A STUDY ON GATE AND RUNNER SYSTEMS FOR BALANCING PLASTIC FLOW OF A FAMILY INJECTION MOLD
Abstract
This study presents an application of Moldflow Software to optimal runner for Family injection mold. Two plastic products with different size, weight and thickness are chosen to analyze filling process. Based on experimental equations, geometry parameters of runner and gate are primarily computed and runner system is then modeled in the software. The filling process is performed for whole model including the products and runner system to obtaine filling time, pressure, temperature, etc. Results indicate that significant difference in filling time of two cavities is found when using experimental and advised size of runner system. Therefore, balancing gate and runner system is applied to achieve the complete cavity filling at the same time for both cavities. A reduction of different filling time, injection pressure and clamping force is observed. Current results provide useful information for engineer during design injection mold to match demand quality and price.
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