A method for determining the flow front velocity of a plastic melt in an injection molding process

During the filling phase of an injection molding process, the flow front velocity of the plastics melt has a decisive influence on the form part quality. It has been believed that a constant flow front velocity of the melt leads to distortion‐free and residual stress‐free form parts. A process control strategy based on a constant flow front velocity of the melt, however, requires the full understanding of the flow front position as a function of the screw position of the injection molding machine. With current methods, this can only be achieved by direct measurements using a number of sensors inside the mold, which leads to complicated structure, great efforts, and high cost for the tooling equipment. This article proposes, designs, and develops an innovative method for determining the flow front velocity of a plastic melt in an injection molding using only one pressure sensor at the front of the screw and based on the idea of mapping a simulated filling process to a real injection molding process. The mapping ensues that the characteristic event points are identified and matched for both the simulated and real filling process. The results of the simulation analysis and experimental evaluation show that the proposed method can be used to determine the flow front position and the resulting flow front velocity of the melt within the cavity of the mold and provide evidence that the new method offers great potential to process control strategies based on machine independent parameters. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:1132–1145 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers