1.

Short Shots
Short shots are a phenomenon in which the mold cavity cannot be completely
filled.

Causes: (1) Die temperature, material temperature or injection pressure and

speed are too low (2)Uneven plasticization of raw materials (3)Poor exhaust (4)
Insufficient liquidity of raw materials (5)The part is too thin or the gate size is
too small (6) Polymer melt is prematurely cured due to unreasonable structural
design

Remedies: Material: Use more fluid materialsMold design: (1) Fill the thick wall
before filling the thin wall to avoid the retention phenomenon. (2) Appropriately
increase the number of gates and runner size to reduce the process ratio and
flow resistance (3) The position and size of the exhaust port should be properly
set to avoid the phenomenon of poor exhaust.

Machine: (1）Check whether the check valve and the inner wall of the material
cylinder are seriously worn (2) Check if the feeding port has material or whether
it is bridged.

Process: (1) Increase injection pressure and injection speed to enhance shear
heat (2) Increase the amount of injection (3) Increase material cylinder
temperature and mold temperature
2. Air Traps
Air traps is that air is trapped in the cavity to create bubbles in the part.

Causes: It is caused by the air being unable to escape from the parting surface,
the ram, or the vent when the two melt fronts meet.

Remedies:  Structural design: Reduce thickness inconsistency and try to ensure

uniform wall thickness

Mold design: (1) Add a vent at the last filled place (2) Redesign the gate and
runner system

Process: (1) Reduce the injection speed of the last stage (2) Increase the mold
temperature
3. Brittleness
Brittleness is that the plastic part is easily cracked or broken in some place

Causes: (1) Dry conditions are not suitable; use excessive recycled materials
(2)Injection temperature setting is wrong (3) The gate and runner system
settings are not appropriate (4) The melting mark strength is not high

Remedies: Material: (1) Set appropriate drying conditions before injection

molding (2) Reduce the use of recycled materials and increase the proportion of
raw materials. (3) Use high-strength plastic. Mold design: Increase the size of
the main runner, branch runner, and gate

Machine: Choose a well-designed screw to make the temperature distribution

more uniform during plasticization

Process: (1) Reduce the temperature of the material cylinder and nozzle (2)
Reduce back pressure, screw speed and injection speed (3) Increase the material
temperature and injection pressure, improve the melting strength
4.Burn Marks
The burn marks are that the gas in the cavity cannot be removed in time,
resulting in blackening at the end of the flow.

Causes: (1)The air in the cavity cannot be removed in time. (2) Material

degradation: overhigh melt temperature; overcast screw speed; improper design
of the runner system

Remedies: Mold design: (1) Add an exhaust system to a place where the exhaust
gas is easily generated (2) Increase the size of the runner system

Process: (1) Reduce the injection pressure and speed (2) Reduce the barrel
temperature (3) Check if the heater and thermocouple are working properly.
5.Flash
It means that excess plastic is present on the mold parting or ejector part.

Causes: (1) Insufficient clamping force (2) The mold has defects (3) The molding
conditions are unreasonable (4) Improper design of the exhaust system

Remedies: Mold design: (1)Reasonably design the mold to ensure that the mold
can be closed when the mold is closed (2) Check the size of the exhaust port (3)
Cleaning the mold surface

Machine: Set the machine of the appropriate size process: (1) Increase the
injection time and reduce the injection speed (2)reduce the barrel temperature
and nozzle temperature (3) Reduce the injection pressure and pressure
6.Delamination
It refers to the surface of the part that can be peeled off layer by layer.

Causes: (1) Mixing other incompatible polymers (2) Excessive release agent used
during molding (3) resin temperature is inconsistent (4) Excessive moisture (5)
The gate and the flow path have sharp angles

Remedies: Material: Avoid incompatible impurities or contaminated recycled

materials mixed into the raw materials Mold design: Chamfer all runners or
gates with sharp angles

Process: (1) Increase the barrel and mold temperature (2) Appropriate drying of
the material before molding (3) Avoid using too much release agent
7.Jetting
A spray trace caused by the melt flowing too fast, generally serpentine.

Causes: (1)The gate size is too small, and it is facing the product surface with a
large cross-sectional area (2) Filling speed is too fast

Remedies: Mold design:(1) Increase the gate size (2)Change the side gate to the
lap gate (3)Increase the stop pin in front of the gate
8.Flow Lines
Flow lines are molding defects that are wavy on the surface of the product
known as a kind of frog jump caused by the slow flow of the melt.

Causes: (1)Mold temperature and the material temperature is too low (2)

Injection speed and pressure is too slow(3) The size of flow channel and gate is
too small (4) Due to the structure of the product, the acceleration is too large
when the filling flow is caused.

Remedies: Mold design: (1) Increase the size of the cold well in the flow channel
(2) increase the size of the runners and gates (3)Shorten the size of the main
channel or switch to the hot runner

Process:（1）Increase the injection speed （2） Increase injection pressure and

pressure （3） extend the pressure holding time （4）Increase the mold
temperature and material temperature
9.Fog
A cloud-like discoloration occurs near the gate. The reason is the melt fracture.

Causes: If the gate is too small or the cavity at the glue is too thin, the flow rate
of the melt is large, the area of the break is small, the shear rate is large, and the
shear stress is often increased so that the melt rubber breaks and the fog shift
occurs.

Remedies: Moldflow simulation. It is possible to predict the temperature, shear

rate, and shear stress of the melt passing through the above narrow zone.
Moldflow generally provides an upper limit for the temperature, shear rate, and
shear stress of various plastic materials. Moldflow engineers can make
adjustments based on the analysis results to find the appropriate gate size and
cavity wall thickness at the glue inlet to eliminate fog.
10.Streaks
Streaks are those in which water, air, or char is distributed in the direction of
flow along the surface of the part.

Causes: (1)The moisture content in the raw materials is too high (2) Air is
trapped in the raw material (3) Polymer degradation: the material is
contaminated, barrel temperature is too high; insufficient injection volume

Remedies: Mold design: Check if the exhaust position is sufficient Process: (1)

Choose the right injection molding machine and mold (2) When switching
materials, clean the old materials completely from the barrel (3) Improve the
exhaust system (4)Reduce melt temperature, injection pressure or injection
speed
11.Sink Marks
It is a phenomenon in which the surface of the part is concave at the wall
thickness.

Causes: (1) Injection pressure or holding pressure is too low (2)The holding time
or cooling time is too short (3) Melt temperature or mold temperature is too
high (4) Improper design of the structure of the parts

Remedies: Design: (1) Corrugated surface on the surface where dents are easy to
occur(2)Reduce the thick wall size of the workpiece, minimize the aspect ratio,
and the adjacent wall thickness ratio should be controlled at 1.5~2, and try to
make a smooth transition. Redesign the thickness of the ribs, counterbore, and
ribs. Their thickness is generally recommended as 40-80% of the basic wall
thickness.

Process: (1) Increase the injection pressure and pressure (2) Increase the gate
size or change the gate position
12.Weld Lines
The weld lines refer to the surface defect caused by the two streams being
welded together.

Causes: If there are holes, inserts, or multi-gate injection molding methods in

the fabricated parts or the wall thickness of the parts is uneven, weld lines may
be generated.

Remedies: Material: Increase the fluidity of plastic melt Mold Design: (1) Change
the position of the gate (2) Add a venting slot Process: (1) Increase the melt
temperature (2) Reduce the amount of release agent
13.Warpage
The most difficult problem to solve in the design and production of plastic parts
is the warpage.

Causes: (1)Mold structure: pouring, cooling system and ejection system (2)

Product structure: plastic parts wall thickness changes, with curved or
asymmetrical geometry, ribs and BOSS column design is not reasonable
(3)Production process: the plastic parts are not fully cooled, and the injection
and pressure holding curves are unreasonable (4)Plastic materials: plastic
materials have, no added fillers, the size of the shrinkage.

Remedies: (1)The mold temperature is unstable.

Provide cooling/heating balanced mold (2)Irregular section thickness

Redesigned product shape and size according to resin characteristics

At WayKen, we have encountered many similar plastic injection molding

problems and solutions in some cases of prototype injection molding. In order
to create injection molding products for our customers, we extremely take
injection molding machine parts details and injection molding step by step to
heart before manufacturing parts and during the injection molding process.