Warpage Characterization of Thin and Centrally-Gated Injection Molded Part by Applying Cavity Pressure Measurement

Two types of injection molded parts including parts with thin shell feature and parts molded with radial flow pattern are highly susceptible to the warpage. In this research, the warpage performance of a thin and centrally-gated disk was experimentally investigated. The melt pressure-time traces of two different locations inside the mold cavity were monitored by employing piezoelectric transducers. The results indicated that the pressure difference magnitude of melt at two locations along the radial flow path is related to the extent of molded part deformation. Moreover, it was pointed out that the high magnitude of warpage is because of two conflicting actions in the molded part comprising expansion as a result of viscoelastic recovery in the central region, and thermal contraction in the edge region of the thin disk. The molding variables encompassing injection speed, holding pressure, back pressure, mold temperature and screw rotational speed affected the thin disks deformation in order of significance.