#028 Molding Shrinkage Ratios of Major Plastic Materials

Category : Molding materials

February 5, 2010
In order to carry out the design of molds for plastic injection molding, it is necessary to determine the molding shrinkage
ratio. In this course, rough guides of the molding shrinkage ratios are explained for the typical plastic materials used in
injection molding.

[Table 1] is a list of the major thermoplastic materials, their molding shrinkage ratios, cavity surface temperatures, and
injection molding pressures.

For more details, it is common practice to obtain the material catalogs and technical documents for
each grade from the manufacturers of the molding materials and to use them as the reference
materials for making decisions.

*The values given here are for natural materials unless specified otherwise.

[Table 1] List of molding shrinkage ratios of major plastic materials

Shrinkage Cavity surface Injection molding pressure

Plastic material name ratio temperature
(%) (℃) (kgf/cm2) (MPa)

Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene

polymer 0.4〜0.9 50〜80 550〜1750 53.97〜171.7
ABS
Polystyrene
0.4〜0.7 20〜60 700〜2100 68.69〜206.1
PS
Acrylonitrile styrene
0.2〜0.7 50〜80 700〜2300 68.69〜225.7
AS
Ethylene vinyl acetate
0.7〜1.2 50〜80 1050〜2800 103〜274.8
EVA
Poly propylene
1.0〜2.5 20〜90 700〜1400 68.69〜137.8
PP
Poly propylene
0.2〜0.8 20〜90 700〜1400 68.69〜137.8
with 40% glass fibers
High density polyethylene
2.0〜6.0 10〜60 700〜1400 68.69〜137.8
HDPE
Methacrylic acid methyl ester
(acrylic) 0.1〜0.4 40〜90 700〜1400 68.69〜137.8
PMMA
Polyamide (Nylon 6)
0.5〜1.5 40〜120 350〜1400 34.34〜137.4
PA6
Polyamide (Nylon 66)
0.8〜1.5 30〜90 350〜1400 34.34〜137.4
PA66
Poly acetal
2.0〜2.5 60〜120 700〜1400 68.69〜137.4
POM
Poly butylenes terephthalate
0.2〜0.8 40〜80 560〜1800 54.95〜176.6
PBT with 30% glass fibers
Polycarbonate
0.5〜0.7 80〜120 700〜1400 68.69〜137.8
PC
Poly phenylene sulfide 0.2〜0.4 130〜150 350〜1400 34.34〜137.8
 PPS with 40% glass fibers
Liquid crystal polymer
0.2〜0.8 70〜110 700〜1400 68.69〜137.8
LCP with 40% glass fibers
Modified polyphenylene oxide
0.1〜0.5 80〜90 - -
(Modified PPO)
Poly sulfone
0.7〜0.8 90〜100 − −
PSF
Polyether sulfone PES 0.6〜0.8 120〜140 − −
Poly ethylene terephthalate
0.2〜0.4 70〜100 − −
PET
Polyether ether ketone
0.7〜1.9 120〜160 − −
PEEK

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 #106 Glass Transition Temperature Tg of Plastics

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 #103 Molding Conditions of an Injection Molding Machine (2)
 #102 Molding Conditions of an Injection Molding Machine (1)
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 Surface Finishing
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 Plastic Molding
1. #001 : Pictorial and explanations on LCA standard components - 1 : How to select
standard components

2. #028 Molding Shrinkage Ratios of Major Plastic Materials

3. #008 : Method of Preparing Compound Die Structures

4. #008 : Hydrogen embrittlement - Plating embrittlement

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