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The Melt Temperature Variation Measurement in the Barrel of Injection

Molding Machine

Conference Paper · June 2015

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Joohyeong Jeon Joonsung Tae

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 POG3-02

The Melt Temperature Variation Measurement

in the Barrel of Injection Molding Machine
Joohyeong Jeona, Joonsung Taea, Jinsu Gima and Byungohk Rheea*
a
Ajou Univ, Woncheon-dong, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

jeon13806@gmail.com
rhex@ajou.ac.kr

Abstract. A few experimental evidences were reported on the melt temperature variation in the barrel of injection
molding machine. The melt temperature affects the part quality of the injection molded products. In order to measure the
melt temperature variation, the accuracy of temperature sensor should be much higher than the sheath type sensors used
widely in the field. Measurement technique was examined experimentally and numerically for the melt temperature in the
barrel. A wire type thermocouple sensor with less heat capacity than normal sheath type sensors was introduced. By
numerical analysis, the accuracy was evaluated for the conventional sheath type and the wire type temperature sensors.
The experimental results were compared with the analysis results. The wire type sensor showed much higher sensitivity
than the sheath type sensors in the accuracy and the response time. The experimental results showed that the melt
temperature in the barrel varied by the conditions such as the screw rotational speed and the heater temperatures as well
as the back pressure.
Keywords : Injection molding, Melt temperature, Temperature measurement, Plasticating

MELT TEMPERATURE SENSOR

In industry, a polymer melt temperature is typically measured by a plug type temperature sensor consisting of a
sheath type thermocouple as shown in FIGURE 1(left-a). The plug type temperature sensor, however, has a large
response time because of the large heat capacity of the sensor itself. Furthermore, its measurement accuracy is also
limited by a large heat transfer to surroundings. To overcome this limitation, a wire type temperature sensor
consisting of K-type 0.4mm diameter thermocouple wires and an insulating polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) disk
was made as shown in FIGURE 1(left-b).

FIGURE 1. Schematic diagram of plug type(a) and wire type(b) melt temperature sensors mounted on a nozzle(left) and
numerical analysis results of the evaluation of the each sensor(right).

In order to evaluate response time of each sensor, the assembly of the nozzle adapter with the sensor was
modeled for a numerical analysis. In the numerical model, 210 Ȕ polymer melt is flowed into the air through a flow
channel of nozzle. At the same time, it passes through each sensor. A transient analysis of an air shot was made with
the model until the assembly reached to a steady state. The numerical analysis results is shown in FIGURE 1(right).
The results show the time constant of the plug type temperature sensor was 3.85 seconds and the one of the wire
type temperature sensor 0.38 seconds which was about 1/10 of the time constant of the plug type.

909
 MELT TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT EXPERIMENT
Simulated result was verified by experiment. LDPE(grade : MB9500) by LG chemical was used. The injection
molding machine was the Arburg 25ton hydraulic machine with a barrel of 25 mm diameter. All 4 barrel heaters
were set to 190 Ȕ, and the screw circumferential speed was 25m/min. The injection volume was 46cm3 and the
injection flow rate was 15cm3/s. After the resin melted, it was purged out through the nozzle. During purging, the
melt temperature was measured by plug and wire type temperature sensors installed in the nozzle adapter.

FIGURE 2. Variations of melt temperature measured by the sensors

FIGURE 2 shows the variations of melt temperature measured by the sensors during purging. The maximum
difference of melt temperature measured by the plug type sensor was about 5Ȕ and the one by wire type sensor was
more than 20 Ȕ. The results show that the temperature measurement reliability of plug type sensor in injection
molding is relatively low and wire type sensor has better measurement accuracy.

FIGURE 3. Effect of process conditions to the maximum temperature difference.

FIGURE 3 shows the effect of process conditions to the maximum temperature difference. The screw rotational
speed had the most significant effect and the positive correlation with temperature difference. Increase in the
maximum temperature with higher screw rotation speed might be due to a large amount of shear heating. In addition,
decrease in the minimum temperature since the resin passes through the pre-heating zone of the heating barrel for a
short period of time. The barrel heater temperature also has the positive correlation but has a less effect on the
temperature difference. It might be due to increse of the difference in amount of heat supplied between to the resin
supplied in previous cycle and following cycle. Back pressure has the least effect on the temperature difference but
has a negative correlation with the temperature difference.

CONCLUSION
A plug type temperature sensor commonly used in the industrial field and a wire type temperature sensor
introduced in this research were evaluated and compared in terms of measurement accuracy. The wire type

910
 temperature sensor has a 10 times faster response time than plug type temperature sensor by the result of the
numerical analysis. According to experimental results using the wire type temperature sensor, the melt temperature
significantly changes even in a single shot. In addition, the amount of temperature difference changes by the process
conditions such as the screw rotational speed and the back pressure.

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