16 19 22
Temperature

Compression Molding 0.7-5.6 Injection Capacity (cm 3 ) 13 18 25

Pressure
Plastisizing capacity (PS) 7.0 11 16
Molding Shrinkage Rate 0.4-0.9
Mold height (mm) 150
Specific Gravity 1.03-1.06
Clamping Force (kN) 189
Table 1. Mechanical properties of ABS
Tie Bar (mm) 355x255
Injection Molding Machine
Day Light 370
The machine to be used for this experiment is
Table 2. Nissei NS20-2A machining parameters
Nissei NS20-2A machine(figure 3).
Procedure

In this experiment, we will used the try and

Figure 3. Nissei NS20-2A machine
error strategies to find the correct value for
the best product :
1. Volume dosage
2. Injection pressure
And all of these, we need to determine by
key in the value in the machine and the
machine will take care of the rest.

This Nissei machine included with three Preparation for material:

section that is rear part, middle part, and front
part. To make sure that the material are not For the material, the ABS will be heated in
heated rapidly, each sections of this machine the blow dryer at the rear section. When the
ABS is ready enough, by using the try an
error, key in the the first value for the
injection volume and the injection pressure.
Hit the start button after all of
the preparation is complete. Then, the
machine will started to process
automatically. After the machine had
stop to inject, before take out the
product, make sure to press the
machine mode to manual mode to
prevent it from clamp our hand
automatically. Press mold injector if
the product is stuck in the cavity.
Then, check the product, for any
defect. Any defect would lead us to
change the value of the components
that we had key in. If the product did
not have the shape of the case, we
will need to increase the volume
dosage and the injection pressure.
The procedure will be
repeated until we get the completely
product. Next, we will key in the
holding pressure 50 % and holding
flow 50 % from the volume that we
get. Then, we ran the machine again.
For the final step, after all the value
we get is suitable for the product, we
will set the value for MTG post to
make sure the material will in the
minimum condition in the injection
molding cylinder. We will take all the
reading when the perfect product is
produced.
Precaution
There are some precaution needed to focus in
doing this experiment.
1. Make sure to change the machine to
manual mode to prevent it from
automatically clamped.
2. Check the cooling pipe is smooth, and
oil cooler and the barrel end of the
cooling water jacket cooling water
access.
3. Check the emergency stop switches,
safety door switch is normal before
and after. Verify motor and pump
rotation directions are the same.
4.0 Design of Experiment (DOE)
In the injection molding experiment, we
needed to reduce the variation in the defects
in the products. When the right value had
been detected, cost for each product could be
decrease because lack of product with defect
could be produced .
For this case, we will try to
key in the value until we found the
suitable value for the product. We set
a parameter, and run a test for
example two different conditions of
that parameter and try to find any
defect at the product. First of all, we
will set the first volume dosage and
the injection pressure. The finish
product of the value will be
investigated to determine which
volume and pressure give good
quality.
When the product satisfied
with the requirement, we set for the
other test to get the best value for the
holding pressure and holding volume.
Mostly, this parameter is 50% from
the volume dosage and the injection
pressure. The finish product of the
value will also be investigated to
determine the good quality.
The last thing is, we needed to
determine the MTG post to decrease
the volume of material left in the
molding cylinder.
5.0 Result & Discussion
5.1 Result:
Parameter : V = Volume dosage
P = Injection pressure
v= Hoding volume
 p= pressure volume Third value:
V 1 =51
First value:
V 1 =5 P 1 =25
P 1 =15

Figure 6 : Product for third value

Figure 4 : Product for first value

Second value:
V 1 =10 Fourth value:
V 1 =51 v=7
P 1 =20
P 1 =25 p=12

Figure 5 : Product for second value

Figure 7 : Product for fourth value
 5.1.3 Defect could happen during injection
molding:
5.1.2 Effect of injection pressure on the
1.Bubbles:
quality of the product.
In order to evaluate the effects of injection
pressure and volume dosage on the quality of
the final parts, the products obtained from the
final value were considered because the
injection pressure ( P 1 ) and volume dosage
(V 1 ) were giving the best quality of the
product.
Experimental results have
shown that the final dimensional
quality of a part, such as the
shrinkages in figure 1 the injection
pressure and volume dosage during
the filling stage of the molding
process. figure 2,3 and 4 show the
happen in the variation of volume
dosage and injection pressure. Both of
these control parameters have strong
effects on shrinkage of the product .
Specifically, the higher the injection
pressure and volume dosage, the
smaller the shrinkage of the product.
Controlling each point of cavity is not
possible during molding process to
produce acceptable opinion about
process.
To produce better quality
products, the shrinkage values must
be decreased. As is evident from the
figures, use of the optimal injection
pressure and volume dosage led to the
decrease in the shrinkage. While this
is a notable improvement, by using
the relationship between the initial
parameters of injection pressure and
volume dosage, it may be possible to
develop models and to determine
optimal molding conditions by
statistical techniques.
This is phenomenon in which air bubbles
are left inside the molded product. In the
case of transparent molded products such
as lenses or prisms, bubbles become
external appearance defects or defects in
the optical characteristics. In mechanical
parts, these lead to a reduction in strength
or ultimately breakage.
This defect could be classified into
two types.
One type is the bubbles that are
caused by bubbles that got mixed with the
molten plastic. These are called bubbles.
The other type is a vacuum void
generated when the molded product
shrinks. When sufficient dwell pressure
did not act on the parts where the wall
thickness of the molded product is thick,
this phenomenon occurs simultaneously
with the generation of sink marks due to
abnormal shrinkage.
Countermeasured for bubbles:
1. Countermeasures related to molds
a. There are no air vents, or they
are insufficient.
b. There is no cold slag well, or
it is too small.
2. Countermeasures related to the
injection molding conditions
a. The screw rotation speed is
too high
b. The cylinder temperature is
too high.
c. The injection speed is too
high.
3. Countermeasures related to the
design of the molded product
a. Insufficient preliminary
drying of the molded material
Countermeasured for void: a. Widen the gate
b. Widen the runner
1. Countermeasures related to molds c. Make the sprue thicker.
a. There are no air vents, or they d. The cold slag well is small
are insufficient. e. Increase the number of gates.
b. There is no cold slag well, or f. Change the position of the
it is too small. gates
c. The sprue and the runners are 2 Countermeasures related to the
too thin injection molding conditions
d. The gate is too small a. Make the plastic temperature
2. Countermeasures related to the higher
injection molding conditions b. Set the cavity surface
a. The cavity surface temperature a little higher
temperature is too high. c. Try making the filling
b. The dwell pressure is too low. pressure higher
c. The dwell time is insufficient. d. Try making the dwell pressure
3. Countermeasures related to the higher.
design of the molded product e. Try setting the dwell pressure
a. Insufficient preliminary time longer.
drying of the molded material. f. Try increasing the charge
b. The wall thickness of the quantity.
molded product is too high. g. Try increasing the volume of
the cushion.
2.Short shots h. Try changing the injection
molding machine.
A short shot is a phenomenon in which i. Replace the reverse flow
there is an incomplete filling in a part of the prevention ring of the
molded product. injection unit.
There are two types of causes for short j. Change the tip diameter of the
shots in terms of their nature. One of these injection nozzle of the
occurs because, in the middle of the flow of injection molding machine to
the molten plastic, the front end of the flow a larger size.
gets cooled and solidifies. The second is 3 Countermeasures related to the
caused, in the flow process of the molten design of the molded product
plastic, because air traps are generated in a. Increase the wall thickness of
the flow depending on the conditions of the the molded product
flow. b. Provide ribs near the parts in
In order to take countermeasures against which flow is difficult
short shots, it is necessary to verify which
of the above two types the short shot Countermeasures for the case of short shots
belongs to. due to air traps:

Countermeasures for the case of short 1. Countermeasures related to molds

shots caused by the solidification of the a. Provide an effective air vent in
front end of the flow: the part where air traps are
occurring
1 Countermeasures related to molds b. Change the gate position
 c. Try changing the runner
balance
d. Try making a structure in
which the part with poor flow
can be heated.
e. Try making the part with poor
flow have a divided nested
structure.
2. Countermeasures related to the
injection molding conditions
a. Try changing the injection
speed and changing the flow
pattern
b. Try changing the screw speed, Figure 8. Comparative production costs for a
and the pressure selection typical component.
position
c. Try making the injection *Note 
speed slower
d. Try setting the cavity surface 1. Rotational moulding using very simple equipment 
2. Rotational moulding using sophisticated equipment
temperature higher. Source:
e. Try setting the mold clamping http://www.bpf.co.uk/plastipedia/processes/injection_mouldi
force a little lower ng.aspx#Costings
3. Countermeasures related to the
5.1.5 Effect of cooling on cycle time and
design of the molded product
product quality.
a. Investigate making the wall
thickness of the molded
In Hamdy Hassan and etc (2009) analysis,
product non-uniform.
with T-shape plastic mold and four cooling
b. Increase the wall thickness of
channels as indicated in Fig. 1 Each
the molded product.
numerical cycle consists of two stages. Due
5.1.4 The production capability of the to the symmetry, half of the mold is modeled
machine based on normal working hours and analyzed.
for the product.

1 High production rates

2 Good dimensional control
3 Cycle time range 5 to 60 sec’s
4 mould materials- tool steels,
beryllium - Acrylonitrile, Butadiene
and Styrene

Figure 9. Mold structure with a T-shape product and

four cooling channels (Dim. In m).

All the cooling channels have the same size

and they have diameter of 10-mm each in
case of circular channels. Each numerical
cycle consists of two stages, cooling stage
where the cavity is filled with hot polymer
initially at polymer injected temperature, the
ejection stage where the cavity is filled with
air initially at ambient temperature.
Figure 13. Different cooling
channels positions (Dim. In m).
Figure 10 and 11 show the cyclic transient
variations of the mould temperature with
time for 16 s mold cooling time at locations;
(P1,P2,P3,P4) beside the mould walls and P5
to P7 inside the mould walls, respectively
(Figure 9) and that in case of applied the
solidification and without applied
solidification. They are simulated for the first
30 cycles in case of

Figure 10. Temperature history of the first 30 cycles at locations P1 to P4 (a) without solidification (b) with
solidification.

Figure 11. Temperature history of the first 30 cycles at locations P5 to P7 (a) without solidification (b) with
solidification.

Figure 12. Changing the solidification percent of the
polymer part with cooling time for different cooling
channel forms.
circular cooling channels position (A5, D3)
as shown in Figure 13.
It is found that there is a slightly
difference in temperatures values between the
two results, thus due to the difference in
numerical method used and the accuracy in
the numerical calculations. The figures show
that, the relatively temperature fluctuation is
largest near the cavity surface and diminishes
away from the cavity surface. We find that
the maximum amplitude of temperature
fluctuation during the steady cycle can reach
100 C without applying solidification and
150 C in case of applying the solidification.
5.1.6 Relationship between the polymer
flow rate and pressure for every cycle.
The basic injection cycle is:  from velocity control to pressure control.
1. Mold close
2. injection carriage forward
3. inject plastic
4. metering
5. carriage retract  material from flowing back out of the cavity.
6. mold open
7. eject part(s)
For the injection molding cycle to begin, four
criteria must be met: mold open, ejector pins
retracted, shot built, and carriage forward.
When these criteria are met, the cycle begins
with the mold closing. This is typically done
as fast as possible with a slow down near the
end of travel.
Mold close
The molds are closed shut by hydraulics or
electric, and the heated plastic is forced by
the pressure of the injection screw to take the
shape of the mold. Some machines are run by
electric motors instead of hydraulics or a
combination of both. The water-cooling
channels then assist in cooling the mold and
the heated plastic solidifies into the part.
Improper cooling can result in distorted
molding or one that is burnt.
Mold safety is low speed and low
pressure mold closing. It usually begins just
before the leader pins of the mold and must
be set properly to prevent accidental mold
damage. When the mold halves touch clamp
tonnage is built.
Inject plastic
Molten plastic material is injected into the
mold. The material travels into the mold via
the sprue bushing, then the runner system
delivers the material to the gate. The gate
directs the material into the mold cavity to
form the desired part. This injection usually
occurs under velocity control. When the part
is nearly full, injection control is switched
This is referred to as the pack/hold phase of
the cycle.
Pressure must be maintained on the
material until the gate solidifies to prevent
Cooling time is dependent primarily on the
wall thickness of the part. During the cooling
portion of the cycle after the gate has
solidified, plastication takes place. The
material begins in the hopper and enters the
barrel through the feed throat. The feed throat
must be cooled to prevent plastic pellets from
fusing together from the barrel heat. The
barrel contains a screw that primarily uses
shear to melt the pellets and consists of three
sections.
The first section is the feed section
which conveys the pellets forward and allows
barrel heat to soften the pellets. The flight
depth is uniform and deepest in this section.
The next section is the transition section and
is responsible for melting the material
through shear. The flight depth continuously
decreases in this section, compressing the
material. The final section is the metering
section which features a shallow flight depth,
improves the melt quality and color
dispersion.
At the front of the screw is the non-
return valve which allows the screw to act as
both an extruder and a plunger. When the
screw is moving backwards to build a shot,
the non-return assembly allows material to
flow in front of the screw creating a melt
pool or shot. During injection, the non-return
assembly prevents the shot from flowing
back into the screw sections.
Mold open
Once the shot has been built and the cooling
time has timed out, the mold opens. Mold
opening must occur slow-fast-slow. The
mold must be opened slowly to release the
vacuum that is caused by the injection
molding process and prevent the part from
staying on the stationary mold half. This is
undesirable because the ejection system is on
the moving mold half. Then the mold is
opened as far as needed, if robots are not
being used, the mold only has to open far
enough for the part to be removed. A
slowdown near the end of travel must be
utilized to compensate for the momentum of
the mold. Without slowing down the machine
cannot maintain accurate positions and may
slam to a stop damaging the machine. Once
the mold is open, the ejector pins are moved
forward, ejecting the part.
Shot built
The resin, or raw material for injection
molding, is usually in pellet or granule form,
and is melted by heat and shearing forces
shortly before being injected into the mold.
Resin pellets are poured into the feed hopper,
a large open bottomed container, which feeds
the granules down to the screw. The screw is
rotated by a motor, feeding pellets up the
screw's grooves.
The depth of the screw flights
decreases towards the end of the screw
nearest the mold, compressing the heated
plastic. As the screw rotates, the pellets are
moved forward in the screw and they
undergo extreme pressure and friction which
generates most of the heat needed to melt the
pellets. Heaters on either side of the screw
assist in the heating and temperature control
during the melting process.
Eject part(s)
The cycle is completed when the mold opens
and the part is ejected with the assistance of
ejector pins within the mold. When the
ejector pins retract, all criteria for a molding
cycle have been met and the next cycle can
begin.
The channels through which the
plastic flows toward the chamber will
also solidify, forming an attached frame. This
frame is composed of the sprue, which is the
main channel from the reservoir of molten
resin, parallel with the direction of draw,
and runners, which are perpendicular to the
direction of draw, and are used to convey
molten resin to the gate(s), or point(s) of
injection.
The sprue and runner system can be
cut or twisted off and recycled, sometimes
being granulated next to the mold machine.
Some molds are designed so that the part is
automatically stripped through action of the enough, a better product could be
mold. produced. Figure 4,5 and 6 presents the
change of the product with increasing
injection pressure and volume dosage.
For each molding cycle, the same injection
For the first value, the volume dosage
pressure and flow rate were utilized. As can
and the injection molding are not enough
be observed from Figure 9, the increasing
to be shot into the mold. As we can see in
heater power and mold wall temperature
the figure 4, the product does not
enable greatly improved flow conditions – a
completely produce as what we wanted.
63% increase in flow compared to
The quality of product increased from
conventional injection molding. With
figure 5 to figure 6 as the result of we
isothermal molding, the advancing plastic
increased the pressure and volume.
melt will never solidify in the cavity, and the
flow length should continue to increase with
6.0 Conclusion
increasing injection forward times. The
product would have been further improved if
In this study, the dimensional accuracy of
larger and/or heated sprue bushings and gates
molded parts has been accurately
were also utilized.
analyzed by using experimental
600
measurement techniques, highlighting the
relationships between injection pressure
500
Isothermal
and volume dosage with the dimensional
Conventional
quality of the final parts. The following
400 conclusions can be drawn:
Flow Length (mm)

.
300
1. The finishing product obtained from
each cavity are different because of
200
the variances injection pressure and
100
volume dosage.
2. Injection pressure and volume dosage
0 strongly affect the shrinkage of the
0 50 100 150 200 250
product.
TCX Power (Voltage)

Figure 14: Effect of Fill Time on Flow Length

7.0 References

1. Mustafa Kurt *, O. Saban Kamber,

5.2 Discussion Yusuf Kaynak, Gurcan Atakok, Oguz
Girit, Experimental investigation of
plastic injection molding: Assessment
From the experiment we know that the
of the effects of cavity pressure and
optimum parameter for Nissei NS20-2A
mold temperature on the quality of
to produce a good quality of product is
the final products, Marmara
from the third value. In the experiments
University, Technical Education
the holding stage was omitted and the part
Faculty, 34722 Kadikoy Istanbul,
were molded with different injection
Turkey.
pressure and volume dosage. The finish
product was observed. If the injection
pressure and volume dosage was good
2. Hamdy Hassan *, Nicolas Regnier,
Cedric Lebot, Cyril Pujos, Guy
Defaye, Effect of cooling system on
the polymer temperature and
solidification during injection
molding, Laboratoire TREFLE-
Bordeaux1-UMR 8508, Site
ENSCPB, 16 Av. Pey Berland, 33607
Pessac Cedex, France.

3. E. Boci¹ga, T. Jaruga*,
Experimental investigation of
polymer flow in injection mould,
Institute of Polymer Processing and
Production Management, Al. Armii
Krajowej 19c 42-200 Czêtochowa,
Poland.

4. Hamdy Hassan a,*, NicolasRegnier

a, CyrilPujos b, EricArquis a,
GuyDefaye a, Modeling the effect of
cooling system on the shrinkage and
temperature of the polymer by
injection molding, a. TREFLE
laboratory-Bordeaux1 UMR8508, site
ENSCPB, 16avPeyBerland, 33607
PessacCedex,France. b. ISMANS,
44avBartholdi, 72000 LeMans,
France.

5. Shaik Mohamed Mohamed Yusoff,

Jafri Mohd. Rohani, Wan Harun Wan
Hamid & Edly Ramly, A Plastic
Injection Molding Process
Characterisation Using Experimental
Design Technique: A Case Study.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.