CAEDSMouldDesign

Materialsforinjectionmoulding
TampereUniversityofTechnologyTuulaHk Therearefourgroupsofplasticresins,whicharesuitableforinjectionmoulding: Thesegroupscanbefurtherdividedintofourdifferentcategories: Thesecategoriesvaryincostandserviceperformance.Thelowcostcommodityresins are widely used in nontechnical applications and in applications in which there are no high requirements for mechanical, thermal, chemical or electrical properties. If the standard gets higher, the resins are selected from the intermediate resins group. The selection for technical and demanding applications should be either engineering or high performance engineering resin depending on requirements. Thermoplastic polymers are the most widely used group of resins. See tables in the end of this chap tertofindoutwhichplasticbelongstowhichofthesegroups. The most important characteristics of injection mouldable plastics are related with cavity filling, part ejection and the requirements, which they set to the mould materi als. Plastic material manufacturers prepare data sheets of their products. These sheets contain most of the necessary information. Rest of the information should come from the injection moulding company. If the material is new or not among the common plastics, it is sometimes difficult to find all necessary data. Usually it is then wise to consult injection moulding companies about their experiences on similar materials or ask directly from the plastic manufacturer. The part designer can also have some valuable information, but usually the necessary information is more related with plasticprocessingthanmechanicalproperties. Commodityresins Intermediateresins Engineeringresins Highperformanceengineeringresins Thermoplasticpolymers Thermoplasticelastomers Thermosetpolymers Liquidinjectionmouldingsilicone

Cavityfilling Thematerialproperties,whichaffectthegatedesign,are: Materialsforinjectionmoulding1 Viscosity Mouldingtemperature Flowcharacteristics Shrinkage Fillers

CAEDSMouldDesign Basicallythesepropertiescharacterisetheplasticsabilitytofillthemouldandpredict the flow pattern at the gate and inside the cavity. Plastic viscosity depends on tem perature and flow velocity. Some materials are very sensitive to high temperatures caused by frictional forces at narrow parts like gate and sprue top opening. These materials tend to burn, if flow velocity exceeds some critical value. Fillers change theflowandviscositypropertiesofaplasticmaterial.

Partejection Mould designer should be aware of the stiffness and surface friction properties of the plastic material in order to place a suitable amount of ejection pins of the right size to the right places. Placing of ejectors depends on the part shapes. Material properties confine the practicable ejection force. The surface friction between mould cavity surface and the plastic material depends on cavity surface roughness, mould material and the plastic properties. It is difficult to define an exact value of frictional force, but stillpossibletofindempiricalrelations. Some plastic materials are very soft and elastic while others are rigid and hard. The elastic materials tend to warp if ejected with too few pins or from wrong places. All plastics are soft in high temperatures. The cooling time is set just long enough so that the part is rigid enough for successful ejection. Badly designed ejection system in creasescycletime.

Mouldmaterials Some plastics are corrosive due to their chemical composition. Some plastics, espe cially glass reinforced plastics, heavily wear the mould cavity. The mould designer selects mould cavity and core steels based on the information on the plastic corrosive andabrasiveproperties.

Plasticmaterials
Thermoplasticpoly mer Commodityresins Lowcost,largeconsumption andrelativelylowperformance inmechanical,thermal,chemi cal,andelectricalproperties Thermoplasticelas tomer

Liquidinjection mouldingsilicone

Manufacturer

Polystyrene(PS) Styreneacrylonitrilecopolymer (SAN)

Ashland,INEOSNOVA,BASF,Chevron Phillips,NOVAChemicals INEOSABS,SAMSUNG Ashland,Basell,Borealis,ChevronPhillips ChemicalCompany,DuPont,DSMEngi neeringPlastics,Equistar,ExxonMobil,Flint HillsResources,Sabic,Solvay AlphaGary,GeorgiaGulf

Polyethylene(PE)

Polyvinylchloride(PVC)

Materialsforinjectionmoulding2

CAEDSMouldDesign

Thermoplasticelas tomer

Intermediateresins Thermoplastic polymer Bettermechanical,thermal, chemical,andelectricalprop ertiescomparedtocommodity resins

Liquidinjection mouldingsilicone

Manufacturers

Acrylics Acrylonitrilebutadiene styrene(ABS) Highimpactpolystyrene (HIPS) Polyphenyleneoxide(PPO), Polyphenyleneether(PPE) Polypropylene(PP) Styreneacrylonitrile(SAN) Thermoplasticolefin(TPO) Thermoplasticvulcanizate (TPV) Meltprocesablerubber (MPR)

CYRO,Plaskolite,AltuglasInternational, LuciteInternational Ashland,BASF,INEOSABS,SAMSUNG BASF,Ashland,ChevronPhillips,INEOS NOVA,NOVAChemicals EvonikIndustries,GEPlastics,Romira Ashland,Basell,ChevronPhillips,FlintHills Resources,Sabic,Sunoco INEOSABS,Samsung Basell,RheTech,SpartechPolycom ExxonMobil

X X

X X

APA

Materialsforinjectionmoulding3

CAEDSMouldDesign Liquidinjection mouldingsilicone X Liquidinjection mouldingsilicone Engineeringresins Thermoplastic polymer Typically compounded, unmodi fied resins with tensile strength higher than 48 MPa and modulus ofelasticityhigherthan2400MPa Thermoplastic elastomer

Manufacturers

Acetal(POM)

AsahiKasei,BASF,Celanese,DuPont, Polyplastic Arkema,AsahiKasei,BASF,ChemPoly mer,DSM,DuPont,EMSGrivory, LANXESS,TorayPlastics BayerMaterialScience,DOW,DSM,GE Plastics,MRC BASF,DuPont,DSM,GEPlastics, LANXESS Ashland,Basell,ChevronPhillips,Flint HillsResources,Sabic,Sunoco

Polyamide(nylon,PA)

Polycarbonate(PC) Polybutyleneterephthalate (PBT),Polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) Glass fiber reinforced polypro pylene BlockcopolyesterTPE PolyamideTPE Liquidinjectionmoldingsilicone Highperformanceengineering resins Similar to engineering resins, but with better performance in high temperatures and for example at highelectricalfrequencies

X X

Thermoplastic polymer

Thermoplastic elastomer

Manufacturers

Hightemperaturenylon(PA)

Arkema,AsahiKasei,BASF,ChemPoly mer,DSM,DuPont,EMSGrivory, LANXESS,TorayPlastics Celanese,DuPont,SolvayAdvanced Polymers BASF,SolvayAdvancedPolymers ChevronPhillips Arkema,DuPont

Liquidcrystalpolymers(LCP) Polysulfone(PSU) Polyphenylenesulphide(PPS) Fluoropolymers Polyetherimide(PEI),Polyimide (PMR)

X X X X X

Materialsforinjectionmoulding4

CAEDSMouldDesign

Polyaryletherketone(PAEK)

Furtherreading
Brydson,J,PlasticsMaterials,7thEdition,Elsevier,1999 Campo E. A, The Complete Part DesignHandbook For Injection Molding of Thermo plastics,HanserPublishers,2006 Drobny, J. G, Handbook of Thermoplastic Elastomers, William Andrew Publish ing/PlasticsDesignLibrary,2007 Goodman, S.H, Handbook of Thermoset Plastics, 2nd Edition, William Andrew Pub lishing/Noyes,1998 Gunter,E,DesigningwithPlastics,HanserPublishers,2006

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