CAEDSInjectionCastingDesign

Shrinkages
TampereUniversityofTechnologySannaNyknen

Plasticshavedifferentkindsofshrinkages.Initialshrinkagehappenswhilepartis General
cooling. This shrinkage is usually called mould shrinkage. Aftershrinkage occurs
aftere.g.24hbecauseofinternalstressesrelieving.Differentplasticshavedifferent
shrinkages; some may have a zero shrinkage and others little or high degree of
shrinkage.
The overall injection moulded parts tolerances are largely determined by the
ability to predict shrinkage values rightly Plastics quite large and unpredictable
shrinkagescanmakedesigningwithtighttolerancesveryhard.Insomecases,like
designing moulded parts that have to mate with other parts for producing an
assembly,toleranceshavetobetight.Thesepartshavetobemouldedtoaccurate
dimensionalspecifications.Howevercontrollingplasticsmouldshrinkagecanbe
difficult, because mould shrinkage is not always isotropic. Generating cavity di
mensionsforaplasticthathaveanisotropicmouldshrinkagebehaviourisnoteasy.
Anisotropicshrinkagewillalsoleadtowarpageorinternalstress.Theplasticparts
dimensions will be influenced by many factors like material consideration, part
geometry,toolingandprocessingfactors.
There are different stages in injection moulding process. The compression and Injection
holding stages affect to the parts mould shrinkage. The compression pressure mouldingprocess
determines the weight of the material injected to the mould cavity. Holding pres stagesthataffect
sureisappliedtothescrewanditkeepsthemeltinthecavitywhenthepartcools tomould
downandalsopushesadditionalmeltintothecavitywhenthepartshrinks.Finally shrinkage
thegatesolidifiesandpartsshrinkingcontinueswithoutcompensation.Ifpacking
andholdingpressuresarenotused,plasticpartsvolumetricshrinkagecanbeeven
25%.
Partswiththickandthinwallsectionscanhaveshrinkagerelatedinternalstresses Wallthickness
inthewallthicknesstransitionareasbecauseofdifferentcoolingandcompression effect
requirements.Thethickersectionswillcontinuecoolingandshrinkinglongerthan
thinner sections. Part thickness has a significant role in semicrystal polymers
shrinkagebehaviour.
Anisotropicmouldshrinkageininjectionmouldingleadstodifficultiesinmaintain Anisotropic
ing the desired dimensions, internal stress levels and warpage. There are many shrinkage
differentthingsthatareresponsibletoanisotropicmouldshrinkage:
asymmetricthermalshrinkagebecausepartsunevencooling
nonuniformplanarvolumetricshrinkage
anisotropicmaterialbehaviourbecauseoforientationcausedbyflow
differentialthermalstrainbecauseofgeometryeffects

Warpingiscausedbydifferentialshrinkage.Ifsomearehasadifferentamountof Warping
shrinkage compared to some other area, the part will warp. Another reason for
warpingisthatifoneareaisoverpackedandsomeotherareainthemouldismuch
lesspacked.Thenoccursdifferentialshrinkageandthepartwillwrap.Variationsin
shrinkagealloverthepartcausewarpage.

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 CAEDSInjectionCastingDesign

Semicrystalline polymers have higher shrinkage than amorphous polymers. The

mouldshrinkageforsemicrystallinethermoplasticsmayrangefrom1to4%.They
alsohavevaryingdegreesofaftershrinkage.

Plastictype Mouldshrinkage Mouldshrinkages
fordifferent
Polystyrene(PS) 0.40.7%
plastics

Polyarylsulfone(PSU) 0.30.8%

Polyarylethersulfone(PES) 0.30.8%

Liquidcrystalpolymers(LCP) 00.2%

Polyacetal(POM) 1.53.0%

Polymethylmethacrylate(PMMA) 0.30.7%

Polyethylene(PE) 1.53.5%

Polypropylene(PP) 12%

Styreneethylenebutylenestyrene(SEBS) 0.53.5%

References

Jrveletal.,Ruiskuvalu,Plastdata,Tampere,2000.
Rosatoetal.,InjectionMoldingHandbook,3rded.,Kluwer,2000.
Malloy,PlasticPartDesignforInjectionMolding,HanserPublishers,1994.

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