Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Burn Marks and Shrinkage Effect on Injection Molding

Injection Molding is among the most popular processes in plastic parts production. Through this process, burn marks and shrinkage play the most significant role in decreasing surface quality as well as increasing costs, especially when manufacturers use this method in order to produce thin-walled plastic parts. In this paper, a new strategy to remove the defects caused by shrinkage and burn marks has been proposed for the injection molding process of a specific plastic part which is used to keep the doors of an automobiles open during the painting process. Burn marks caused by the trapped air inside thin walls of the part were first simulated in MOLDFLOW 2010 software. Next step is to compare the simulation results to results that are obtained from experimental analysis. Then, Burn marks and shrinkage effects were eliminated by optimization of the process which includes mold design revision by means of SOLIDWORKS software, modification of the simulation in MOLDFLOW and the mold modification in workshop environment by improvising some ejector pins in certain points. Furthermore, shrinkage amount of the part after cooling process was calculated by applying Finite Element Method (FEM) and obtained results were used to optimize the design of the mold. Results demonstrate that mold design optimization would be possible through designing flawless molds that contain certain points for trapped air discharge and calculating shrinkage amount by FEM for optimization of design procedure. Results consequently decrease costs as well as providing surface quality improvement.