Force, clamping

Semibatch Reactors. Semibatch reactors are the most versatile of reactor types. Thermoplastic injection molds are semibatch reactors in which shaped plastic articles are produced from melts. In mol ding thermoplastics, large clamping forces of up to 5000 metric tons are needed to keep molds together, while highly viscous polymers are forced into their cavities. Heat transfer is critical. If the molds are too cold, polymers soHdify before filling is completed if they are too hot, the time required for cooling delays production. 

In the hydraulic system, oil under pressure is introduced behind a piston connected to the moving platen of the machine. This causes the mould to close and the clamp force can be adjusted so that there is no leakage of molten plastic from the mould. 

This is a simple convenient expression for estimating the clamping force required for the disc. The same expression may also be used for more complex shapes where the projected area may be approximated as a circle. It will also give sufficiently accurate estimates for a square plate when the radius, R, in Fig. 4.41(a) is taken as half of the diagonal. 

In practice the clamping pressure will also depend on the geometry of the cavity. In particular the flow ratio (flow length/channel lateral dimension) is important. Fig. 4.42 illustrates typical variations in the Mean Effective Pressure in the cavity for different thicknesses and flow ratios. The data used here is typical for easy flow materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene. To calculate the clamp force, simply multiply the appropriate Mean Effective Pressure by the projected area of the moulding. In practice it is... 

Example 4.6 The mould shown in Fig. 4.35 produces four cup shaped ABS mouldings. The depth of the cups is 60 mm, the diameter at the is 90 mm and the wall thickness is 1.0 mm. The distance from the sprue to the cavity is 40 mm and the runner diameter is 6 mm. Calculate the clamp force necessary on the moulding machine and estimate how the clamp force would change if the mould was designed so as to feed the cups through a pin gate in the centre of the base (as illustrated in Fig. 4.38). The clamp pressure data in Fig. 4.42 should be used and the taper on the side of the cups may be ignored. 

Hence total clamp force for 4 cavities and 1 runner system is given by... 

Another common shape which is moulded is a thin rectangular strip. Consider the centre gated strip as shown in Fig. 4.41(b). In the same way as before the clamping force, F, is given by... 

The calculation of clamp force is considered in more detail in Chapter 5. 

Wall sections in foam moulding are thicker than in solid material. Longer cycle times can therefore be expected due to both the wall thickness and the low thermal conductivity of the cellular material. In contrast, however, the injection pressures in foam moulding are low when compared with conventional injection moulding. This means that less clamping force is needed per unit area of moulding and mould costs are less because lower strength mould materials may be used. 

Since the reactants have a low viscosity, the injection pressures are relatively low in the RIM process. Thus, comparing a conventional injection moulding machine with a RIM machine having the same clamp force, the RIM machine could produce a moulding with a much greater projected area (typically about 10 times greater). Therefore the RIM process is particularly suitable for large... 

A circular plate of diameter 0.5 m is to be moulded using a sprue gate in its centre. If the melt pressure is 50 MN/m and the pressure loss coefficient is 0.6 estimate the clamping force required. 

The container shown at the top of p. 341 is injection moulded using a gate at point A. If the injection pressure at the nozzle is 140 MN/m and the pressure loss coefficient, m, is 0.5, estimate (i) the flow ratio and (ii) the clamping force needed. 

Note that if Pq is substituted back into the expression for P then the expression used earlier (Chapter 4) to calculate the mould clamping force is obtained. That is... 

It may be seen from the above analysis and that in Chapter 4 for the calculation of clamping force on an injection moulding machine the Mean Effective pressure (MEP) across the cavity may be obtained from... 

Thus for any plastic where the Power Law constants are known, the clamping force can be calculated for a given radius, R, cavity depth, H, and fill time, /. 

Fig. 5.27 shows the variation of MEP with flow ratio (R/H) for spreading flow in discs of different depths. The material is polypropylene and the constant injection rate is 3.4 x 10 m /s. This is a high injection rate but has been chosen because the clamp forces predicted by this diagram are representative of those occurring in real moulding situations (even though it is based... 

Mold temperature = 90°C maximum clamping force = 700 kN maximum injection pressure 225 MPa. 

Accuracy and repeatability of temperature/time/velocity/pressure controls of injection unit, accuracy and repeatability of clamping force, flatness and parallelism of platens, even distribution of clamping on all tie rods, repeatability of controlling pressure and temperature of oil, oil temperature variation minimized, no oil contamination (by the time you see oil contamination damage to the hydraulic system could have already occurred), machine properly leveled. 

Calculator An interactive process wizard that provides quick, effective material, design, processing, and cost solutions. This Engineering Calculator s capabilities include (1) Material, to select from a variety of GE Plastics materials (2) Design, which calculates minimum part thickness based upon allowable deflection (3) Processing, which calculates pressure to fill and clamp force and (4) Cost, which calculates estimated material and processing costs for the intended part. 

Assumptions hinder the problem solver because they tend to apply a rule or regulation to the problem that does not exist. For example, by applying the correct torque to a piping flange setting, the assumption is that the clamping force of the bolt will ensure a... 

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