Author : Rahul Vashisht and Arjun Kapila

Today demand of plastic and plastic products is increasing rapidly, thus plastic industries are evolving at a faster rate. Plastic injection molding initiates with component feasibility and then mold making keeping an eye on the various parameters. In mold designing various factors affect the molded part. We focus on the effects, different gate have on component and molding parameters. Mold Flow analysis is an influential simulation tool to find the different gate effects and to forecast the results. Optimization plays a vital role in production of plastic parts to increase the efficiency of the process without affecting the quality of the final component. This paper describes the influence of different types of gate through analyses which is carried out by moldflow software to check fill time and process parameters like fill time, shrinkage, sink marks, weld lines, clamping force, and air traps are analyzed by simulation in sequential trials. The results showed a difference in fill time from 1.77 sec to 3.18 sec with increase in Clamping force from 2 Ton to 4.8 Ton. Also average volumetric shrinkage varied from 6.82% to 9.91%.

Keywords: Plastic Injection mold, Moldflow Insight (MFI), Gate, Fill Time, Shrinkage, Sink Mark, Weld Line

Article published in International Journal of Current  Engineering  and Technology, Vol.4,No.4 (Aug- 2014)