Optimize Injection Molding Cycle Time

[Graham Steven]

The injection molding production rate is calculated by multiplying the Cycle Time by the number of mold cavities in the tool. A tool with only one cavity and little to no automation is often used for prototype and low-volume manufacturing. For highly large volume applications such as caps and closures, full production molds with hundreds of cavities and full automation with extremely fast cycle times and great productivities are common. Once the basic tooling has been completed and the process has been stabilized, these features make injection molding incredibly cost effective.
Therefore, Injection Molding Cycle Time directly affects cost effectiveness and production efficiency, so how to optimize Injection Molding Cycle Time or how to minimize Injection Molding Cycle Time?

[Eddie Warren]

How To Reduce Injection Molding Cycle Time? Here are 4 ways to minimize cycle time:
1. Keep wall thicknesses to a bare minimum to ensure that your item or product functions properly. Because of this minimalist approach to part design, less material will need to be injected into mold cavities, resulting in a gradual reduction in injection time (which can, over many cycles, add up to material time savings). Just keep in mind that the required strength of your product walls must be taken into account, as well as recommended design principles for minimum wall thicknesses. We’ll return to wall thickness later, as it has a significant impact on cooling time. machine for injection molding a
2. Make sure your machine is fine-tuned and capable of handling the required injection pressure and speed. Variable or uneven injection pressure and speed are common problems with older injection molding equipment (also known as fill time). This can result in situations where machines must inject more material in a longer length of time than a newer or better-maintained unit. That is to say, your cycle timings aren’t as quick as they could be. Errors in pressure or fill time might also result in more rejected parts, lengthening your production time (and create a longer effective cycle time).
3. Invest in people, not just equipment. If you talk to enough individuals in the injection molding industry long enough, you’ll ultimately hear the same adage: “It’s as much an art as a science.” Setting up a machine and letting it run isn’t enough for successful, efficient injection molding. There are numerous little adjustments and tweaks that can be performed. They can’t all be found in a book or calculated on a graph. It’s sometimes just an issue of getting familiar with a specific machine. Injection molding engineers with experience and talent will be able to spot — almost intuitively — the little changes in factors such as injection speed, cushion, holding time, and others that can have a large impact on component quality and cycle times. Some of the best people are likely to be found right in your own facility, so make sure to provide them opportunity to train others and share their skills.
4. Consider the materials you’ve chosen. Some materials have higher fill pressures or flow rates than others. They can go into the mold and fill all of the cavities quickly. Material selection is sometimes disregarded or dismissed, but do some study to see whether other resin qualities are appropriate for your part’s needs. As a result of our research, you may be able to shorten your cycle times along the road.

[Wendy Hannry]

The cycle time of a part in the injection molding process is critical because it determines the rate of production and the quality of the parts produced. The cycle time of a part can be reduced by reducing the cooling time, which can only be achieved by maintaining a uniform temperature distribution in the molded part, which aids in rapid heat dissipation. The solution to the problem is conformal cooling channel design, which “conforms” to the shape of the cavity in the molds. The analytical investigation of cooling analysis of many types of cooling channel designs is described in this work. The optimal cooling channel design is chosen based on the shortest time to reach ejection temperature, the most uniform temperature distribution, and the least amount of part warpage. Modeling the case study, its molds, and the cooling circuit is done with “Creo Elements/Pro 5.0,” while the analytical study is done with “Autodesk Moldflow Advisor 2013 (AMFA).”

[Author]

Posts