Injection molding screw rotation

An injection-molding screw is rotated using an electric drive motor coupled with a reducer or gear box or a direct hydraulic drive. Electric drive motors are usually employed with larger hydraulic machines [clamp force > 15,000 kN (1700 tons)]i and in all-electric molding... 

Plasticator A very important component in a melting process is the plasticator with its usual specialty designed screw and barrel used that is used in different machines (extruders, injection molding, blow molding, etc.). If the proper screw design is not used products may not meet or maximize their performance and meet their cost requirements. The hard steel shaft screws have helical flights, which rotates within a barrel to mechanically process and advance (pump) the plastic. There are general purposes and dedicated screws used. The type of screw used is dependent on the plastic material to be processed. 

Most of the compounds were extrusion compounded in a conical, partially intermeshing, counter rotating twin screw extruder (Haake Reomix TW-lOO). The extruder speed was set at 50 rpm and the barrel temperature profile was set to produce a melt temperature of 260°C at the die. Samples were injection molded in a 31.8 MT Battenfeld press with a 59 cc shot size. Where noted, samples were compounded in a 60 cc Brabender internal mixer and compression molded. 

Rotational flow and pressure flow rate calculations for the screw geometry and process conditions are performed for the injection-molding process in the same manner as for an extrusion process. Since the plasticator of an injection-molding process is not a continuous process, the instantaneous rate must be calculated based on the time that the screw is actually rotating. The instantaneous rate is the rate that is compared to the calculated flow rates for the screw. The instantaneous specific rate is calculated as follows ... 

The injection-molding press was producing a part and runner system that had a mass of 2.15 kg. The mass was plasticated using a 120 mm diameter, 8L/D screw. The screw used for the process had a barrier melting section that extended to the end of the screw, as shown by the specifications in Table 11.9. That is, the screw did not have a metering channel. Instead, the last sections of the barrier section were required to produce the pressure that was needed to flow the resin through the nonreturn valve and into the front of the screw. The specific rotational flow rate for the screw for the IRPS resin was calculated at 9.3 kg/(h-rpm) based on the depth of the channel at the end of the transition section. The screw was built with an extremely low compression ratio and compression rate of 1.5 and 0.0013, respectively. For IRPS resins and other PS resins, screws with low compression ratios and compression rates tend to operate partially filled. The compression ratio and compression rate for the screw are preferred to be around 3.0 and 0.0035, respectively. The flight radii on the screw were extremely small at about 0.2 times the channel depth. For IRPS resin, the ratio of the radii to the channel depth should be about 1. 

The modified screw was placed back into the injection-molding press and evaluated for performance. The barrel temperatures were maintained at 245, 255, 260, and 260 °C for the feed zone through the last barrel zone, respectively. This temperature setting was lower than that used for the original screw. The screw was rotated at a speed of 235 rpm, and the back pressure was set so that the pressure at the tip was 10 MPa. The 0.244 kg part and runner system was plasticated in 4.2 s for a specific rate of 0.89 kg/(h-rpm). All parts produced were completely free of the splay defect. The modifications were able to eliminate the bubbles and the unmelted material. 

The extrusion blow molding process can be continuous or intermittent, as shown in Fig. 14.16. The former, employed commonly for parts less than 1 gal, has a continuously rotating screw extruder, extmding parisons through one or more dies. The latter may use either an accumulator head with a piston-driven extrusion forming of the parison, or a reciprocating screw, such as the one used in injection molding. 

First station usually has multiple preform injection molds where preforms are formed over core pins. The preforms have hemispherical closed ends (resembles a laboratory test tube). The other ends have an open bore, formed by the core pin. External details, such as the thread and neck flange for a screw-top container, are directly produced by injection molding. While the preform is still hot, the injection split mold is opened and the preforms, still on the core pins, are rotated to the blowing station two. Here the preforms are enclosed within the blow mold, and introducing blowing air through the core pins followed with cooling produces the BM. Blow molds opened and the finished products, still on the core pins, are rotated to an ejection station where they are stripped off mechanically and/or air. 

Fig. 5 (A) Schematic of screw extrusion of a ceramic shape. The ceramic feed material dispersed in a binder flows from the hopper into the barrel where the rotating screw transports the material through the die opening. (B) Schematic of injection molding of a ceramic shape. The ceramic feed material dispersed in a binder flows from the hopper into the barrel where the rotating screw transports the material through the sprue into a closed mold. After the mold is opened, the part is ejected.

During the plastication stage, the polymer melt is typically plasticized from solid granules or pellets through the combined effect of heat conduction from the heated barrel and the internal shear heating caused by molecular deformation with the rotation of an internal screw. Screws in injection molding have many... 

The most common cyclic process for thermoplastics is injection molding. Modern machinery is of the reciprocating screw type. In this process, the screw rotates and loads a metered dosage of polymer toward the tip. A ring valve at the tip of the screw prevents backflow during forward movement of the screw during the injection part of the cycle. The molten polymer flows... 

Injection molding is a cyclic discontinuous process used to form three-dimensional plastic parts (25. 26). Both thermoplastics and thermosets are injection molded. The process is shown schematically in Figure 11 for a reciprocating screw injection molder. This type of a machine has a screw rotating in a barrel similar to an extruder. However, here the melt flow is discontinuous and controlled via a check valve at the tip of the screw. Material is melted in the extruder, and the melt is accumulated in front of the screw tip until sufficient melt is at hand to fill the mold cavity (cavities). 

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