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DETERMINING OPTIMUM VENT SIZES FOR INJECTION
MOLDS


Journal: ANTEC
Manuscript ID: PENG-11-2010-0580
Wiley - Manuscript type: Proceeding
Date Submitted by the
Author:
22-Nov-2010
Complete List of Authors: Kulkarni, Suhas; FIMMTECH Inc.
Curnutt, Timothy; Distinctive Plastics
Keywords:
Injection Molding < Processing, Mold Design < Markets, Mold
Making < Markets
Abstract:
A mold was designed and built to study the optimum size of the
vents in injection molds. Results demonstrated that vent sizes were
dictated by the part design in the vent area. The higher the local
shear rate, the lower is the viscosity of the polymer, limiting the
vent depths. The injection phase of the molding cycle is the high
shear phase and the pack and hold phases are the low shear
phases. Vent depths can therefore vary depending on their location.
A method to estimate the dimensions of a vent in a future work is
proposed.




ANTEC
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DETERMINING OPTIMUM VENT SIZES FOR INJECTION MOLDS

Suhas Kulkarni, FIMMTECH Inc., Vista, CA, USA
Timothy Curnutt, Distinctive Plastics, Vista, CA, USA


Abstract

A mold was designed and built to study the
optimum size of the vents needed in injection molding.
Results demonstrated that vent sizes primarily were
dictated by the part design immediately behind the vent.
The localized shear rate of the polymer is determined by
the flow cross section of the part in the vent area. The
higher the shear rate, the lower is the viscosity of the
polymer, thus limiting the vent depths in the mold. The
experimentation proved that for a given polymer material
larger vent sizes can be accepted in the mold with no flash
when the shear rate was low. For the same mold and
under identical processing conditions, when the localized
shear rates were high, the polymer flashed and the vent
depths had to be reduced. The injection phase of the
molding cycle is the high shear phase and the pack and
hold phases are the low shear phases. This leads us to
believe that the vent depths for the mold in the injection
phase area can be significantly different from the vent
depths at the end of fill where the pack and hold phases
come into play.
Research is being conducted to establish the
relationship between part volume, material viscosity, vent
depths and vent widths. This paper will discuss only the
initial findings.

Introduction

The air inside the cavity needs to be evacuated if the
plastic is to fill the cavity. This is the reason why vents are
added to the cavity blocks in the mold. If the air is not
evacuated it will cause inadequate filling resulting in short
shots or poor packing of the parts. Further, the air can also
get pressurized and super heated resulting in a dieseling
effect and subsequent burning of the plastic. Over time the
mold steel can get damaged because of the excessive air
pressures in the local area at the end of fill or in corners
where the air and plastic tend to get pressurized. Internal
voids are another common defect that is seen with
insufficient venting. Depending on the flow pattern of the
plastic, the air gets trapped inside the part forming voids.
Lack of vents can also create excessive pressures in the
cavity causing the mold to open sufficiently enough to
cause flash on the parting line.
The vents are machined in typically on the parting
lines from where the plastic reaches the end of fill to the
outside of the mold. The end of fill here must not be
confused with the end of fill of the part. End of fill for this
discussion refers to the stopping of the polymer flow in
the particular local area. The viscosity of the plastic
should be high enough to prevent it from flowing out of
the mold through the vent. Figure 1 shows the cross
section of the mold showing the vent area and types of
vents. The relieved section that is closest to the cavity
steel is the primary vent. The dimensions of the primary
vent are the most critical. First, the vent depth D, should
be such that it helps the evacuation of air but not let the
plastic escape. This paper deals with estimating this
dimension. Second, the vent land L, should not be long
enough to cause a pressure drop and prevent air from
being pushed out nor should it be so short that the plastic
easily finds its way out to the secondary vent. Typical
land lengths should be around 1.2 to 1.5 mm (0.060 to
0.080 inches) assuming the vent depth is designed correct.
Third, the vent width W should be at least 5 mm to 8 mm
(0.200 inches to 0.320 inches). On the high end, it can be
as wide as desired and in some cases it can run around the
entire perimeter of the part (ring vents). Vents in localized
sections that do not run around the perimeter of the part
are called spot vents. The secondary vents are also called
vent reliefs. The dimensions of the secondary vents are
larger than the primary vent and therefore help in the easy
transport of the air inside the mold out to atmosphere.
They are mainly used as a dump area for the air as it exits
the mold. Secondary vents should be about 0.25 mm
(0.010). In all cases the vents must be well polished to
avoid any build up of residue from the gases. The vents
must also be draw polished in the direction of air flow.
Research is being conducted to establish the relationship
between part volume, material viscosity, vent depths and
vent widths.
The dimensions of the primary vents depend on a
number of factors. Typically the material manufacturer
will provide recommendations on vent depths. For
example, the recommended vent size for ABS is 0.05 mm
(0.002 in). Mold makers typically follow these
recommendations when building an injection mold and
tend to stay on the lower end of the recommendation for a
fear of flashing the mold. If plastic is able to enter the vent
then the vent is too deep and must be corrected. This
involves welding and repairing the surface. To avoid this,
the mold makers are conservative and leave the vent depth
steel safe. However, the processor desires the largest vent
possible to evacuate the air as fast as possible and
establish an optimum and robust process. Currently there
is no established method to strike a balance between the
processors request and the mold makers fear. This paper
deals with the initial research conducted on estimating
primary vent depths.
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Experimental

Materials:
ABS manufactured by BASF, Grade: Terluran GP22
Equipment:
Toyo molding machine, 200 Ton, 13.1 oz shot size,
1.97 in screw dia.
Custom injection mold designed and built by Distinctive
Plastics and FIMMTECH
NAUTILUS Process Engineering Software
1


Procedures

A special mold as shown in Figure 2 was constructed.
The mold molded a part that was a circular disc with a
center gated sprue. There were tabs of different
thicknesses around the periphery of the part. There were
three sizes of the tabs; 3.175, 1.588 and 0.794 mm ( 1/8,
1/16 and 1/32 inches). Each tab had one vent. There were
6 vent sizes; 0.0127, 0.0254, 0.0381, 0.0508, 0.0635 and
0.0762 mm (0.0005, 0.001, 0.0015, 0.002, 0.0025, and
0.003 inches). The mold had 18 tabs in all, covering each
tab and vent size combination. A part molded from this
mold is shown in Figure 3. The mold was mounted on the
molding machine and the melt and the mold temperatures
were set within the manufacturers recommended
parameters. The injection speed was optimized using the
in-mold rheology study shown in Figure 4. The speed was
set to a machine speed of 60% that equaled an apparent
shear rate of 1.754 sec-1. The Decoupled Molding
technique (service mark of RJG Inc.) was used to transfer
over into the pack and hold phase. The optimum pressures
were determined by doing a pressure window study. Parts
were molded and the flash in the vent area was measured
with the help of the optical comparator. The results were
documented and graphed.

Results and Discussions

A molded part from the ABS is shown in Figure 3. The
center gated sprue assured that the plastic reached all the
tabs at the same time. The eighteen tabs allowed the study
of each of the six vent sizes for each of the three tab
thicknesses. Table 1 shows the presence or absence of
flash for each combination. N indicates the absence of
flash and a Y indicates the presence of flash. The data is
graphed in Figure 5. It is evident from this data that for a
given vent depth the onset of the evidence of flash is a
function of the thickness of the tab. For example, for a
vent depth of 0.0635 mm (0.025) flash begins to occur at
the tab thickness of 1.5875 mm (1/16). However, for the
same vent depth there is no evidence of flash at 3.175 mm
(1/8). Considering the tab thicknesses, the onset of the
evidence of the flash will occur earlier as the tab thickness
reduces. For example, at a tab thickness of 3.175 mm
(1/8) flash can be seen at vent depths of 0.0762 mm
(0.003), but for a tab thickness of 0.79375 mm (1/32)
flash can be seen at 0.0508 mm (0.002).
Vent Size
Part Thickness
3.175 mm
(1/8)
1.5875 mm
(1/16)
0.79375 mm
(1/32)
0.0127 mm
(0.0005)
N N N
0.0254 mm
(0.0010)
N N N
0.0381 mm
(0.0015)
N N N
0.0508 mm
(0.0020)
N N Y
0.0635 mm
(0.0025)
N Y Y
0.0762 mm
(0.0030)
Y Y Y
Table 1: Presence and absence of flash for varying tab
thickness and vent depth.

There are several factors dictating the flow of the
polymer into the vent and causing flash. Vent dimensions,
polymer viscosity, the air viscosity, polymer pressure
inside the cavity and air pressure inside the cavity can all
be responsible to create the flash. Effect of each of these,
when acting on their own, is mentioned below.

Vent Dimensions: Typical vent dimensions for spot vents
are shown in Figure 1. The width and the depth will
determine the cross section of the vent and will determine
the flow rate of the air leaving the cavity. The larger the
part, the greater is the volume of the air inside the cavity
and therefore the cross section of the vent should also be
greater. Vent depths are more critical and larger depths
can cause flash. Since vent depths have to be limited, the
only option is to increase the width of the vents, tending
to make them ring vents around the parting lines. In cases
where the end of flows are not at the parting lines, adding
vent pins, venting of cavity inserts and ejector pins can be
helpful. If F
Pl
is the desired flow rate of the plastic into the
cavity and if F
A
is the maximum possible flow rate of the
air out of the cavity, then F
A
must me greater that F
Pl
.

Polymer Viscosity: The lower the polymer viscosity, the
higher is the possibility of the flow into the vents.
Polymer viscosity is a function of polymer temperature
and the shear rate and is inversely proportional to these
factors. As the plastic flows into the mold cavity,
depending on the part geometry, there can be several flow
fronts. Each flow front will have its own characteristics of
temperature and shear rate. Further both these
characteristics are a function of time (mainly from start of
injection to end of fill). In designing vents, the local shear
and temperature must be therefore taken into
consideration.
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Air Viscosity: Air viscosity is primarily influenced by its
temperature but its change is not significant between the
mold temperature and melt temperature ranges that are
encountered in the molding process. However, its
viscosity is worth mentioning here to point out the fact
that the viscosity of air is very low compared to the
viscosity of the polymer and therefore changes in its
viscosity have a negligible effect on the filling process.

Polymer Pressure inside the cavity: The polymer pressure
inside the cavity increases as the mold is being filled and
then reduces once the filling process is completed. The
reduction of pressure takes place because of the shrinking
of the polymer away from the mold surface. When the
molten polymer comes in contact with the vent, the higher
the polymer pressure, the higher is the possibility of flash.
Polymer cavity pressure increases during the pack and
hold phases and therefore these phases are more critical
for determining the flash when considering the polymer
pressure.

Air pressure inside the cavity: The air pressure inside the
cavity should ideally never increase if the mold has
sufficient venting. If the air pressure increases, then the
flow rate of the air out of the mold is less than the flow
rate of the plastic into the mold. If the air pressure
increases it will increase the plastic pressure and have the
effect described in the previous paragraph.

For a given mold and polymer combination all the above
factors play a role and have a combined effect. The mold
used for this study was a round part and was center gated.
Since the ABS flowed from the center of the part to the
outside and the tabs were all placed at the same distance
from the gate, it can be assumed that the melt temperature,
the shear rate and melt pressure of the polymer entering
the tabs was identical. Therefore the results obtained from
the study were all results of phenomenon taking place
inside the tabs. For the sake of this discussion, thicker
tabs refer to tabs whose height dimensions (H) were
greater and thinner tabs refer to those whose dimensions
were comparatively lower. Since the plastic pressure at
the entrance of the tab was the same, the flow rate in the
the the thinner tab was greater than that in the thicker tab.
As the flow rate increases the shear rate increases. Since
viscosity is inversely proportional to shear rate, the
viscosity in the thinner tabs is lower than the viscosity of
the thicker tab. This thinning effect explains why at the
same vent size the polymer flashes in the thinner tab but
does not do so in the thicker tab. For example, for a vent
size of 0.0508 mm (0.002) flash can be seen on the tab
with a thickness of 0.7938 mm (1/32) but there is no
flash on the 3.175 mm (1/8) tab. Some pictures are
shown in figure 6. Note that since these tabs are at the end
of the fill, the plastic is influenced by the pack and hold
phase and not the injection phase. Although the theory
will remain the same for the injection and pack phases, the
results will differ since the part geometries, flow front
velocities and flow front temperatures can all be different.
It is therefore possible that a given mold can
accommodate different sizes of vents at different
locations.

Conclusions and Remarks

Traditionally, establishing vent sizes has only been a
function of the material. Material suppliers often
recommend a vent depth range. The present work proves
that part design can heavily influence the dimensions of
the vent. The actual viscosity of the plastic in the area of
the vent must be considered to incorporate the right size
vent. Robust molding processes reduce scrap, reduce start
up time and reduce human intervention on the production
floor thus increasing the profitability of a molding
operation. To establish robust processes, one of the
requirements is that the plastic flow as easily as possible
into the mold. Inadequate venting hinders this process and
too much venting can cause parts to have flash. Balancing
the two is not impossible and with an educated approach
can be accomplished.
Flow simulation software have gotten better at
predicting the required fill times for a given part.
Therefore the flow rate of the plastic into the mold can be
calculated. For the plastic to fill the mold cavity without
any resistance from the air, the air must be capable of
exiting the cavity at a higher flow rate than that of the
plastic. Based on the vent depths, vent widths can be
calculated for the desired flow rates. Vent lands must also
also be considered since there is a pressure drop
associated with them. In summary, vent depths are a
mainly a function of polymer rheology and cavity
pressure, vent widths are mainly a function of polymer
flow rates into the mold and vent lands are mainly
dependent on the pressure drop of the air across the their
lengths. In cases where the calculated vent width is more
than the available real estate, it becomes clear that forced
venting would be necessary. Vacuum venting is
commonly used. There is a lower limit on reducing land
lengths and reducing air pressure drops.

Future Proposed Work

These initial findings shed light on the various factors
that play a role on the design of vents. Future work will
include experimenting with various polymers,
understanding vent sizes for a given material in the
injection and pack phases and effect of land sizes of vents
on the pressure drop that may prevent the venting. A
relationship between the volume of air in the cavity and
the vent dimensions would be of interest. Further
understanding the effect of various factors on the
localized rheology will aid in establishing this
relationship.
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References

1. Kulkarni S, Robust Process Development and
Scientific Molding, 2010, Hanser Publications,
Germany.




Figures


Figure 1: Primary and Secondary Vents in a mold




Figure 2: Vent Mold showing details of the tab and the vent
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Figure 3: Molded part with the tab




Figure 4: In-mold rheology curve


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Figure 5: Onset of evidence of flash versus tab thickness (in english and metric units)







Figure 6: Pictures of Tab Vent combinations showing no flash and evidence of flash
0.0450
0.0500
0.0550
0.0600
0.0650
0.0700
0.0750
0.0800
3.1750 1.5875 0.7938
Units in mm
0.0018
0.0020
0.0022
0.0024
0.0026
0.0028
0.0030
0.0032
1/8 1/16 1/32
Units in inches
Tab Thickness = 0.125
Vent Depth = 0.0025
No flash

Tab Thickness = 0.125
Vent Depth = 0.0035
Evidence of flash

Tab Thickness = 0.3125
Vent Depth = 0.0015
No flash

Tab Thickness = 0.3125
Vent Depth = 0.0020
Evidence of flash

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