Design for Manufacture

(Course Code:18ME731)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

JSS Academy of Technical Education, Bangalore-560060
 TEXT BOOKS

Design for Manufacture by Harry Peck, Pitman publishing, 1983

 Learning objectives

• Factors to be considered while designing parts with focus on manufacturability.

• Through understanding of GD & T techniques in manufacture.

• Design considerations for designing components produced using various

machining operations.

• Design rules and recommendations for processes like casting, welding, forgings

powder metallurgy and injection moulding.

Design for Manufacture
Module 5: Design of components for Powder Metallurgy
Content

• Design rules and requirements

• Case Studies
Learning Objectives

• Factors to be considered while designing parts in PM

• Design rules and recommendations for PM process
 Powder Metallurgy (PM)
Introduction

• A variety of structural parts, bearings, gears, etc., are produced from raw

materials in the form of powders.

• This area of processing is generally called powder metallurgy.

• The main processing sequence involves, Mixing, Compressing and Sintering.

 Powder Metallurgy

Advantages

• Precise control of material and product properties.

• Unique material compositions.
• Unusual physical properties.
• Net-shape manufacturing.
• Little material wastage and loss.
• High accuracy and repeatability.
• Low overall energy utilization.
 Limitations

• Size & shape of the part, compacting pressure required and material used

• High initial investment in machinery and dies

• High material cost

• Limited cross-sectional area and length of the component

• Copper-based materials (hot-worked) have not been made by PM successfully.

• Varying density of part may be a problem

• Limitations on part geometry due to limited followability of powders

• Can not make undercuts and re-entrant angles

Parts Made by PM
 Applications

•Gears / Cams
•Cranks
•Bearings
•Roller bearing cages
•Housings
•Light bulb tungsten filaments
•Sprinkler mechanisms
•Cemented carbide cutting tools
•Electrical contacts, brushes
•Metallic coating
•Metal to glass seal
Stages in PM
Stages in PM
Stages in PM
Stages in PM
 Stages in PM
Stage 1: Mixing

• Blending and Mixing of the powdered materials with additives such as lubricants

to aid compaction.

• Metallic stearates such as zinc stearate, are commonly used as lubricants (0.5 to

1.5% ).

• Premixed powders are also available from suppliers for some standard materials.

• The purpose of mixing is to obtain homogeneous mixture of powders and

lubricants.
 Stages in PM

Stage 2: Compaction

• In compaction process, the mixed powders are pressed, usually from both sides,

by punch elements, depending on the complexity of the part.

• The output of the process is a "green" compact, has sufficient "green strength"

properties to allow handling without damage prior to sintering.

 Stages in PM

Stage 2: Compaction

• Compaction is achieved by die pressing.

• Hot compaction, eliminates the subsequent sintering stage, applicable for some

specialized applications.

• Different densities, porosities, and tensile strengths can be obtained by using

different degrees of compaction / compaction pressures.

 Stages in PM
Stage 2: Compaction
 Stages in PM

Stage 2: Compaction
Compaction Methods / Techniques

(i) Die compaction

(ii) Isostatic compaction

(iii) Explosive compaction

(iv) Magnetic compaction

(v) Compaction by rolling

(vi) Compaction by extrusion

 Stages in PM
Stage 3: Sintering

• The compacted parts are passed through a controlled atmosphere furnace and
heated to a temperature below the melting point of the constituent powders.

• The individual particles become bonded together by diffusion bonding.

• Continuous flow furnaces are used for high productivity.

• Batch furnaces are used, if special atmosphere conditions or high temperatures

are required
 Stages in PM
Stage 3: Sintering
 Stages in PM

Stage 3: Sintering

The three critical factors that control the sintering process are:
• Time
• Temperature
• Furnace atmosphere
 Stages in PM
Stage 3: Sintering
Compaction Characteristics / Cycle
Compaction Characteristics / Cycle
 Compaction Characteristics / Cycle

Basic compaction sequence for powder metal parts. (Adapted from MPIF, Powder Metallurgy Design Manual,3rd
ed.)
 Compaction Characteristics / Cycle

• A controlled amount of powder is fed into the die.

• The upper and lower punches move toward each other and apply a predetermined amount of

pressure creating a compact that conforms to the shape and size of the die and punch.

• The top punch is withdrawn from the die and the bottom punch moves up, ejecting the part

from the die. 

• The bottom punch drops down to the fill position, the powder feed shoe moves towards the

die cavity, pushing the newly pressed part out and fills the die with powder for next cycle.

• Compaction pressure ranges from 138 to 827 MPa or greater

 Materials for PM Processing

• Carbon steels

• Alloy steels

• Stainless steels

• Copper alloys

• Aluminum alloys
 Finishing Operations

A number of secondary and finishing operations can be applied after sintering,

some of them are:

• Sizing: cold pressing to improve dimensional accuracy

• Coining: cold pressing to press details into surface

• Impregnation: oil fills the pores of the part

• Infiltration: pores are filled with a molten metal

• Heat treating, deburring, surface treatment, steam treating.

 Design Guidelines

1. Shape of compact must be kept as simple and uniform as possible.

2. Provision must be made for ejection of the green compact without damaging the

compact.

3. PM parts should be made with the widest acceptable tolerances to maximize

tool life.

4. Part walls should not be less than 1.5 mm thick;

5. Walls with length to thickness ratios above 8:1 are difficult to press.
 Design Guidelines

6. Steps in parts can be produced if they are simple and their size doesn’t exceed

15% of the overall part length.

7. Letters can be pressed if oriented perpendicular to pressing direction.

8. Raised letters are more susceptible to damage in the green stage and prevent

stacking.

9. Flanges or overhangs can be produced by a step in the die.

10. A true radius cannot be pressed; instead use a chamfer.

11.Dimensional tolerances are on the order of ±0.05 to 0.1 mm.

 Design Guidelines

12. Tolerances improve significantly with additional operations such as sizing,

machining and grinding.

Design recommendations for minimum

level widths
Design Guidelines
Design Guidelines
 Powder Metallurgy
Design Guidelines

(a) Design features for use with unsupported flanges.

(b) Design features for use with grooves.
End of Module
DFM

Module 5: Design of components for Injection Molding

 Injection Moulding
Introduction

• Injection molding is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting

molten material into a mold

Principle

• Heating thermoplastic material until it melts, then forcing this melt into a mold,

where it cools and solidifies.

• Principal tool in producing sophisticated product structures with reduced part

counts
 Introduction

Case-Study – PRO PRINTER

• Pro printer developed by IBM as the domestic competitor to the Japanese

personal printers.

• Plastic components in the Pro printer incorporated the functions of cantilever

springs, bearings, support brackets, and fasteners into single snap-fit
components.

Integration of features into single complex parts results in reduction of part count
from 152 to 32, with a reduction of assembly time from 30 min. to 3 min.
 Injection Moulding Materials

• It is not possible to injection-mold all polymers.

• Some polymers, like PTFE (polytetra fluoro ethylene), cannot be made to flow

freely enough to make them suitable for injection molding.

• Polymers, with mixture of resin and glass fiber in woven or mat form, are

unsuitable.

• In general, polymers capable of being brought to a state of fluidity can be

injection-molded.
 Injection Moulding Materials

• In general, most thermoplastic materials offer high impact strength, good corrosion
resistance, and easy processing with good flow characteristics for molding
complex designs.
Injection Moulding Materials
 Limitations

• Relatively low service temperatures.

• Thermoplastic components can only rarely be operated continuously above

250°C, with an absolute upper service temperature of about 400°C.

The Molding Process
The Molding Process
 The Molding Cycle

The injection molding process cycle for thermoplastics consists of

three major stages

(1) Injection or filling

(2) Cooling

(3) Ejection and Resetting.

The Molding Cycle
 The Molding Cycle

1. Injection or filling

• The injection stage consists of the forward stroke of the plunger or screw

injection unit to facilitate the flow of molten material from heating cylinder to the

mold through the nozzle.

• Amount of material to be transferred into the mold is referred to as the shot.

• The injection stage is accompanied by a gradual increase in pressure.

• As the cavity fills, the pressure increases rapidly, and packing occurs.
 The Molding Cycle

1. Injection or filling

• During the injection stage, the flow of material continues, at a slower rate, to
account for any loss in volume of the material due to partial solidification and
associated shrinkage.

• After packing, the plunger is retracted and the pressure in the mold cavity begins
to drop.

• At this stage, the next charge of material is fed into the heating cylinder for
preparation of the next shot.
 The Molding Cycle

2. Cooling

• Cooling starts and continues during packing, as the plunger is withdrawn, the

pressure drops from the mold and nozzle area.

• As the pressure drops, chance of reverse flow of the material from the mold, until

the material adjacent to the gate solidifies and seals the point.

• Reverse flow is minimized by proper design of the gates.

• As continuous drop in pressure, material in the cavity continues to cool and

solidifies and is ready for ejection.

 The Molding Cycle

3. Ejection and Resetting

• The mold is opened, part is ejected, and the mold is then closed and ready for

the next cycle to begin.

• Considerable amounts of power are required to move the massively built molds.

• Mold opening and part ejection are usually executed by hydraulic or mechanical

devices.

• After resetting, mold is closed and locked, for next cycle.

 Injection Moulding

INJECTION MOLDING SYSTEMS

 INJECTION MOLDING SYSTEMS

The major components of an injection molding system;

 Injection unit.
 Clamp unit.
 Mold.
 Injection unit

The injection unit has two functions:

• To melt the pellets or powder

• To inject the melt into a mold.

 Injection unit

The most widely used types of injection units are

(1) Conventional
Units, consisting of a cylinder and a plunger that forces the molten plastic into the mold
cavity.

(2) Reciprocating screw units

Consisting of a barrel or cylinder and a screw that rotates to melt and pump the plastic mix
from the hopper to the end of the screw and then moves forward to push the melt into the
mold.
 Injection unit

Advantages - Reciprocating screw units

Reciprocating screw injection units are considered to be better designed.

 Improved mixing action.

 Maintain a uniform melt temperature.

 Better blending of the materials and any coloring agents

 Delivery of uniform melt to the mold.

 Design Consideration - Reciprocating screw units

The injection units are usually rated with two numbers:

 First rating number.: Shot capacity: Maximum volume of polymer that can be
displaced by one forward stroke of the injection plunger.

 The shot capacity for other materials can be calculated by using the ratio of
specific gravities.

 Injection unit be selected so that the required shot sizes fall within 20 to 80% of
the rated capacity.
 Design Consideration - Reciprocating screw units

 The second rating number is the Plasticizing rate.

 The amount of material that can be plasticized or softened into a molten form

by heating in the cylinder of the machine in a given time.

 This number is usually expressed as the number of pounds of polystyrene

material that the equipment can heat to molding temperature in one hour.
 Clamp Unit

The clamp unit has three functions:

 To open and close the mold halves

 To eject the part
 To hold the mold closed with sufficient force to resist the melt pressure inside
the mold as it is being filled.

• The required holding force varies between 30 - 70 MN/M2 of projected area of the
part.
 Design of Clamp unit

There are two common types of clamp designs:

Linkage or toggle clamp

Hydraulic clamp units

Design Consideration – Clamp Unit

The force required to eject the part is a function of material, part geometry, and

packing pressure and is usually less than 1% of the nominal clamp force.
 Design of Clamp unit

Linkage or toggle clamp Hydraulic clamp units

 use hydraulic pressure to open and close the

 Utilizes mechanical advantage of a
clamp and to develop the force required to hold
linkage to develop the force required to hold the
the mold closed during the injection phase of the
mold during the injection.
cycle.
 Have very fast closing and opening actions
 long term reliability and precise control of clamp
 lower in cost force.

 The major disadvantage is that the clamp

 The disadvantage is that hydraulic systems are
force is not precisely controlled.
relatively slow and expensive compared to toggle
clamp systems
 INJECTION MOLDS

Molds for injection molding are varied in design. Degree of complexity, and size
of the parts

The functions of a mold for thermoplastics

• To impart the desired shape.

• Cool the molded part.

A mold is made up of two sets of components:

(1) the cavities and cores.
(2) the base in which the cavities and cores are mounted.
 INJECTION MOLDS

• The size and weight of the molded parts limit the number of cavities in the mold.

• From consideration of the molding process, a mold has to be designed to

safely absorb the forces of clamping, injection, and ejection.

• The design of the gates and runners must allow for efficient flow and uniform

filling of the mold cavities.

INJECTION MOLDS
 Mold Construction and Operation

The mold basically consists of two parts:

• Stationary half (cavity plate), on the side where molten polymer is injected.

• Moving half (core plate) on the closing or ejector side of the injection molding
equipment.

• The separating line between the two mold halves is called the parting line.

• The injected material is transferred through a central feed channel, called the
sprue.

• The sprue is located on the sprue bushing and is tapered to facilitate release of
the sprue material from the mold during mold opening.
 Mold Types

The most common types of molds used in industry are

(1) two-plate molds

(2) three-plate molds

(3) side-action molds

(4) unscrewing molds.

 Design Guidelines

Generally accepted design guidelines are;

• Design the main wall of uniform thickness with adequate tapers or draft for easy

release from the mold. This minimizes part distortion by facilitating even cooling

throughout the part.

• Choose the material and the main wall thickness for minimum cost.

• The thinner wall significantly reduces cycle time and hence processing cost.
 Design Guidelines

Generally accepted design guidelines are;

• Design the thickness of all projections from the main wall with a preferred value of

half of the main wall thickness and do not exceed two-third of the main wall

thickness.

This minimizes cooling problems at the junction between the projection and main

wall, where the section is thicker.

 Design Guidelines

• If possible, align projections in the direction of mold or at right angles to the

molding direction lying on the parting plane: This eliminates the need for mold

mechanisms.

• Avoid depressions on the inner surfaces of the part, which would require

moving cores to be built inside the main core: The mechanisms to produce

these movements are very expensive to build and maintain.

 Design Guidelines

• Through-holes on the side surfaces, instead of internal depressions, can always

be produced with less expensive side-pulls.

• If possible, design external screw threads so that they lie in the molding plane.

Alternatively, use a rounded type thread profile which can be stripped from the

cavity or core without rotating.

End of Module