• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.168-171
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• 2009

High-frequency induction is an efficient way to heat mold surface by electromagnetic induction in a non-contact procedure. Though the induction heating has an advantage in terms of its rapid-heating capacity on the mold surface, it still has a restriction on mold temperature control due to geometric restriction of an induction coil according to the mold shape. It has been recently applied to the injection molding of thin-walled parts or micro/nano structures. For localized induction heating, an injection mold composed of ferromagnetic material and paramagnetic material is used. The electromagnetic induction concentrates on the ferromagnetic material, from which we can selectively heat for the local mold elements. The present study proposed a localized induction heating method by means of selective use of mold material. The feasibility of the proposed heating method is investigated through the comparison of experimental observations according to the mold material.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1119-1123
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• 2008

High-frequency induction is an efficient way to heat mold surface by electromagnetic induction in a noncontact procedure. It has been recently applied to the injection molding of thin-walled parts or micro/nano structures. Though the induction heating has an advantage in terms of its rapid-heating capacity on the mold surface, it still has difficulty in efficient mold temperature control due to the restriction of an induction coil design suitable for the given mold shape. The present study proposed a localized mold heating method by means of selective use of mold material. For localized induction heating, an injection mold composed of ferromagnetic material and paramagnetic material is used. The electromagnetic induction concentrates on the ferromagnetic material, from which we can selectively heat for the local mold elements. The feasibility of the proposed heating method is investigated through an experimental measurement in terms of the heating efficiency on the localized mold surface.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.594-600
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• 2007

Rapid mold heating has been recent issue to enable the injection molding of thin-walled parts or micro/nano structures. Induction heating is an efficient way to heat a conductive workpiece by means of high-frequency electric current caused by electromagnetic induction. Because the induction heating is a convenient and efficient way of indirect heating, it has various applications such as heat treatment, brazing, welding, melting, and mold heating. The present study covers an experimental investigation on the rapid heating using the induction heating and rapid cooling using a vortex tube in order to eliminate an excessive cycle time increase. Experiments are performed in the case of a steel cup mold core with various heating and cooling conditions. Temperature is measured during heating and cooling time, from which appropriate mold heating and cooling conditions can be obtained.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.439-443
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• 2008

Painting process or coating with acrylic film may improve the surface defects of injection molded parts deteriorated by weldlines. flow marks. and etc. However such processes increase the production costs and increase environmental problems. Recently various types of rapid mold heating & cooling technology have been developed in order to improve surface quality of products. In this study. the heating & cooling performance of a telephone case mold is investigated by heat transfer analysis, in which the rapid mold heating & reeling technology is applied. The surface temperature of the mold was measured using thermal image camera and compared with analysis results. The influence of the rapid mold heating & cooling technology on weldline appearance and cycle time increase was also examined.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.152-159
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• 2010

Rapid mold heating has been recent issue to enable the injection molding of thin-walled parts or micro/nano structures. High-frequency induction is an efficient way to heat mold surface by electromagnetic induction in a non-contact manner, and has been recently applied to the injection molding due to its capability of rapid heating and cooling of mold surface. The present study covers a three-dimensional finite element analysis to investigate heating efficiency and structural safety of the induction heating process of an injection mold. To simulate the induction heating process, an integrated simulation method is proposed by effectively connecting an electromagnetic field analysis, a transient heat transfer analysis and a thermal stress analysis. The estimated temperature changes are compared with experimental measurements for various types of induction coil, from which heating efficiency according to the coil shape is discussed. The resulting thermal stress distributions of the mold plate for various types of induction coils are also evaluated and discussed in terms of the structural safety.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.16 no.2 s.92
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• pp.113-119
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• 2007

Rapid mold heating has been recent issue to enable the injection molding of thin-walled parts or micro/nano structures. Induction heating is an efficient way to heat material by means of an electric current that is caused to flow through the material or its container by electromagnetic induction. It has various applications such as heat treatment, brazing, welding, melting, and mold heating. The present study covers a finite element analysis of the induction heating process which can rapidly raise mold temperature. To simulate the induction heating process, the electromagnetic field analysis and transient heat transfer analysis are required collectively. In this study, a coupled analysis connecting electromagnetic analysis with heat transfer simulation is carried out. The estimated temperature changes are compared with experimental measurements for various heating conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.437-440
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• 2009

High-frequency induction is an efficient way to heat mold surface by electromagnetic induction in a non-contact manner. Thanks to its capability of rapid heating and cooling of mold surface, it has been recently applied to the injection molding. The present study applies the high-frequency induction heating for elimination of weldlines in an injection-molded plastic part. To eliminate weldlines, the mold temperature of the corresponding weld locations should be maintained higher than the glass transition temperature of the resin material. Through experiments, the maximum temperature of $143^{\circ}C$ is obtained on the mold surface around the elliptic coil, while the temperature of the mold plate is lower than $60^{\circ}C$. An injection molding experiment is then performed with the aid of induction heating, and the effect of induction heating conditions on the surface appearance of the weldline is investigated.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.1754-1759
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• 2008

To produce plastic parts that have fine pattern through conventional injection molding, a lot of difficulties follow. Therefore, rapid heating and cooling methods are good candidates for manufacturing injection-molded parts with micro/nano patterns. In this study, we adopted the E-Mold patent technology. The mold for E-Mold technology has a separate heated core with micro heaters. It is very important to optimize the lay-out of the heaters in heated core because it influences both control and distribution of mold temperature. We developed a optimization method of heating line lay-out by using commercial softwares and compared the output with the experimental results. We used Pro-Engineer Wildfire 2.0 for the mold design, ICEMCFD for mesh generation, and FLUENT for heat transfer simulation. The simulation results showed the temperature profile from $60^{\circ}C$ to $120^{\circ}C$ or $180^{\circ}C$ during heating and cooling process which were compared with the injection molding experiments. We concluded that the simulation could well explain the experimental results. It was shown that the E-Mold optimization design for heater lay-out could be available through the simulation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.441-444
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• 2009

Weldlines are generated during the injection molding process when two or more melt flows are brought into contact. At the welded contact region, a 'V'-shaped notch is formed on the surface of the molded part. This 'V'-notch deteriorates not only surface appearance but also mechanical strength of the molded part. To eliminate or reduce weldlines so as to improve the weldline strength, the mold temperature at the corresponding weld locations should be maintained higher than the glass transition temperature of the resin material. The present study implements high-frequency induction heating in order to rapidly raise mold surface temperature without a significant increase in cycle time. This induction heating enables to local mold heating so as to eliminate or reduce weldlines in an injection-molded plastic part. The effect of induction heating conditions on the weldline strength and surface appearance of an injection-molded part is investigated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.481-487
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• 2008

Rapid mold heating has been recent issue to enable the injection molding of thin-walled parts or micro/nano structures. Induction heating is an efficient way to heat material by means of an electric current that is caused to flow through the material or its container by electromagnetic induction. It has various applications such as heat treatment, brazing, welding, melting, and mold heating. The present study covers an experimental investigation of induction heating in order to rapidly raise the mold temperature. It is observed that the mold surface temperature is raised up to $200^{\circ}C$ in 2 seconds. This induction heating is applied to injection molding of a flexspline for a plastic harmonic drive, which has difficulty in cavity filling because its minimum thickness is only 0.35 mm. The induction heating is then successfully implemented on this ultra-thin wall molding by raising the mold surface temperature around the glass-transition temperature of the molding material.