Design and manufacturing of plastic injection mould

History

In 1868 John Wesley Hyatt became the first to inject hot celluloid into a mold,
producing billiard balls. He and his brother Isaiah patented an injection molding
machine that used a plunger in 1872, and the process remained more or less the same
until 1946, when James Hendry built the first screw injection molding machine,
revolutionizing the plastics industry. Roughly 95% of all molding machines now use
screws to efficiently heat, mix, and inject plastic into molds.

Injection molding (British: moulding) is a manufacturing technique for

making parts from both thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic materials in
production. Molten plastic is injected at high pressure into a mold, which is
the inverse of the product's shape.
 Plastics
There are two main groups of plastics:
Hea
Thermo Plastics - A material that can be heated and t
cooled repeatedly without changing the material
Harde Softe
structure. Highly recyclable.
n n
Coo
l
Bur
n
Thermoset Plastics - material, which when
heated, is pressed or moulded into a shape. The Hea
heating process changes the structure of these t
materials, and for this reason they cannot by Harde Softe
re-cyclable. n n
5
Co
ol
Equipment
Injection molding machines, also known as presses, hold the molds in which the components
are shaped. Presses are rated by tonnage, which expresses the amount of clamping force that
the machine can generate. This pressure keeps the mold closed during the injection process.
Tonnage can vary from less than 5 tons to 6000 tons.
Mold
Traditionally, molds have been expensive to manufacture. They were usually only used in
mass production where thousands of parts were being produced. Molds are typically
constructed from hardened steel, pre-hardened steel, aluminium, and/or beryllium-copper
alloy. The choice of material to build a mold is primarily one of economics.

Steel molds generally cost more to construct, but their longer lifespan will offset the
higher initial cost over a higher number of parts made before wearing out.

Pre-hardened steel molds are less wear resistant and are used for lower volume
requirements or larger components
Machining

Molds are built through two main methods: standard machining and EDM machining.
Standard Machining, in its conventional form, has historically been the method of
building injection molds. With technological development, CNC machining became
the predominant means of making more complex molds with more accurate mold
details in less time than traditional methods.

Cost

The cost of manufacturing molds depends on a very large set of factors ranging from
number of cavities, size of the parts (and therefore the mold), complexity of the
pieces, expected tool longevity, surface finishes and many others.
The basic injection cycle is as follows

Mold close – injection carriage forward – inject plastic – metering – carriage retract –
mold open – eject part(s) Some machines are run by electric motors instead of
hydraulics or a combination of both. The water-cooling channels that assist in cooling
the mold and the heated plastic solidifies into the part. Improper cooling can result in
distorted molding. The cycle is completed when the mold opens and the part is ejected
with the assistance of ejector pins within the mold.
 Molding defects
Molding Descriptions Causes
Defects
Raised or layered zone on surface of the part Tool or material is too hot, often caused by a lack of cooling around the tool or a faulty
Blister heater

Burn marks
Black or brown burnt areas on the part located at
furthest points from gate Tool lacks venting, injection speed is too high

Delamination
Contamination of the material e.g. PP mixed with ABS, very dangerous if the part is
Thin mica like layers formed in part wall being used for a safety critical application as the material has very little strength when
delaminated as the materials cannot bond
Flash
Excess material in thin layer exceeding normal part Tool damage, too much injection speed/material injected, clamping force too low. Can
geometry also be caused by dirt and contaminants around tooling surfaces.

Flow marks
Directionally "off tone" wavy lines or patterns Injection speeds too slow (the plastic has cooled down too much during injection,
injection speeds must be set as fast as you can get away with at all times)

Warping
Cooling is too short, material is too hot, lack of cooling around the tool, incorrect water
Distorted part temperatures (the parts bow inwards towards the hot side of the tool)

Jetting
Deformed part by turbulent flow of material Poor tool design, gate position or runner. Injection speed set too high.
 Mold
A mold or mould is a hollowed-out block that is filled with a liquid or
pliable material such as plastic, glass, metal, or ceramic raw material.
The liquid hardens or sets inside the mold, adopting its shape. A mold is
a counterpart to a cast
Injection Moulds
The molds consist of two main parts: the cavity and core. The core forms the
main internal surfaces of the part. The cavity forms the major external surfaces of
the part. Typically, the core and cavity separate as the mold opens, so that the part
can be removed. This mold separation occurs along the interface known as the
parting line.
An injection mold is usually made in two halves or sections and held together in
the closed position by the molding press. The mold is generally made out of tool
steel and is provided with channels for cooling, heating and venting, Ejector pins
and other devices may be incorporated.
Engineering and Design:
The design of injection molds begins with a review of part specifications including:
Aesthetics: color, clarity, high gloss, matte, special texture, etc. Material: strength,
toughness, hardness, chemical and environmental resistance Interaction with mating parts:
fits and tolerances Demand and unit cost goals

Modeling of the products and mold components in 3D. Mold flow analysis CNC tool path
design and calculation Mold materials procurement list

Early in the design process, materials and components are ordered so that manufacturing
can commence as soon as possible.
COMPONENTS OF AN INJECTION MOLD
Injection Mold
A tool is comprised of a series of parts that allows molten plastic to be formed and
cooled in such a way as to create a discrete part shape.
 Cavity (A) side
TOP LEVEL On stationary (barrel) side of press/platen
Has gate/sprue/runner

MATERIAL
INJECTION

Core (B) side

Parts sticks on here (hopefully)
On moving side of press/platen
Has ejector system
DETAILED
COMPONENTS
Cavity (A) side (stationary side)
Locating Ring
Sprue (Bushing)
Clamp Plate
Clamp Slot
Guide Pin
Cooling Channel (Water Lines)
Cavity

Core (B) side (moving side)

Core
Ejector Pin
Guide Pin
Ejector Plate
Ejector Retaining Plate
Support Pillar
Clamp Slot
 Clamp Plates
Mold halves are attached to the molding platens by the clamp plates.
Mold Clamps use large bolts to hold them in place; other machines hold the mold onto
the platen with magnets

PLATE
N
CLAMP
Mold clamps
PLATE
Nozzle / Sprue Bushing
Liquified plastic is pushed through the nozzle of the barrel of the molding machine.
The nozzle seats against a surface on the mold called the sprue bushing and locating ring,
which help center the nozzle to the mold.

NOZZLE
(on machine)

SPRUE
BUSHING
(in mold)
Feed System
Plastic flows through the sprue bushing in a sprue, then to individual runners which
take the material the gates – the entry point of the material to the individual cavities.

The sprue and runners can be reground (chopped up) and reused again. They can be
eliminated by using a hot runner system.

HOT RUNNER SYSTEM

Cavity
Cavities are areas of the mold where the part is formed into the desired
shape. Molds must be balanced, so there are typically only a certain number
of cavitations allowed (1, 2, 4, 8, etc.)
Cooling System
Plastic in injected hot, and is cooled by cooling channels that allow conduction to
cool the part. Working fluid is typically water, although oil can be used in high-temp
applications.
Guide Pillars / Bushings
Cavity and Core mold halves are insured to be in proper alignment during mold close by the
use of Guide Pins (or Pillars) and Guide Bushings (or Sleeves).
Ejector System

Parts are pushed off of the core using a series of pins or bars; these series
of pins or bars is called the Ejector System.
Ejector Plate System
The Ejector Pins are mounted in an Ejector Plate – the motion of the Ejector Plate forward
allows the pins to move forward, pushing the part off the core. The Ejector Retaining Plate
holds the pins onto the Ejector Plate.
Type of Injection mould

Extrusion Moulding
Compression Moulding
Blow Moulding
Injection Moulding
Rotational Moulding
Extrusion Moulding
With extrusion moulding, hot melted plastic is pressed
through a shaped hole to create a lengthy shaped plastic
part. This customizable shape that the liquid plastic gets
pressed through is called a die.
Compression Moulding

This method involves the raw liquid plastic being poured

into a heated mould and then being compressed together to
form the desired shape. The high temperature of the entire
process ensures good strength in the final product.
Blow Moulding

With blow moulding, the custom plastic parts come out

hollow and thin-walled. This method is ideal for when
the plastic part has to have uniform wall thickness. This
is very similar to the process of glass blowing.
Injection Moulding
Injection Moulding is fairly similar to extrusion moulding. The
difference here is that with injection moulding the melted plastic is
injected directly into a custom mould.
Rotational Moulding
Also sometimes called rotomoulding, this method involves the
resin or liquid being placed inside the mould and then being
rotated at high speeds. The liquid then evenly covers the entire
surface of the mould to create a hollowed part with all the walls
evenly thick.
INJECTION MOLDS
Mold Types

Most common types of molds:

Two-plate molds
Three-plate molds
Two-plate mold
The simplest and most reliable mold design is the two-plate tool. This is because
it normally has the fewest number of moving parts and is more straightforward
to manufacture and run in production. Because of its simpler construction, it is
usually cheaper to manufacture than more complex designs.
Three-plate injection mold
A three-plate mold is used when part of the runner system is on a different plane to the
injection location. The runner system for a three-plate mold sits on a second parting plane
parallel to the main parting plane. This second parting plane enables the runners and sprue to
be ejected when the mold is opened. In the following diagram of a three-plate mold, the
runners will be ejected separately to the cavities.