Occasionally, the use of high compaction pressures causes acceptable sink marks by reducing volumetric shrinkage although these cannot be completely eliminated. This is because the volumetric change of plastic from melt to solid is about 25% and the compressibility of plastics at typical injection moulding pressure is only 15%, which means that it is impossible to compact the molten plastic sufficiently to compensate for cooling shrinkage.

Trapped air will result in voids and bubbles within the moulded plastic part, incomplete filling or surface defects such as stains or burn marks.

The production line might have a resin with a high viscosity measured by the Melt Flow Index (MFI), depending on the chosen material. MFI is a good starting point, even though it may not tell the complete story since there are two other factors of concern that may also be involved.

The most frequent cause of failure to fill the mold is the appearance of something that interferes with the flow, and one of the leading candidates for flow issues is the type of plastic polymer itself.

A poor finish can be caused by the formation of wrinkles or waves at the edges of the part or in the last filling areas during injection moulding.

Traditionally, the joint angle between the two faces is used to differentiate weld lines from joint lines. A joint angle of less than 135º produces a weld line, while a joint angle of more than 135º is defined as a joint line. In general, a weld line mark disappears when the joint angle reaches between 120º and 150º. The weld lines are considered more critical than joint lines in terms of both aesthetics and mechanical properties of the joint. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

With many accumulated years of experience with numerous domestic and foreign clients, Flying Tiger is confident in assisting corporate customers in quickly identifying the cause of short shots and other injection molding defects, thereby assisting in cutting down on resource waste and boosting product yield.

However, achieving uniform shrinkage is complicated by the presence and interaction of many factors such as the orientations of the polymer molecules, temperature variations in the mould walls, compaction variations in the plastic parts (over-compacted areas and under-compacted areas, due to unbalanced flow paths), etc. Note that areas of higher compaction, such as injection gates, have a lower shrinkage since part of the compaction of the molten polymer compensates for it. In contrast, areas further away from the gate are subject to less compaction and therefore tend to have a higher shrinkage.

– Reduce the injection speed. High plastic injection speeds can cause jetting, which causes trapped air to appear right at the inlet gate. Reducing the injection speed will give the displaced air at the gate enough time to escape through the aeration zones.

In plastic injection molding, a flow hesitation occurs when the flow slows down or stops due to variations in mold thickness. Inconsistent mold thickness causes the flow range of the melt to be too broad and its flow resistance to be excessive.

Poor venting happens when air is trapped during filling the cavity, creating counterpressure. When the melt is first injected into the hollow, under most circumstances, it immediately seals the cavity, trapping air in the remaining local spaces.

Sinkage marks are depressions in the surface of the plastic injection moulded part caused in the last phase or stage of the plastic injection moulding process, during the cooling process. The thicker sections of the plastic cool at a slower rate than the others, resulting in a higher percentage of shrinkage in that local area. After the material on the outside has cooled and solidified, the material on the inside begins to cool and its shrinkage pulls the surface inwards, causing a surface depression.

Short shots are one of the most frequent problems with plastic injection molding. There are numerous causes of them, but the primary ones are improper injection pressure and speed, including uncontrolled pressure loss brought on by resistance.

The imbalanced flow in each cavity of a multi-cavity mold can generate local short shots. But when the injection molding machine's capacity is adequate, this defect is primarily brought on by the uneven flow in each gate or the uneven distribution of the mold cavities.

Some of the practices we develop in the Moldblade Engineering Department to correct the problem of incomplete filling are:

The jetting defect occurs when molten polymer is pushed at speed through a small area, such as the injection nozzle or gate, to access a much larger area. The jetting defect results in mechanical weakness in the part, surface imperfections and multiple internal defects.

The formation of wrinkles or waves is due to the fact that a part of the flow front cools rapidly on the mould walls producing a fold on the flow front itself. Themain factors influencing the formation of these wrinkles are the flow velocity, the temperature of the mould walls, and the temperature of the molten polymer, among others.

A weld line (also called a weld mark) is formed when two melt flow fronts travelling in opposite directions meet. In contrast, a bond line occurs if these two fronts flow parallel to each other creating a bond line.

The burr is a defect that occurs when part of the molten polymer flows through the existing gaps in the injection mould such as parting plane, aeration zones, ejectors, etc. Burring occurs for the following reasons:

Therefore, beyond the choosing material, better control of mold and melt temperatures also aids in enhancing plastic flow. Flying Tiger offers a range of mold temperature controllers that help you achieve just that.

A "short shot," as the name suggests, occurs when the mold-forming filling stops before the mold chamber is fully filled with the melt, leaving holes or thin sections and producing a defective product.

The following recommendations can be used to reduce the impact of weld lines and parting lines on injection moulded parts.

Overall, it is crucial to comprehend the various varieties of plastic injection molding equipment and how varying sizes and types might be beneficial.

Like any production process, plastic injection molding manufacturing can have problems and faults. Short shots, often known as "shorts," are one of the most typical quality concerns when the final product is incomplete because the mold did not entirely fill. This article will examine the most frequent causes of this issue and how plastics manufacturers can troubleshoot short shots to maintain high-quality and lean production.

Incomplete filling occurs when a one injection moulded part is missing material to correctly generate its geometry. This occurs when the molten polymer cannot fill the entire cavity (or cavities) in the Injection mould, usually the thinner sections where the polymer melt cools before completely filling the mould. Any factor that increases the flow front resistance of the polymer melt can result in incomplete filling. Some of these factors are:

Manufacturers can immediately notice that the choice of material affects the flow or movement of the molten plastic inside the mold chamber in the mold cavity because it is a recurring factor in many problems.

The secret to effective manufacturing and preventing either flow or pressure concerns is to match the right part with the proper molding machine.

Nozzles, sprues, runners, gates, and thin product walls are among the parts that could obstruct melt flow. By raising the nozzle's diameter and temperature, besides utilizing a nozzle with a low flow resistance, the flow resistance of the nozzle can drop to the desired level.

These holes frequently appear around the borders of the finished product or in areas where the mold wall is typically thin—these areas are the last places a mold would commonly fill.

Additionally, because the filling speed is excessively high, chances are that there is insufficient time to release the air via the separating surface.

A rule of thumb to avoid excessive distortions in the part due to temperature differences after injection, is that the average temperature differences in any part of the part after injection should not be greater than 15-20ºC.

There are a variety of tools, procedures, and materials available for manufacturers to avoid short-shot defects. Four of the most tried-and-tested remedies are listed below:

Overall, several factors can lead to the occurrence of short-shot defects, and they all have mutually limiting and influencing effects. Manufacturers must consider how these factors relate to one another, in order to devise a solution to reduce and correct short-shot defects. Note that It is often an ongoing process of monitoring and reviewing.

Weld lines and joint lines can be caused by holes or insertions in the part, the existence of multiple injection gates, or due to areas of varying wall thickness where hesitation or race-tracking occurs.

Flow restrictions, hesitation of flow, and inadequate venting are all common short-shot defects due to inadequate mold design. Flow restrictions often come from the positioning, dimensions of runners and their gates, and how the molten plastic is poured into the mold.

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Some of the actions to be taken to improve the surface finish are related to actions to increase the flow rate and temperature of the molten polymer and the mould walls. Therefore, the improvement of the surface quality is achieved by measures such as:

Another potential reason is that the vacuum condition is not suitable for molds—Molds require a place for displaced air to escape, or they will develop air traps or poor venting.

The warping or twisting of an injection-moulded plastic part is therefore due to the existence of a series of residual internal stresses in the part which are in turn generated by the differential shrinkage of the material during cooling. If the shrinkage throughout the part is uniform, the resulting part does not warp or twist, it simply shrinks uniformly and becomes smaller. Thecrystalline polymers, e.g. acetal, nylon, high density polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate and polypropylenecause the most serious problems with shrinkage from 1 to 4%. Amorphous polymers, e.g. polystyrene, acrylic and polycarbonate are more treatable, with shrinkages of only 0.3 to 0.7%.

The locations of the air leakage areas in the moulds are located in the areas that are filled at the end of the injection cycle or phase. A common cause of the trapped air defect is an insufficient size of the mould vents. Another common cause is when racetracking occurs (tendency of the polymer melt to flow preferentially in thicker sections leaving thinner areas with trapped air). Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Therefore, it is squeezed instead, leaving some partially empty spaces in the cavity and shortening the shot of the molded item. To remove the air, the process must have vents built or ejection pins installed.

If welding or joining lines cannot be avoided, a good practice is to ensure that they are generated in low visibility or mechanically non-critical areas. This is often done by modifying the plastic injection gate, modifying the flow fronts and the areas where the weld/joint lines occur. Another practice is to try to achieve a good joint between the two fluxes so that the mechanical weakness that occurs is not excessive. To do this, the aim is for the junction of the two flux fronts to take place at the highest possible temperature and pressure, so that they are not far from the inlet port. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

The trapped air defect appears when a certain amount of air cannot escape out of the mould during injection, a small area without material appeared in the injected part. In a correct Injection mould design, at each injection, air is exhausted through mould vents, mould inserts or even ejectors, which also act as vents.

For instance, an oversized machine may have trouble controlling pressure if the shot size is less than 25% of its capacity, whereas an undersized machine will not have enough pressure or ram speed.  Meanwhile, the barrel and mold wall should be heated to prevent the molded plastic from cooling too quickly.

The dimensional shrinkage of parts is inherent to the injection moulding process. Shrinkage occurs because the density of the polymer varies from processing temperature to ambient temperature (see, for example, the specific volume of a semi-crystalline polymer in Figure 5.46 – PVT curve). During the stages of the injection moulding process, cooling shrinkage produces a series of internal stresses in the part. These residual stresses act on the part with similar effects as possible externally applied stresses. If the residual stresses induced during moulding are high enough, the part after ejection from the mould may warp / twist or warp, resulting in defective parts.