• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.444-447
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• 2008

Recently, the need of thin-walled injection molding and enhancement of its productivity is greatly increased. In this study, we designed and manufactured a injection molding system, which can mold a part with the thickness of $500{\mu}m$ and 8 cavity. And processing technique for the multi-cavity injection molding system, which is capable of mass productivity on the plastic parts, was considered. The problems of unbalance/imbalance on the molding process for the multi-cavity mold were predicted by numerical analysis using plastic injection molding commercial code. In addition, controllable system of melt front filling was introduced for a balanced filling using the mold temperature sensor on injection mold. It was shown that balanced filling with the suggested injection molding system was possible for $500{\mu}m$ plastic parts with 8 cavity layout.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2013

The injection molding process is a predominant method for producing plastic parts. In order to maximize productivity and molding quality in a injection mold, it is important that each cavity in a multi-cavity injection mold is identical. This requires that cavity dimensions should be identical and delivery system of melt to each cavity have to be the same. Despite the geometrically balanced layout in multi-cavity injection mold more than 4 cavities, it has been observed that the filling in each cavity results in imbalances. Most of cases, this phenomenon of filling imbalances have a bad effect on dimension accuracy, warpage, molding appearance and strength of molding parts. In this study, experiment were conducted to investigate the effect of filling imbalances on the molding quality(surface gloss, shrinkage, tensile strength) in the multy-cavity injection mold.

• 한국금형공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.89-94
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• 2008

The injection molding process is a predominant method for producing plastic parts. In order to maximize productivity and molding quality in a injection mold, it is important that each cavity in a multi-cavity injection mold is identical. This requires that cavity dimensions should be identical and delivery system of melt to each cavity have to be the same. Despite the geometrically balanced layout in multi-cavity injection mold more than 4 cavities, it has been observed that the filling in each cavity results in imbalances. Most of cases, this phenomenon of filling imbalances have a bad effect on dimension accuracy, warpage, molding appearance and strength of molding parts. In this study, experiment were conducted to investigate the effect of filling imbalances on the molding quality(surface gloss, shrinkage, tensile strength) in the multy-cavity injection mold.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.144-149
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• 2014

Large residual stresses are remained in the conventional injection molded products because of the high cavity pressure in packing phase during injection molding process. Conventional injection molding (CIM) invokes distribution of cavity pressure and it has a limitation to obtain product with uniform physical property. Multi-cavity conventional injection molding contains quality deviation among the cavities since flow imbalance occurs during filling phase. Injection compression molding (ICM) is adopted to overcome these limitations of CIM. In this study, molding characteristics of CIM and ICM have been investigated using multi-cavity injection mold. Researches were performed by both experiment and computer simulation through observations of birefringence for transparent resins, polycarbonate and polystyrene in CIM and ICM. As a result, low and uniform birefringence and mold shrinkage were showed in the specimens by ICM that could give a uniform cavity pressure. Deviation of physical property among the specimens in multi-cavity mold shown in CIM was significantly reduced in the specimens by ICM. Through this study it was concluded that the ICM in multi-cavity molding was valid for molding products with uniform property in an individual cavity and also reduced property deviation among the cavities.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.266-270
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• 2007

Small injection molded articles such as lens and mobile product's parts are usually molded in multi-cavity mold. The problems occurred in multi-cavity molding are flow imbalance among the cavities. The flow imbalance affects on the dimensions and physical properties of molded articles. First of all, the origin of flow imbalance is geometrical imbalance of delivery system. However, even the geometry of delivery system is balanced well the cavity imbalance is being developed. This comes from the unsuitable operational conditions of injection molding. Among the operational conditions, injection speed is the most significant process variable affecting the filling imbalances in multi-cavity injection molding. In this study, experimental study of flow imbalance has been conducted for various injection speeds and materials. Also, the filling Imbalances were compared with CAE results. The dimensions and physical state of multi-cavity molded parts were examined. The results showed that the filling imbalances vary according to the injection speed and flow property of resins. Subsequently, the imbalanced filling and pressure distribution in the multi-cavity affect on the dimensions and physical states of molded parts.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.74-78
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• 2012

A multi-cavity injection mold system of protein chip for point-of-care with cavity temperature and pressure sensors was proposed in this work. In advance of manufacturing for the multi-cavity injection mold system, a single cavity injection mold system to mold protein chip was considered. Injection molding analysis for the presented system was performed to optimize the process of the molding and suggest guides to design. On the basis of the results for the single cavity system, a multi-cavity injection mold system for protein chip was analyzed, designed and manufactured with cavity temperature and pressure sensors. Results of balanced filling for protein chip models were obtained from the presented mold system.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.122-127
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• 2009

The injection mold with multi-cavity is essential for mass production of plastic products. Multi-cavity molds are designed to geometrically balanced runner system to uniformly fill to each cavity. However, despite geometrical balanced runner system, filling imbalances between cavity to cavity have always been observed in injection molding. To solve these problems, many studies such as Melt Flipper, RC Pin, and others have been presented. The results of these studies have been an effect on filling balances in multi-cavity molds. But, those have had a limitation that additional insert parts must have existed in the mold. In this study, a new runner system is suggested for filling balance between cavity to cavity using "Melt-Buffer" with simple change of runner shape. A series of simulation to confirm feasibility of Melt-Buffer's effects was conducted using injection molding CAE program. Also, a series of injection molding experiment was conducted using plastic materials such as ABS and PP. As results of this study, feasibilities of filling balances by Melt-Buffer were confirmed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.39-42
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• 2005

For mass production, usually injection mold has multi-cavity which is filled through geometrical balanced runner system. Despite geometrical balanced runner system, filling imbalances between cavity to cavity have always been observed. These filling imbalances are one of the most significant factors to affect quality of plastic parts when molding plastic parts in multi-cavity injection mold. Filling imbalances are results from non-symmetrical shear rate distribution within melt as it flows through the runner system. It has been possible to decrease filling imbalance by optimizing processing conditions, but it has not completely eliminated this phenomenon during injection molding processing. This paper presents a solution of these filling imbalances through using 'runner core pin'. The runner core pin which is developed in this study creates a symmetrical shear distribution within runner. As a result of using runner core pin, a remarkable improvement in reducing filling imbalance was confirmed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.13-16
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• 2005

For mass production, usually injection mold has multi-cavity which is filled through geometrical balanced runner system. Despite geometrical balanced runner system, filling imbalances between cavity to cavity have always been observed. These filing imbalances are one of the most significant factors to affect quality of plastic parts when molding plastic parts in multi-cavity injection mold. Filling imbalances are results from non-symmetrical shear rate distribution within melt as it flows through the runner system. It has been possible to decrease filling imbalance by optimizing processing conditions, but it has not completely eliminated this phenomenon during injection molding processing. This paper presents a solution of these filling imbalances through using 'runner core pin'. The runner core pin which is developed in this study creates a symmetrical shear distribution within runner. As a result of using runner core pin, a remarkable improvement in reducing filling imbalance was confirmed.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.561-568
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• 2009

Small injection molded articles are generally molded by multi-cavity injection molding. The most important thing in multi-cavity molding is flow imbalance among the cavities because it affects the physical property and the quality of products. The cavity filling balance can be achieved by flow balance in the runner through the thermal balance. In this study, novel screw type runner or helical type runner has been developed for the flow balance in the runner and performed experiment and computer simulation. Flow balance has been observed using various screw type runners for several resins such as amorphous and crystalline polymers including low and high viscosities grades. Flow balance experiments have been performed for various injection speeds since the flow balance can be affected by injection speed among the injection conditions. Experimental results have been compared with computational results and they showed good agreement. The cavity filling balance can be achieved by the screw runner where the temperature distribution is uniform through the circulation flow along the screw channel in the screw runner. It has been verified that the novel screw runner is very effective device in flow balance in the multi-cavity injection molding. cavity filling imbalance, multi-cavity injection molding, runner design, screw runner, thermal balance.