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 Basic concept diagram of conformal and conventional cooling channels | |
| Process type | Injection moulding process |
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Conformal cooling channel is a cooling passageway which follows the shape or profile of the mould core or cavity to perform rapid uniform cooling process for injection moulding or blow moulding processes.
Conformal cooling is a technology utilized in the plastic injection molding industry to improve the efficiency and quality of molded parts. Traditional cooling channels in molds are typically straight and uniform, leading to uneven cooling and thus, longer cycle times and potential defects in the finished product.
Conformal cooling, on the other hand, involves the creation of cooling channels that conform precisely to the shape of the part being produced. These channels are strategically designed to follow the contours of the mold, ensuring uniform cooling and reducing cycle times significantly. This results in faster production rates, improved part quality, reduced energy consumption, and increased tooling lifespan.
By optimizing the cooling process, conformal cooling technology enables manufacturers to produce complex, high-precision parts with greater efficiency and consistency. This innovative approach has revolutionized the plastic injection molding industry, offering numerous benefits to manufacturers seeking to enhance their competitiveness in the market.
Design Stage
The process begins with the design of the mold, which includes the creation of the cavity and core that define the shape of the plastic part to be produced. During the design stage, engineers identify areas of the mold where heat tends to accumulate and impact the quality of the molded part.
Cooling Channel Design
Engineers design cooling channels that closely follow the contours of the mold cavity and core. These channels are strategically placed to ensure uniform cooling across the entire surface of the mold, thereby minimizing warpage, reducing cycle times, and improving part quality.
Manufacturing
Cooling channels can be integrated into the mold using traditional machining processes and additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing.
Optimization
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are often used to optimize the design of cooling channels. These simulations help engineers predict and analyze the flow of coolant through the channels, identify potential hot spots, and refine the design to achieve optimal cooling efficiency.
Manufacturing
Once the design is finalized, the mold is manufactured using the chosen production method, whether it be additive manufacturing or traditional machining. Cooling channels are integrated into the mold according to the designed specifications.
Coolant Circulation
During the injection molding process, a coolant (typically water) is circulated through the cooling channels to absorb heat from the mold. The coolant removes heat from the mold, allowing the plastic material to solidify and cool more rapidly.
Benefits
By minimizing cooling time, manufacturers can increase throughput and reduce energy consumption, resulting in cost savings and improved competitiveness. Conformal cooling is a sophisticated technique that optimizes the cooling process in plastic injection molding by integrating cooling channels that conform to the shape of the molded part. Through careful design, simulation, and optimization, conformal cooling enables manufacturers to achieve faster cycle times, higher part quality, and increased efficiency in production.
The process was developed in 1999 by Klaus Schmetz - USA patent number 5,855,933. The company applying for the patent was "Innova", based in Germany. This became the company "CONTURA Mold Temperature Control GmbH" in 2003.
Injection moulding is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material into a mould, or mold. Injection moulding can be performed with a host of materials mainly including metals, glasses, elastomers, confections, and most commonly thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers. Material for the part is fed into a heated barrel, mixed, and injected into a mould cavity, where it cools and hardens to the configuration of the cavity. After a product is designed, usually by an industrial designer or an engineer, moulds are made by a mould-maker from metal, usually either steel or aluminium, and precision-machined to form the features of the desired part. Injection moulding is widely used for manufacturing a variety of parts, from the smallest components to entire body panels of cars. Advances in 3D printing technology, using photopolymers that do not melt during the injection moulding of some lower-temperature thermoplastics, can be used for some simple injection moulds.
A moldmaker or molder (moulder) is a skilled tradesperson who fabricates molds for use in casting metal products.
Molding or moulding is the process of manufacturing by shaping liquid or pliable raw material using a rigid frame called a mold or matrix. This itself may have been made using a pattern or model of the final object.
Thermoforming is a manufacturing process where a plastic sheet is heated to a pliable forming temperature, formed to a specific shape in a mold, and trimmed to create a usable product. The sheet, or "film" when referring to thinner gauges and certain material types, is heated in an oven to a high-enough temperature that permits it to be stretched into or onto a mold and cooled to a finished shape. Its simplified version is vacuum forming.
Compression molding is a method of molding in which the molding material, generally preheated, is first placed in an open, heated mold cavity. The mold is closed with a top force or plug member, pressure is applied to force the material into contact with all mold areas, while heat and pressure are maintained until the molding material has cured; this process is known as compression molding method and in case of rubber it is also known as 'Vulcanisation'. The process employs thermosetting resins in a partially cured stage, either in the form of granules, putty-like masses, or preforms.
Blow molding is a manufacturing process for forming hollow plastic parts. It is also used for forming glass bottles or other hollow shapes.
Rotational molding involves a heated mold which is filled with a charge or shot weight of the material. It is then slowly rotated, causing the softened material to disperse and stick to the walls of the mold forming a hollow part. In order to form an even thickness throughout the part, the mold rotates at all times during the heating phase, and then continues to rotate during the cooling phase to avoid sagging or deformation. The process was applied to plastics in the 1950s but in the early years was little used because it was a slow process restricted to a small number of plastics. Over time, improvements in process control and developments with plastic powders have resulted in increased use.
Spin casting, also known as centrifugal rubber mold casting (CRMC), is a method of utilizing inertia to produce castings from a rubber mold. Typically, a disc-shaped mold is spun along its central axis at a set speed. The casting material, usually molten metal or liquid thermoset plastic, is then poured in through an opening at the top-center of the mold. The filled mold then continues to spin as the metal solidifies.
Metal injection molding (MIM) is a metalworking process in which finely-powdered metal is mixed with binder material to create a "feedstock" that is then shaped and solidified using injection molding. Metal injection molding combines the most useful characteristics of powder metallurgy and plastic injection molding to facilitate the production of small, complex-shaped metal components with outstanding mechanical properties. The molding process allows high volume, complex parts to be shaped in a single step. After molding, the part undergoes conditioning operations to remove the binder (debinding) and densify the powders. Finished products are small components used in many industries and applications.
In-mould labelling is the use of paper or plastic labels during the manufacturing of containers by blow molding, injection molding, or thermoforming processes. The label serves as the integral part of the final product, which is then delivered as pre-decorated item. Combining the decoration process with the moulding process cuts the total cost, but can increase the manufacturing time. The technology was first developed by Owens-Illinois in cooperation with Procter & Gamble to supply pre-labelled bottles that could be filled on the product filling line. This was first applied to Head & Shoulders shampoo bottles.
An injection molding machine, also known as an injection press, is a machine for manufacturing plastic products by the injection molding process. It consists of two main parts, an injection unit and a clamping unit.
Flow marks, also known as flow lines, are molding defects that can occur in the manufacturing process of injection molding. They are best described as "off tone" wavy lines/streaks or patterns in the molded part around the injection ports. They commonly occur when there is a large variation between cooling speeds of sections of the material as it flows through the mold.
In manufacturing, the Weld line or Knit line or Meld line is the line where two flow fronts meet when there is the inability of two or more flow fronts to "knit" together, or "weld", during the molding process. These lines usually occur around holes or obstructions and cause locally weak areas in the molded part. Knit lines are considered molding defects, and occur when the mold or/and material temperatures are set too low: thus the materials will be cold when they meet, so that they do not bond perfectly. This can cause a weak area in the part which can cause breakage when the part is under stress. Weld lines therefore occur during machine start-up, when equilibrium conditions have not been met. Mouldings made in this setting-up period must be rejected.
Precision glass moulding is a replicative process that allows the production of high precision optical components from glass without grinding and polishing. The process is also known as ultra-precision glass pressing. It is used to manufacture precision glass lenses for consumer products such as digital cameras, and high-end products like medical systems. The main advantage over mechanical lens production is that complex lens geometries such as aspheres can be produced cost-efficiently.
Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process. Casting materials are usually metals or various time setting materials that cure after mixing two or more components together; examples are epoxy, concrete, plaster and clay. Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. Heavy equipment like machine tool beds, ships' propellers, etc. can be cast easily in the required size, rather than fabricating by joining several small pieces. Casting is a 7,000-year-old process. The oldest surviving casting is a copper frog from 3200 BC.
Thin wall injection molding is a specialized form of conventional injection molding that focuses on mass-producing plastic parts that are thin and light so that material cost savings can be made and cycle times can be as short as possible. Shorter cycle times means higher productivity and lower costs per part.
Injection molding has been one of the most popular ways for fabricating plastic parts for a very long time. They are used in automotive interior parts, electronic housings, housewares, medical equipment, compact discs, and even doghouses. Below are certain rule based standard guidelines which can be referred to while designing parts for injection molding considering manufacturability in mind.
3D metal moulding, also referred to as metal injection moulding or (MIM), is used to manufacture components with complex geometries. The process uses a mixture of metal powders and polymer binders – also known as "feedstock" – which are then injection moulded.
Multi-material injection molding (MMM) is the process of molding two or more different materials into one plastic part at one time. As is the case in traditional injection molding, multi material injection molding uses materials that are at or near their melting point so that the semi-liquidous (viscous) material can fill voids and cavities within a pre-machined mold, thus taking on the desired shape of designed tooling. In general, advantages of MMM over other production techniques include, but are not limited to, creating parts that have an elastic modulus that varies with location on the part, creating a single-structure part with different regional materials, and also creating a single part with multiple independent polymer colors. Applications range from simple household items like a toothbrush to more heavy duty construction of items like power tools.
Transfer molding is a manufacturing process in which casting material is forced into a mold. Transfer molding is different from compression molding in that the mold is enclosed rather than open to the fill plunger resulting in higher dimensional tolerances and less environmental impact. Compared to injection molding, transfer molding uses higher pressures to uniformly fill the mold cavity. This allows thicker reinforcing fiber matrices to be more completely saturated by resin. Furthermore, unlike injection molding the transfer mold casting material may start the process as a solid. This can reduce equipment costs and time dependency. The transfer process may have a slower fill rate than an equivalent injection molding process.