A Study on Measurement of Shrinkage of Molded Plastics in a Microcellular Foaming Injection Molding Process

초미세 발포 사출 성형 공정에서 성형된 플라스틱의 수축률 측정에 관한 연구

Microcellular foaming process was developed at MIT in 1980's to save a quantity of raw materials and improve mechanical properties. There are many process variables in appling microcellular foaming process to the conventional injection molding process. Of all process variables, part dimension control and shrinkage are the most influential on the post molded dimension. The post molding dimensional change of thermoplastic resins is important to tool designers for predicting the specific difference of molded part vs. actual mold cavity. Generally, articles injection molded are smaller in size than the cavity; hence, the term shrinkage factor is used to define the allowance a designer specifies. It is important to consider the factors that influence molded part dimension. According to ASTM Designation: D 955, shrinkage from mold dimensions of molded plastics was measured. In injection molding, the difference between the dimensions of the mold and of the molded article produced therein from a given material may vary according to the design and operation of the mold. In this paper, shrinkage data of molded plastic parts was obtained. It can be an important information for designing optimum mold system in a microcellular foaming injection molding process.