Investigation of molding characteristics in injection compression molding according to molding conditions through birefringence

Lens and DVD require high quality of optical property. Conventional injection molded products contain high residual stress and this invokes birefringence since high cavity pressure and high temperature variation are involved in a molding process. Thus these products are often molded by injection compression molding in order to minimize the residual stress through reducing cavity pressure and uniform cavity pressure. In this study, molding parameters affecting molding quality such as property uniformity in injection compression molding were investigated through experiment. Molding quality deviations among the cavities in multi-cavity mold were also studied. Transparent resins, PC and PS were used in this study. Compression gap, compression speed, compression force, and compression delay time for processing variables in injection compression molding were applied in experiment. Compression force, compression delay time, and compression gap significantly affected the optical property of product. The degree of influence of process variable on the product quality was different in different resins. This implies that the optimal operational conditions in injection compression molding existed for each resin according to flow property.