J. Aisa

Characterization of In-Mold Decoration Process and Influence of the Fabric Characteristics in This Process

In design and simulation of injected parts, it is very important to understand correctly the relationship between pressure drop in a mold and flow length, since that is the clue in the design and manufacturing of a plastic piece. Many of the components that are inside cars are aesthetic pieces, and they are textile coated. The upholstered pieces are injected onto a textile tissue introduced into the mold, and they are finished with an edging process. Simulation programs used to optimize the injection process are not able to simulate the injection over fabrics, and therefore, they cannot determine textile quality influence in the pressure drop. The in-mold decoration (IMD) fabric is composed by three layers. The first one gives the aesthetics of the piece, the second intermediate layer is made of porous foam, and the third one is where the overmolded plastic is anchored. This article presents a methodology to determine the relationship between pressure drop and flow length, in order to optimize the IMD injection by means of simulation process. To design this methodology and characterize the IMD injection, a spiral mold with pressure sensors and three kind of textile with different protect liner quality and foam thickness are used.

The Contenur 2400 L Waste Container Product: An Example of CAE in Injection Plastic Design

This paper is focused on 2400 liter waste container design, made by Contenur Espana; using computer aided engineering tools (CAE) and T.I.I.P. team experience, (University of Zaragoza, Spain). The goal was to produce a new plastic container concept, including all its elements, indicating assembly operations and selecting the plastic injection machine required for each part. Final cost should be reduced under other company’s prices. Several requisites were established at the beginning of the design stage: material type, European regulations on the product dimensions and testing procedures, an easy assembly, simple storage and low transport fares.... This work exposes several points of view around the complete design and work steps: feasibility analysis, aesthetical and structural design, detail drawing, injection molding definition, service tests, and final assembly. Methodology followed in this big product is described, collecting several fields’ experience. The final result is shown and four patents recognize this wide technical work.Copyright