• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2023

In the current era of the global mobile smart device revolution, electronic devices are required in all spaces that people interact with. The establishment of the internet of things (IoT) among smart devices has been recognized as a crucial objective to advance towards creating a comfortable and sustainable future society. In-mold electronic (IME) processes have gained significant industrial significance due to their ability to utilize conventional high-volume methods, which involve printing functional inks on 2D substrates, thermoforming them into 3D shapes, and injection-molded, manufacturing low-cost, lightweight, and functional components or devices. In this article, we provide an overview of IME and its latest advances in application. We review biomimetic nanomaterials for constructing self-supporting biosensor electronic materials on the body, energy storage devices, self-powered devices, and bio-monitoring technology from the perspective of in-mold electronic devices. We anticipate that IME device technology will play a critical role in establishing a human-machine interface (HMI) by converging with the rapidly growing flexible printed electronics technology, which is an integral component of the fourth industrial revolution.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.20-25
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• 2013

In various manufacturing industries, an in-mold decoration (IMD) process for plastic objects is widely utilized because a film forming and an injection molding processes run simultaneously. In the present study, the deformation of polymer film and filling of resin in the IMD process were numerically investigated to evaluate the quality of the plastic object formed by the IMD process, which consists of thermoforming and injection molding processes. To obtain the initial shape of the polymer film during the injection molding process, the deformation of the polymer film in the thermoforming process was pre-formed using the vacuum conditions to attach the film to a cavity. Since the properties and deformation of polymer film are greatly affected by the behavior of polymer resin being injected into a mold cavity, numerical simulations for the injection molding and film forming were performed with one-way coupling method. The results showed that the injected resin could lead to the tearing of the polymer film in local regions near the corners. In order to verify the proposed numerical methodology, the numerical results of the deformation patterns printed on the initial polymer film were compared with the experimental data. The proposed methodology to couple film forming analysis with injection molding analysis can be used to predict the deformation of film in IMD process.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.687-692
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• 2015

A mold design for in-mold coating was developed to achieve simultaneous coating and injection molding of an automotive armrest. The developed mold includes one core and two cavities which are composed of a substrate cavity and a coating cavity. The core was attached to a movable plate and two cavities were mounted on a plate sliding in a stationary plate. In a two-step process, the part was first injection molded and subsequently, with the aid of a sliding table, was transferred to a second cavity. The materials used were PC/ABS for substrate and two-component polyurethane for coating. The experiments were conducted by changing the flow rate to investigate mixing characteristics. As the flow rate increased, the mixing improved. Additionally, the bubbles appeared over the substrate surface decreased with an increase of the weight of injected coating material.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 2021

A study on in-mold punching technology for hole piercing during molding of hollow plastic parts was conducted. Considering the non-linearity of the HDPE plastic material, mechanical properties were obtained according to the change in temperature and load speed. A standard specimen for the in-mold punching test was designed to implement the in-mold punching process, and the specimen was obtained through injection molding. In order to analyze the influence of process variables during in-mold punching, an in-mold punching mold capable of controlling variables such as temperature and support pressure of the specimen was designed and manufactured. Mold heating characteristics were confirmed through finite element analysis, and punching simulations for changes in process conditions were performed to analyze punching characteristics and reflected in the experiment. Through simulations and experiments, it was found that the heating temperature, punch shape, punching speed, and pressure of the back side of the specimen were very important during in-mold punching of HDPE materials, and optimal conditions were acquired within a given range.