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Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: cozyhan@mail1.pknu.ac.kr (S.-Y. Han),
yeky@nara-mnd.co.kr (J.-K. Kwag), ryh4851@nara-mnd.co.kr
(C.-J. Kim), twpark@kopo.or.kr (T.-W. Park), ydjung@pknu.ac.kr
(Y.-D. Jeong).
molding process is believed to have been rst made com-
mercially available by the invention of Friederich, which is
disclosed in US Patent No. 4,101,167 issued July 18, 1978.
The Friendrich patent solved the problem of molding hollow
shape bodies in a single injection molding operation [5].
Specically, during those early years, the industry paid
most of its attention on the use of structural foam as a spe-
cial process used for molding relatively thick-sectioned ar-
ticles. These parts are light in weight and have acceptable
surface nish, i.e., without sink marks that are associated
with conventional plastic injection molding. In recent years,
attention has been concentrated on the use of gas assistance
with conventional plastic injection molding to achieve high
product quality and productivity. Good surface quality, short
cycle times, lower clamp tonnage, material saving, weight
reduction and minimization of part distortion or warpage
can all be achieved with proper utilization of gas assistance
into a conventional plastic injection molding process.
There are two methods in conventional GAIM. The one
is short shot. The short shot is sequentially done by fol-
lowing a simple three-step process. In the short shot pro-
cessing, a molten polymer is initially lled in cavity about
7598% by ram speed control of the injection molding ma-
chine. After a short delay period, compressed nitrogen gas
0924-0136/$ see front matter 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2004.04.338
1202 S.-Y. Han et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 155156 (2004) 12011206
cores out the molten polymer, lling the remainder of the
mold. The next step is the gas packing stage that compen-
sates for the volumetric shrinkage of the polymer melt. As
the plastic solidies, the gas expands into volume created by
shrinkage, locally packing out the part [6]. The short shot
method is used for thick section moldings, typically handles
and tubular components. The advantage of the short shot is
reduction in molded plastic weights. However, surface de-
fects such as hesitation mark [7] may be visible when the
gas is injected too late or the initial gas pressure is too low.
The other is full shot. The full shot is injected to ll or
nearly ll the mold cavity, but the plastic is not packed by
an injection molding machine. After a selected time delay,
rst phase gas is injected. Second phase gas penetration oc-
curs to compensate for volumetric shrinkage of the plastic
as it cools. A uniform gas pressure is applied throughout the
plastic. Gas is exhausted to atmosphere or for recovery be-
fore mold opens. Plastic rell commences after the nozzle
valve is closed or after the plastic feed gate has solidied.
The full shot method is normally applicable for compo-
nents in which there are thick and thin sections. The gas
ows into the path of least resistance in the thicker sections
where the plastic interior is still in a molten state [5]. The
pushed melt needs to expel from the cavity to another place.
The place is called overow and wholly wastes material.
In the above two GAIM methods, there are been still some
disadvantages such as exploding at molding by high pres-
sure gas, surface dimmed by mixed gas and melt, limitation
of gas nozzle design and slow cooling of molding. In these
disadvantages, slow cooling of the molding is one of the
most important things connecting with a cycle time of man-
ufacturing. The interior temperature of a hollow shape is in-
creased by the injected gas, and rises almost to the melting
temperature. The heated gas in the hollow shape acts like
a hot core that causes the molding to cool slowly. Conse-
quently, the cycle of GAIM process would be lengthened.
2. Reverse gas injection molding (RGIM)
In conventional GAIM process, hesitation marks have
been needed to remove. The material for injection molding
has been needed to reduce more and more. The gas in a
hollow shape acting as hot core has been needed to remove
for faster cooling of molding. For satisfying these require-
ments, we devised a new GAIM process, the reverse gas in-
jection molding, which was registered in Korea Patent No.
0286015. There are some special units that include an air
unit that is used to vent and remove the hot nitrogen gas in
hollow shape and the overow buffer that is used to reduce
a material. Fig. 1 shows the schematic of the RGIM system.
The RGIM process is divided into four steps (Fig. 2). The
rst step is lling. A melt injected from a hot runner lls
the mold cavity about 98100% such as full shot method.
The second step is hollowing out the melt after a constant
delay time. A pressured gas is injected into the mold cavity.
Fig. 1. Schematic of the RGIM system.
The pressured gas makes a hollow shape. Synchronously,
the pushed melt that is still in a molten state in the middle of
cavity reversely re-enters into an overow buffer. The third
step is holding. The pressured gas acts as holding pressure.
The last step is air blowing. Completing holding phase for a
few seconds, air is blown for a few seconds by the air unit to
cool the molding and to remove the hot gas in hollow shape.
We applied a cutter that automatically acts to vent hot gas
by the air unit.
In the RGIM process, there are two differences from the
traditional GAIM process. The rst is that there isnt the
physical overow for the expelling of a melt. Instead of
expelling, the melt re-enters into the overow buffer by the
injected gas while hollowing out the melt. This step saves
material. So, this new GAIM process was named as the
RGIM. The second is that there is the air unit in this system.
This air unit vents and removes the hot gas for faster cooling
in the hollow shape by air blowing.
3. The injection molding experiments in the RGIM
process
The experimental equipments consisted of a mold
that included the function of the RGIM process, a gas
pressure-generating unit and an air unit. The mold has
one cavity and was used to make an electric microwaves
handle. The mold temperature was 50
C. The gas
pressure-generating unit was made by GAIN Technologies
[8]. The air unit is for cooling a molding (Fig. 3). The air
temperature was 15
C)
Delay time for
air blowing (s)
Duration time for
air blowing (s)
Level 1 210 21 50
Level 2 220 31 60
Level 3 230 41 70
1204 S.-Y. Han et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 155156 (2004) 12011206
Table 2
Design of experimental for the RGIM process
Process
condition
Melt
temperature
(
C)
Delay time
for air
blowing (s)
Duration time
for air
blowing (s)
1 210 21 50
2 210 31 60
3 210 41 70
4 220 21 60
5 220 31 70
6 220 41 50
7 230 21 70
8 230 31 50
9 230 41 60
Fig. 5. Molding produced by the RGIM.
The molding was rst molded without air blowing at melt
temperature 220
C)
Length 1
(mm)
Length 2
(mm)
Weight (g)
1 118.0 213.3 250.0 106
2 105.0 213.7 250.7 106
3 107.7 213.7 251.0 106
4 107.3 211.7 249.3 106
5 97.4 213.3 251.0 106
6 113.1 209.7 248.0 105
7 94.0 213.3 251.0 106
8 120.0 208.7 246.0 106
9 111.0 210.7 247.3 106
Fig. 6. S/N ratio plot of molding temperature for GPPS.
enth and eighth, the difference of the molding temperature
was 26
C)
Length 1
(mm)
Height
(mm)
Gloss
(GU)
1 126.6 210.1 47.21 38.69
2 122.6 210.3 47.24 36.66
3 117.0 210.5 47.03 38.02
4 126.0 209.6 47.39 33.83
5 120.0 210.5 47.10 33.63
6 131.6 209.9 47.51 31.85
7 123.0 210.3 47.18 31.65
8 129.6 210.2 47.53 34.50
9 128.0 210.6 47.39 27.70
S.-Y. Han et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 155156 (2004) 12011206 1205
Fig. 7. S/N ratio plot of molding temperature for PP.
molding temperature. The predicted optimum process was
melt temperature 210
C, the
mold temperature (T
W
) was 60
C.
The following Fourier cooling equation was used for cal-
culating cooling time [11]
t
c
=
s
2
ln
2
T
M
T
W
T
E
T
W
(1)
=
R
C
p
(2)
Fig. 9. Temperature distribution without air blowing during 30 s.
Fig. 8. Model for numerical calculation of heat transfer.
Table 5
Calculation equations for heat exchange [12]
Equations Values
Input heat Q = WC
p
T 6.981 kcal
Output heat Q
1
= h
a
A
1
(T
M
T
a
) 0.047 kcal/s
Q
2
= h
R
A
2
(T
M
T
W
) 0.0638 kcal/s
Where Q: total input calories through molding (kcal); W: weight of
model (g); C
p
: specic heat of model (kcal/g
C); Q
1
: calories
by heat transfer per second (kcal/s); h
a
: heat transfer coefcient of air
blowing (kcal/mm
2
h
C) 1.72E+8; A
1
: surface area of hollow shape
(mm
2
) 4.71E+5; T
M
: melt temperature (
C); T
a
: air temperature (
C);
Q
2
: calories removed by air blowing per second (kcal/s); h
R
: heat transfer
coefcient of mold (kcal/mm
2
h
C) 5.0E+7; A
2
: surface area of between
molding and mold (mm
2
) 1.41E+6; T
w
: mold temperature (
C).
where t
c
is the cooling time (s), s the wall thickness (mm),
the thermal diffusivity (mm
2
/s)In the rst result, the cooling
time without air blowing was 733 s as calculated with the
Fourier cooling Eq. (1).
For the second case, the calculated total input calories of
the molding was Q, the calories of heat transfer between
mold and molding per second was Q
1
and the removed calo-
ries by air blowing in molding per second was Q
2
. Fig. 8
shows the model for numerical calculation.
It was assumed that the amount of the removed calories
would be the average of the sum for the calories removed
by air blowing (Q
1
) and heat transfer (Q
2
). So, the cooling
time of molding was calculated 126 s. This cooling time by
air blowing was faster 5.5 times than the case 1 (Table 5).
1206 S.-Y. Han et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 155156 (2004) 12011206
Fig. 10. Temperature distribution with air blowing during 20 s.
5. Temperature distribution simulation by marc
software
The heat transfer was simulated in order to verify the ef-
ciency of the RGIM about the mentioned two cases with the
MARC software. The rst case is that molding was cooled
without air blowing in the mold. The second case is that the
molding was cooled by air blowing and heat transfer be-
tween mold and molding in the mold. The material of the
model was PC. The mechanical properties and all conditions
for input data in the MARC were the same as the conditions
in the numerical calculation. When the air was not blown
into the hollow shape, the temperature of nitrogen gas and
air normally increased similar to the melting temperature.
So, it was assumed that the interior temperature of the hol-
low shape would be 200
C.
Fig. 9 shows temperature distribution of molding that was
cooled for 30 s without air place at the boundary between
mold wall and molding. But there was not a transfer of heat
at the hollow shape.
Fig. 10 shows a temperature distribution of molding with
air blowing for 20 s at the hollow shape. There was a heat
transfer by air blowing at the hollow and the temperature
at the hollow shape decreased to 70