Injection molding is a technology commonly used for high-volume manufacturing of parts made of synthetic resin, most commonly thermoplastic polymers. During a repetitive injection molding process, a plastic resin, most often in the form of small beads or pellets, is introduced to an injection molding machine that melts the resin beads under heat, pressure, and shear. The resulting molten resin is forcefully injected into a mold cavity having a particular cavity shape. The injected plastic is held under pressure in the mold cavity, cooled, and then removed as a solidified part having a shape that essentially duplicates the shape of the mold cavity.
A typical injection molding procedure comprises four basic operations: (1) heating the plastic in the injection molding machine to allow it to flow under pressure; (2) injecting the melted plastic into a mold cavity or cavities defined between two mold halves that have been closed; (3) allowing the plastic to cool and harden in the cavity or cavities while under pressure; and (4) opening the mold halves to cause the part to be ejected from the mold. During the conventional injection molding of synthetic resin by an injection molding machine, the weight of the injected synthetic resin varies with the molten resin pressure, the molten resin specific volume, the molten resin temperature or other molten resin conditions. Therefore, it is difficult to form products of a consistent quality.
In general, the setting of molding parameters of the injection molding machine requires a large number of trial molding operations and a lengthy set-up period because the set-up work greatly depends on the knowledge and experience of an operator of the injection molding machine, and because various parameters affect one another.
Therefore, a virtual molding process, i.e., computer-implemented simulation, using CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering), is performed for the injection molding process, and the molding parameters are then set based on the virtual molding. During virtual molding using CAE, phenomena will occur in a mold cavity within a short period of time. That is, the effects of resin temperature, pressure, shear rate, etc. on molded products can be simulated using CAE. Therefore, if the molding phenomena occurring within a mold cavity can be accurately determined, use of CAE may enable optimization of molding parameters and a stable molding of non-defective products.
This Discussion of the Background section is for background information only. The statements in this Discussion of the Background are not an admission that the subject matter disclosed in this section constitutes a prior art to the present disclosure, and no part of this section may be used as an admission that any part of this application, including this Discussion of the Background section, constitutes prior art to the present disclosure.