The aim of this work is to compare the effectiveness of two induction heating methods of injection molds by means of thermovision measurement. The problem of selecting external or internal induction heating for thin-walled moldings used in electrical and electronic industry is taken into consideration. At first, the boundary conditions were defined. Then a group of three moldings with different defects were selected. The defects that have been taken to remove by means of induction heating are: weld lines, breaking hinges, air traps and diesel effect. In order to compare the methods of heating two models were created. The first one was made as a block of steel with milled grooves with a width of 2mm and a depth varying from 1 to 12mm. The second model consisted of two parts, one being placed in the second.
The research stand consisted of prepared models, induction generator with power of 10kW, specially shaped inductor, thermovision camera and temperature sensor of PT100 type as a reference. First, the surface with milled grooves was heated in four different sectors (because of the shape of inductor) in time of 2s. The area of low-depth grooves heated up to 154°C while the surface with 12 mm grooves heated up to 120°C. It comes from eddy currents flowing. This phenomenon shows that effectiveness of external heating of grooved surface decreases with increasing of grooves depth.
In the second case the cavity insert was heated as a coil inside the inductor which was located inside the mold. The measured value was the time of heat transfer from heated area to the forming surface in three configurations.
