Comparison of molding characteristics for multi-cavity molding in conventional injection molding and injection compression molding

Large residual stresses are remained in the conventional injection molded products because of the high cavity pressure in packing phase during injection molding process. Conventional injection molding (CIM) invokes distribution of cavity pressure and it has a limitation to obtain product with uniform physical property. Multi-cavity conventional injection molding contains quality deviation among the cavities since flow imbalance occurs during filling phase. Injection compression molding (ICM) is adopted to overcome these limitations of CIM. In this study, molding characteristics of CIM and ICM have been investigated using multi-cavity injection mold. Researches were performed by both experiment and computer simulation through observations of birefringence for transparent resins, polycarbonate and polystyrene in CIM and ICM. As a result, low and uniform birefringence and mold shrinkage were showed in the specimens by ICM that could give a uniform cavity pressure. Deviation of physical property among the specimens in multi-cavity mold shown in CIM was significantly reduced in the specimens by ICM. Through this study it was concluded that the ICM in multi-cavity molding was valid for molding products with uniform property in an individual cavity and also reduced property deviation among the cavities.