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M a r c h 2 0 1 0

RFQ: The quest forautomation expands

A little help from EOAT keepsa program in the U.S.

12 30Determining conductivity

with DOE software

16

plasticstoday.com/imm

Massivemachining,mega moldsTriangle Tool makes

engineering marvels26
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ENGEL quality parts shippedin 24 hours.

Whether you need a quality part, a custom retro t or acomplete refurbishment, ENGEL has the expert personneland the right parts to keep your production up to speed.

With a huge in-stock inventory, most parts areshipped within 24 hours. And when your machine needsa retro t or refurbishment, ENGEL provides the engineering,parts, assembly and installation to deliver like-newperformance. Maximizing performance, maximizing yourinvestmentthats our ENGEL.

ENGEL MACHINERY INC .3740 Board Road, York, PA 17406

Tel. 717 764 6818, Fax 717 764 [email protected], www.engelglobal.com/naCanada: Tel. 519 836 0220Mexico: Tel. 011 52 442 153 10 80

Its like having an ENGELparts department right in your facility.

Nobody knows your equipments

parts and components better thanEngel. Were here to make sureyou get the most out of yourinvestment. Thats our commitmentto you. I personally stand behind it.

Mark SankovitchPresident, ENGEL North America
mailto:[email protected]://www.engelglobal.com/nahttp://www.engelglobal.com/namailto:[email protected]


3/44MARCH 2011 plasticstoday.com/imm INJECTION MOLDING 3

MANAGEMENT Lead | Sell | Market

DESIGN Create | Analyze | Spec

MORE IN AUTOMATION, TOOL TECH, PAGE 30

MANUFACTURING Shoot | Shape | Ship

ALSO IN THIS I SSUE

30 Automation, tool tech keep personal care productstateside A Washington state molder keeps an OEMcustomer onshore with quick ROI in a high-tech cell.

32 Leveling the playing feld with a policy manual,Part 1: Setting up the manual No one will protect your

business but you, so put your policies in writing.

8 Market Snapshot | Home & garden Even if the buyersarent out there, homeowners are renovating.

12 FEATURE RFQ: Molder in search o exibleautomation solutions Walk through the quoting processwith our imaginary injection molder as it specs systems tobecome more competitive, but not to reduce headcount.

16 Design o Experiments helps optimize injectionmolding o conductive compounds Analyzing effects of molding with carbon nanotube additives using DOE software.

23 The Troubleshooter | The simple fx or crackedparts Two ways to avoid those annoying cracks in nylon.

26 FEATURE Plant Tour | Big molds make or bigbusiness A visit to Triangle Tool Corp. in Milwaukee, WI.

5 Setup 6 Short Shots36 Product Launch38 Classieds

40 Industry Events40 Advertiser Index41 Parting Shots

41

23

20

M a r c h 2 0 1 1V o l . 1 9 , N o . 2

Im not waving the flag; thats just costsavings and service, not patriotism.

8

TOOLING Engineer | Build | Maintain

20 The Materials Analyst | Melt ow rate revisited Part 1 Materials expert Michael Sepe gives the beginning of everything you need to know about MFR.


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Now at

plasticstoday.com/imm

4 INJECTION MOLDING plasticstoday.com/imm MARCH 2011

Registered trademark of UBM Canon.Annual subscription: $150.00. Two years: $250.00.2011 by UBM Canon. All rights reserved.

Plasticstoday.com is brought to you by:

Shocking development: Projectile Tasercartridge made with 56 micromoldedparts, 20 molds, and on-target collaboration

Launched with a shotgun, a Taser cartridgethat comes with boosted power and rangecapacity required the design and manufac-turing expertise of a U.S. molder and mold-maker to create a highly complex product

that can take down the bad guys.plasticstoday.com/imm/articles/projectile-taser

OEM: Do you know what the condition ofyour tooling is costing you?Out of sight, out of mind: Once molds begin running at amolders facility, many OEMs just forget them. They knowlittle about molds they built and less about those they inheritvia acquisitions. Why bother? Well, hundreds of thousands of reasons actually, each worth a dollar.plasticstoday.com/articles/oem-do-you-know-what-condition-your-tooling-costing-you

AMBA member starts iPad for WoundedWarriors campaignWhen Tim Bartz, VP of opera-tions for Mold Craft Inc. (Willer-nie, MN), heard about the workthat Will Byers, a veteran of theIraq war, does with members of the 3/5th Black Horse Battalionwho have been wounded inAfghanistan, he knew he had tohelp out somehow.plasticstoday.com/articles/amba-member-starts-ipad-wounded-warriors-campaign

Blog: Whats it take to be a successfulmolder or moldmaker?Every day author Clare Goldsberry gets auction notices inher e-mail inbox, and looking through the photographs of theshops that are going out of business, she wonders, What doesit take to be a successful molder or mold manufacturer?plasticstoday.com/blogs/whats-it-take-be-successful-molder-or-moldmaker

S U B S C R I B E R S E RV I C E

KMPS [email protected]

Box 47461 Plymouth, MN 55447 Ph: (800) 869-6882 Fax: (866) 658-6156

L I S T R E N TA L S

JENNIFER FELLING Postal lists j.felling@statlistics (203) 778-8700, ext. 138TURK HASSAN E-lists t.hassan@statlistics (203) 778-8700, ext. 144

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S A L E S

Your guide to betterclient relationships:

The policy manualContributor Bill Tobin gives you the reasonswhy you should have one, and you can down-load a sample manual to get you started.plasticstoday.com/imm/articles/policy-manual-1

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T h o u g h t s f r o m t h e E d i t o rS E T U P

MARCH 2011 plasticstoday.com/imm INJECTION MOLDING 5

Rob Neilley, Editor in Chief [email protected]

After a few wrenching years, we may seem to bestabilizing. But honestly, I dont think so.

T here have been a number of positive economic stories in our business reportedrecently. Granted, its a small number, but compared with the virtual absence of any good news from late 2008 until early 2010, the good news stories feel like thefirst days of fresh spring air after a bitter winter.

And though I dont think the molding business is stabilizingafter all, the pace of

change is still acceleratingwe now seem to have a chance to breathe normally, atleast for a bit. Unfortunately, that reminds of my school track coach. When he sawus runners begin to breathe normally, he immediately started the next phase of theworkout. Thats about the way business goes nowa virtual nonstop workout.

For those who build molds and/or mold plastics, a fast pace and high pressurearent all that much of a change. From my first days in the business, one thing thatalways impressed me about molders and moldmakers is how well they handle themany and widely varying aspects of their businesses.

Its impossible to run out of things to work on, or to avoid moving from statisti-cal analysis to something as different as fixing a fitting or a client meeting. Our jobhere at IMM has always been to help you do all those different things, and this issueexemplifies the range of tasks we work on together.

An excellent example is the Market Snapshot by Clare Goldsberry (p. 8) cover-

The good news economic

stories feel like the first

days of fresh spring air

after a bitter winter.

ing the home and garden markets. Wait, isnt housing in a coma? Not completely.Then, in the Design section (p. 16) we look over the shoulder of a compounder searching for optimum material conductivity using DOE software that not onlymakes the simulation process faster, but even makes it easier to see.

In a different technology vein, our RFQ feature (p. 12) asks suppliers to help anIMMaginary molding shop become more competitive by using the latest automationtoolsand they rise to the challenge. The Materials Analyst column by Mike Sepe(p. 20) takes on the well-known issue of melt flow rate, which, as you will learn,isnt that well known at all.

Not to neglect the nontechnological parts of the business, on p. 30 a Washingtonstate molder tells how a customer was convinced to move from individual machinesto a high-tech production cell and mold by the ROI analysis. And that brought the

job back from offshore. The best part of competition is the victory celebration.

The article starting on p. 32 (Leveling the field with a policy manual) couldhelp you win another competition: the one you have with clients over who is or was supposed to do something, how much it ought to cost, and who pays for it.Having a great relationship with a client is always the right thing to do. Having thedetails in writing can keep a good relationship on track. To help get you going, youcan download a model policy manual from our website.

Happy reading, and remember to breathe.

CAN WE JUSTCATCH OURBREATH?
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F r o m t h e I n d u s t r y F l o o rSHORT SHOTS

Find more news atplasticstoday.com/imm.


C. Brewer buysIM facilityMedical custom molder andmoldmaker C. Brewer Co.announced at the MedicalDesign & Manufacturing(MD&M) show in Anaheim,CA that it has acquired aninjection molding facil-ity of San Diego, CA-basedCareFusion, a medical de-

vice company. The facilityoperates in 30,000 ft 2 in On-tario, CA, and has 15 mold-ing machines. It was previ-ously operated by MedegenInc. until that companyspurchase in 2010 by CareFu-sion. The stand-alone build-ing is ISO 13485 certifiedwith a Class 8 cleanroomthat Brewer says accom-modates custom productassembly, molding, andspecial handling of partssensitive to bioburden.

Hoffer Plasticsadds four pressesCustom molder Hoffer Plas-tics (Elgin, IL) has invested$1.6 million in cash in fournew injection machines andautomation to accommo-date new packaging busi-ness from Procter & Gam-ble, Kraft, and Johnson &Johnson. The machines,which include three 470-tonDemag Systec presses withWittmann Battenfeld robotsand an extended daylight600-ton KraussMaffei, giveHoffer a total of 97 machinesranging in clamp force from35-650 tons.

MICROSHOTS

The machinery glut, which was fed by the

markets excesses toward the turn of thecentury and then the industry consolida-tion that followed, has largely subsided, withthe latest upturn in business prompting thepurchase of new equipment. In the fourthquarter of 2010, we saw, more so than at anyother time, a resurgence of replacement ma-chine programs starting to take hold, saysMark Sankovitch, CEO of injection mold-ing machine and automation supplier EngelNorth America (York, PA).

For some time, molders could turn tothe used machinery market to build capac-ity, finding ample supplies of newer technol-ogy that were well priced. There were a lotof really good pieces of equipment that hadvery low hours in 2002, 2003, all the way upto probably last year, and people said, Hey,I can buy a used machine that has very fewhours on it, and its state-of-the-art technol-ogy, but all of thats finally been absorbed,says Sankovitch.

Within automotive, Sankovitch notes thatin larger machines (1000 tons plus of clampforce), suppliers had been running presseswith 15, 20, or more years on them, makingsourcing of replacement parts a challenge, butone that was possible when older machinescould be cannibalized for spare components.Those days seem to have passed.

According to the Society of the PlasticsIndustrys (SPI) Committee on EquipmentStatistics (CES), machinery sales peaked in2000, reaching 6420, before settling at 3585in 2001 and 3536 in 2002. For 2005, 3706

machines were shipped, which was down2% from 2004. In recent years, SPI has onlyreleased percentages related to machinerysales, vs. units. In the most recent reportthats been published on its website, SPIsaid the number of injection molding ma-chinery units shipped in Q3 2008 decreased26% from the number shipped in Q3 2007and was 18% lower than the number of unitsshipped in Q2 2008.

While final numbers for 2010 are not out,its safe to say the delivery of injection mold-

ing machines in North America reboundedstrongly last year, with some optimism that

the momentum will continue in 2011.Browsing the websites of plastics equip-

ment resellers shows that while some usedmachines remain available, there is no lon-ger a surfeit of newer-model presses. Stopol(Solon, OH) showed 407 injection moldingmachines available, ranging in vintage from1968-2010 (only one 10, a Hi-More), witha preponderance of equipment coming fromthe mid- to late 90s. The tonnage range was15-3000. John Muzyczka, Stopol president,says his inventory today is about one-thirdwhat it was three years ago, with very robustbuyer interest in presses. Buyers are call-ing daily looking for inventory, Muzyczkasays. Its 6:20 p.m. here in Ohio and Im

just wrapping up my day. Its not hard to sellmachines right now; its hard to find them.

Hunter Plastics, meanwhile, showed aninventory of 19 used horizontal presses, rang-ing from 40-2755 tons and from 1993-2004,with five vertical machines. Kevin Murphyof used metalworking machinery site GreatAmerican Equipment Co. (Cincinnati, OH)has seen a change in his business selling CNCmachining and turning centers. There hasbeen a big shift in that market with low sup-ply and higher prices, Murphy says.

Sankovitch believes that going forward,the North American market for injection

molding machines should settle somewherein the range of 2000-3000 machines/year.

Used machinery market runs dry

Calling the machine a real rare nd in this

state of tight inventories, this 2007 DemagModel HT 300/635-2800 injection moldingmachine sold quickly for Stopol, according tocompany president Joe Muzyczka, with deliv-ery to a new shop in late February.
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SHORT SHOTS

Nypro invests in renewableenergy at NC plant

Global contract manufacturer Nypro Inc. (based in Clinton,

MA) will reduce energy usage at its packaging/healthcareinjection molding and assembly facility in North Carolina witha renewable energy installation that will be one of the largestcommercial projects of its type in the state.

According to Paul Kayser, group president of Nypro Pack-aging, this renewable energy installation will be one of the firstmajor renewable energy investments in the plastics industry.There are two key elements to our renewable energy project,says Kayser. First, we will install a solar farm covering the roof of our 150,000-ft 2 facility in Mebane, NC, which will generatea significant portion of the energy required to power the opera-tion. Additionally, we will install wind turbines adjacent to our plant, providing additional energy to power the facility.

The total investment will exceed seven figures, though Ny-pro didnt provide the exact amount. Kayser notes that the ini-tial project is a pilot program to determine the most feasiblemethod of adapting renewable energy to plastics manufacturing.Our long-term goal is for all of our Nypro Packaging opera-tions to be powered by renewable energy, he states.

Molder PTI Engineered Plastics launchesdesign and development rm

Noting that, Too often, new product ideas are compromised at

the point of production, Mark Rathbone, founder/CEO of PTIEngineered Plastics (Macomb, MI), announced the startup of PTIDesign, a stand-alone rm that will deliver a full range of productdesign and development services, bolstered by in-depth knowl-edge and experience with DFMdesign for manufacturability.

PTI EP has provided its medical, automotive, electronics, con-sumer, aerospace, and defense clients with in-house design sup-port incorporating DFM throughout its 25 years in business. Thecompany saw a need for an independent rm that could focus andexpand that service for both new and current clients.

PTI Design will occupy separate ofce space on the top oorof the 115,000-ft 2 building in Macomb that PTI EP inaugurated two

years ago, and will have an initial staff of four experienced designand manufacturing professionals. John Budreau, PTI EPs execu-tive director, says two of them are industrial designers and theother two are strong in mechanical engineering, including hands-on work in molding and designing for manufacturability. Budreausays the new company comes from the need for the supplier tocarry more of the front end of the product development chain.

Whitepapers from PlasticsToday.com can help.

Become the knowledge maven at your company. Whitepaperskeep you on top of the latest in plastics technology. You andyour team can access FREE technology updates on automation,processing techniques, machinery, materials, and more. Heres asampling of a few current whitepapers on our site:

Optimizing better mold temperature control for better productsl

Using bar coding to improve efciencyl

Design guidelines for thermoplastic vulcanizatesl

Industrial energy optimization: Managing energy consumption forlhigher protability

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L e a d | S e l l | M a r k e tM A N A G E M E N T

MarketSnapshot


T he December 2010 CommerceDept. report on new housingsales provided some signs of hope for homebuilders. Sales of new sin-gle-family houses in December were at aseasonally adjusted annual rate of 329,000,according to estimates released jointly on

Jan. 26 by the U.S. Census Bureau and theDept. of Housing & Urban Development.This is 17.5% above the revised Novem-ber rate of 280,000, but 17.0% below theDecember 2009 estimate of 356,000.

After six very tough months, thehousing market ended the year on an up-beat note, with signs of stabilization be-ginning to take hold in many markets,says Bob Nielsen, chairman of the Na-tional Assn. of Home Builders (NAHB)and a homebuilder from Reno, NV.That said, the nationwide inventory of

new homes for sale is now at its thinnestlevel in more than 40 years. This is a signthat many builders still cannot obtain thecredit they need to meet anticipated im-provements in buyer demand in 2011.

The average sales price of new housessold in December 2010 was $291,400.An estimated 321,000 new homes weresold in 2010, which was 14.2% below the2009 figure of 375,000.

For remodelers, the NAHBs Re-modeling Market Index (RMI) edged up

to 41.5 in Q4 2010, compared to 40.8in Q3. An RMI below 50 indicates thatmore remodelers say the market is lower

compared to the prior quarter than re-port it is higher. The RMI has been run-ning below 50 since Q4 2005.

Remodeling activity has been risingslowly since the first quarter of 2010. Ex-pected improvements in the job marketand the overall economy are beginningto increase homeowners confidenceand remodelers are seeing indicationsthat business will pick up, says DavidCrowe, chief economist for the NAHB.

Molded polymer shakesand shingles catching onPolymer materials are not new to thehomebuilding industry, as conventional

extruded vinyl siding has been around for nearly three decades. However, injectionmolded roofing materials, fairly new tothe market, are being readily accepted bythe industry. Ray Rosewell, president of DaVinci Roofscapes (Kansas City, KS),says that polymers are generally acceptedby builders and architects today becausethey are used in so many different areason a homes exterior.

Its not a big issue anymore in havingto sell the idea that polymers are the rightmaterials for building applications, henotes. Some acceptance problems exist inareas where there was an alternative mate-rial that didnt hold up well in certain

The housing market remains sluggish and home prices continue to fall, but its not all bad news. Newhome building is picking up a bit, and many homeowners have decided to stay put and use this econoenvironment to remodel, refresh, and revive their homes.Clare Goldsberry

HOME & GARDEN

West

*An RMI below 50 indicates that more remodelers report market activity is lower compared to the prior quarter than report it is higher.

Source: National Assn. of Home Builders

Q441.5

Q340.8

Q454.3

Q344.9

Q4

38.8

Q341.6

Midwest

Q445.8

Q342.3

U.S.

South

NortheastQ3

49.3 Q439.7

Remodeling activity among homeowners showed signs of improvement during Q42010, and remodelers expect market gains during 2011 in most regions of the countryas homeowners sit out the continuing slide in home prices.

Remodeling Market Index
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9/44

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Phone: 973.257.1999 Email: [email protected] Website: www.asaclean.com

Maximize the cleaning of your injection molding machines and extruders by choosing ASACLEAN,

the purging compound where 100% of the product is a true purging agent. Cleaning your equipment shouldnt be a hit or miss chore, so let ASACLEAN prove that there is adifference with the power in every pellet.
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10/44

MANAGEMENTLead | Sell | Market


climates or under certain conditions or ap-plications, and it created problems. Thatswhy we moved away from the term syn-thetic, and call our product polymer.

People are familiar with polymer building materials with products likeTrex decking, vinyl windows, and ex-truded trim products, and the fact thatthese products dont fade and are low-maintenance, Rosewell continues.There are so many positives to polymer products that people not only accept it,but actually seek it out.

DaVinci molds its own products, in-cluding its Bellafort and Valor polymer slate. Rosewell explains that DaVinciRoofscapes increased its capacity by 20%last year to meet demand for the com-panys products, including adding equip-ment and bringing on two new stackmolds. Da Vinci subs out the mold manu-facturing, but does its own compoundingof materials with color, UV, and FR ad-

ditives, and has devel-oped a process tech-nology that allowsworkers to change

from one color toanother inline.

At this yearsI n t e r n a t i o n a lBuilders Show,DaVinci Roofscapesintroduced a vari-ety of new colors toits product lineup.People are becomingmore discerning withrespect to color, saysRosewell. Theres al-ways been a lot of em-phasis on interior color, but we see morepeople looking toward exterior color asoutdoor living space becomes the norm.The alternative polymer products offer that.

Lawn and gardenCurb appeal is a big deal, and prod-

ucts for lawn and gardencontinue to be a hit

with consumers.What consumerswant are productsthat help con-serve water, and

make lawn/gardencare easier and less

time consuming. TheU.S. is the dominantproducer of lawn andgarden equipment,with 2008 shipmentsof $9 billion and ex-ports of nearly $500

million. The residential market account-ed for 60% of power lawn and gardenequipment, according to The FreedoniaGroup, a Cleveland, OH-based industrialmarket research firm.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (Marysville,OH) is the largest U.S. supplier of lawnand garden products. The company re-ported fiscal Q1 sales of $230.2 millionfor the period ending Jan. 1, 2011. Con-sumer activity in lawn renovation proj-ects was up 75%, led by a 90% increasein consumer grass seed purchases, a 50%increase in Turf Builder Starter lawn fer-tilizer, and more than a 30% increase inlawn soils.

All of this activity in growing green,lush lawns inevitably leads to lawn mow-ing, and naturally lawnmowers representthe largest product segment in this mar-ket. The Toro Co. (Bloomington, MN)

had fiscal 2010 (ended Oct. 31, 2010)net earnings of $92.3 million. Quarterlysales increased 17%, and sales for the year grew 11% to $1.7 billion, with double-digit growth in both professional andresidential segments. Michael J. Hoff-man, chairman and CEO of Toro, saysthe results reflect a return to change inthe right direction.

The companys 2010 activities in-cluded building a new manufacturing fa-cility in Eastern Europe to serve increas-

ing agricultural demands in that region.On Jan. 17, 2011, Toro announced ithad acquired certain assets from Unique

Rain Birds DAS-ASVF Series SureFlow automatic anti-siphon valvehelps homeowners save water.
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11/44

MANAGEMENTLead | Sell | Market


Lighting Systems (Escondido, CA), amanufacturer of professionally installedlandscape lighting fixtures and transform-ers for residential and commercial use.The acquisition will be with Toros ir-rigation business in Riverside, CA.

Irrigation is a critical component of the lawn and garden market, and home-owners are seeking water conservationmeasures. Azusa, CA-based Rain Bird,a privately held manufacturer of profes-sional and residential irrigation/sprinkler systems, introduced new weather-basedlandscape watering technology gadgetsto help homeowners reduce water waste.These products range from weather-based smart controllers that adjust sprin-kler operation according to current andhistorical weather data to wireless rainand freeze sensors and moisture sensorsthat deliver real-time information on soil

condition. Each of these new products isdesigned to be used in residential lawnsand gardens, and can help homeownerscut outdoor water use by up to 70%.

Ames True Temper makes a variety of molded lawn and garden products such asits ReelEasy hose reels. These include theReelEasy Bench-style, a deck-style hosereel with a swivel base, and a large-ca-pacity ReelEasy Designer Series polymer hose reel in a wrought-iron design thatholds up to 225 ft of 5/8-inch-diameter

hose. In September 2010, Griffon Corp.,a diversified management and holdingcompany, bought Ames True Temper,

Clopay Building Products, and ClopayPlastics Products.

Marketing to the

right audienceThe use of polymer materials in homebuilding is becoming increasingly moreprevalent. As consumers read about thesealternative products and their benefitsover traditional building materials, theyare accepting them.

DaVincis Rosewell says his com-pany markets to architects, builders,and homeowners. With respect to re-placement roofs, the homeowners are adefinite target for us, he says. Just asimportant, however, is marketing to theroofing contractors. They are the gate-keepers, because they will be the peopleto sit down with the homeowner to talkabout the roof. The homeowner can say,I read about this product, but if a con-tractor doesnt know about it or if he has

a negative perception of the product, hecan undo the sale.

To help with acceptance among con-tractors, many manufacturers of alternative

building products make installation of thenew products as much like the installationof the traditional building product as theycan. We work hard with the contractorsthrough our loyalty program, and we re-cruit them and make them aware of theproducts advantages, and provide trainingto contractors in installation techniques,adds Rosewell. With new homes, archi-tects, homeowners, builders, and roofingconsultants all influence the decision mak-ing, and we market our message to all of those audiences. a

Ames TrueTempers ReelEasy DesignerSeries polymer hose reel offers the lookof wrought iron in molded plastic.

DaVinci Roofscapeswww.davinciroofscapes.com

National Assn. of Home Builderswww.nahb.org

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12/4412 INJECTION MOLDING plasticstoday.com/imm MARCH 2011

Suppliers respond:

Arburg Inc. (Newington, CT)Arburg would be delighted to support you in automating your production processes. We supply a wide range of hydraulic,hybrid, and electric injection molding machines from 14-550US tons. We also offer a variety of robotic systems, which aredeveloped and produced in-house and can be fully integratedin our central Selogica control system. Our project departmentprovides expert advice and designs complex systems, includingperipherals, specifically to your requirements on a modular ba-

sis. Responsibility for each turnkey solution, in which upstreamand downstream steps can be integrated, rests completely withusfrom consulting and planning through to implementationand commissioning.

As the products you manufacture include household articlesthat require postprocessing and quality control, we recommendautomation using a flexible six-axis robotic system, which en-ables significant cycle time reductions. One example of such asolution is a production cell that produces thermoset insulat-ing rails for domestic irons. The robotic system removes theparts and transfers them to the subsequent stations. Thanks to itscomplex 3D movements, deburring can be performed rapidly

and reliably. The device then transports the finished parts for optical quality monitoring and final functional checking beforestacking them in a space-saving manner.

Because Arburg has implemented the intuitive graphical user interface of the Selogica control system in the robotic system,

your installation technicians can independently program andflexibly modify the movement sequences as necessary, withoutprior specialized knowledge.

For many applications, the linear Multilift robotic system isan interesting alternative. For one customer, for example, we

RFQ:

Arburg says its exible six-axis robotic system reduces cycletimes signicantly and can perform complex 3D movementsoften needed for postprocessing and quality control.

D ear aut om at ion solut ions v end or :Id aho Mold ing & Mold C or p. ( IMM) is a m ed ium -sc ale in j ec -

t ion m old ing shop oper a t ing 4 5 pr esses r anging in t onnage

f r om 55-110 0 t ons. W e m old a v ar ie t y of pr od uc t s inc lud ing

w r it ing inst r um ent s , housew ar es , f ur nit ur e , and ev en som e

elec t r ic al and e lec t r onic c om ponent s r equir ing inser t m old -

ing. W hile w e d o hav e a c er t a in lev e l of aut om at ion on som e

of our pr esses, be it s im ple spr ue pic k er s or C ar t esian r obot s

in t he c ase of sensit iv e par t s, w e ar e inc r easingly f ac ing c om -

pet it ion not only f r om of f shor e but also d om est ic ally d ue t o

our r e la t iv ely r em ot e loc at ion. As suc h, w e ar e ac t iv e ly c on-

sid er ing inv est ing in aut om at ion c ells f or subassem bly and

pac k aging. D on t w or r y ! W e d on t plan t o lay any one of f . W e see our

v ent ur e int o higher lev e ls of aut om at ion as a m eans of im -

pr ov ing qualit y and ex pand ing our business. So w hat c an y ou

of f er m e in t er m s of solut ions, be t hey d em old ing, s t ac k ing,

and box ing of housew ar es or hand ling of c om plex inser t -

m old ed elec t r onic c om ponent s t hat m ight r equir e post m old

m ac hining, QC c hec k s, and pac k ing? Y our s t r uly ,W ill Muld er , C E O Id aho Mold ing & Mold C or p.

Molder in search of flexible automation

solutions

Our in-house injection molder is in need of someassistance in introducing the latest productivity-enhancing shop oor automation technology.Stephen Moore

There is much more to each of these responses; nd it atplasticstoday.com/imm/articles/RFQ-0311 .
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13/44MARCH 2011 plasticstoday.com/imm INJECTION MOLDING 13

RFQ: AUTOMATION

integrated a Multilift V equipped with a complex gripper into aproduction cell. This removes and positions the individual partsof a folding crate and assembles it simultaneously with the in-

jection molding process. This fully automatic solution achieveshuge time savings.

Engel (Schwertberg, Austria)The trend to a higher level of automation in injection mold-ing continues to spread. This is driven not only by increasingcost pressure and global competition, but also by increasinglystricter quality requirements and the need for comprehensivedocumentation of the overall process.

In our quotation, we reference an intelligent automation so-lution at Zehdenick Innovative Metall- und KunststofftechnikGmbH, which manufactures printed circuit boards for the auto-motive industry. This is a first-class reference for Idaho Molding& Mold, because both companies are about the same size andseek to achieve similar objectives with their investments.

The highly integrated production cell was supplied by En-gel as a turnkey system. It comprises two Engel insert injectionmolding machines with vertical configurations, a multiple-axisindustrial robot, an Engel pick-and-place robot, processing sta-

tions for the metal components, quality assurance equipment,and packaging and pellet handling systems.The process starts by feeding in the punched sheets (right

in the picture above). The contact rails to be overmolded areprepared on a punching and bending machine, and fed in to anEngel insert 200V/60-type molding machine. Following thefirst injection process, the premolded parts are stamped clear of the contact rails. The Engel pick-and-place robot takes theparts off the mold and hands them over to the six-axis robotwhile maintaining the right orientation for the second injectionmolding process. This robot, a Kuka KR-16, insert-places theparts into a 2+2-cavity mold on an Engel insert 330V/90-TR

injection machine.After injection molding, the multiple-axis robot takes off the molded parts and feeds them to the quality control station.

They then pass through electrical functional testing and a visualcheck of the parts by means of a camera. The test results areforwarded to central data management. The good parts are de-

posited directly on plastic trays by the robot for packing, and therobot also sorts the parts into left and right in this step.

Sepro America LLC(Pittsburgh, PA)

You are quite right when you suggest that the benefits of robot-ic automation are not derived solely from manpower reduction.In fact, your system can pay for itself quickly even if staffinglevels remain the same.

Automation will allow you to gain better control of your process, eliminating human-related inconsistencies, not onlypotentially shortening your current cycle times, but, more im-portantly, ensuring consistent cycle times, improving part qual-ity, and preventing part damage that could occur during partejection, secondary handling, assembly, and packing. You caneven integrate machine vision and other QC controls into theautomation system.

You say you produce a wide variety of parts and compo-nents that range from simple to complex. We would be happyto analyze each of those applications in detail, gathering criticalinformation on the molding machines and tooling, cycle timeexpectations, the size, shape, and weight of the parts, number of secondary functions to be performed, and specific attributes thatcontribute to the end quality and profitability of those products.With this information we can provide you with the right solu-tion and an attractive return on investment.

As a starting point, let me describe a turnkey system that wouldbe required to automate the handling of your electronic compo-

nents, including the feeding and loading of inserts, removal of finished molded parts, postmold cavity separation and visual QCinspection, and finally the packing of the molded parts.

Required equipment

Insert feed module: feeder bowl and insert escapement track Three- or five-axis servo Cartesian beam robot Robot mounting riser

Two vertical

presses combinewith metalwork-

ing and inspectionsystems to form a

turnkey multi-robot automatedsystem for circuit

board production.Compared to a robot ofcomparable size in the

existing Sepro Generation 4(G4) range, the S5-35 offersa standard payload of 15 kg

(33 lb), a 25% increase.


14/4414 INJECTION MOLDING plasticstoday.com/imm MARCH 2011

RFQ: AUTOMATION

End-of-arm tool (EOAT) for the placement of inserts andremoval of finished parts QC Station with proximity sensors for insert verification

Packaging station on conveyor Equipment safety guarding enclosures to meet all SPI safetyand industry requirements

Wittmann Battenfeld Inc.(Torrington, CT)Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding robots and auto-mation solutions for your company. Please review our five ques-tions below. Your answers will help us learn more about your operations and allow us to provide you with specific solutions.1. What is the tonnage of the injection machines (IMs) thatneed automation? You mention that you have press sizes rang-ing from 55-1100 tons. We can offer unique solutions for eachtonnage size of machine.2. What are the ages of the IMs currently in use? It is importantto realize that the new technologies of IMs and robots, alongwith auxiliaries, can make a huge difference as to how you areable to process and ultimately compete.3. Do the current IMs have robot interfaces? Is there an over-head clearance issue? What type of power is available (230VAC or 480V AC)? Do you have additional air supply capacity?When looking at adding robots and IMs, along with auxiliaries,knowing what is needed can be a major concern and in somecases can cause delays to projects and extra cost. Your applicationand plant questionnaire is an important tool in conjunction with

your local representatives knowledge to reduce the surprises thatcan happen and keep the project on time and on budget.4. What cycle times are you running? As we determine thebest solution, knowing current and desired potential cycle timeis critical. Wittmann Battenfeld offers three choices in robotspeeds to customize the best options for your application.5. Do you have in-house maintenance or engineering for au-tomation and robotics? Wittmann Battenfeld injection moldingmachines and integrated robots are available with 24/7 Web

support. Technicians can see the machine and log into the con-trols for programming and troubleshooting help.

We would like the opportunity to visit your plant, meetwith you, and review your operations. This will help us identifythese and perhaps other potential time- and cost-saving items.

Yushin America Inc.(Cranston, RI)Thank you for contacting us regarding your higher-level auto-mation project. Yushin America offers a wide range of solutionsfor demolding and packaging needs. I agree with you that inorder for injection molding companies to stay competitive inthis highly competitive global market, they must reduce labor costs while maintaining a high level of quality and maximizingproductivity. This can be accomplished by implementing an au-tomated workcell beside the molding machine that will reducemanual labor and improve the overall manufacturing process.

The Yushin RC-II Series full servo traverse robot is a greatstarting point as the RC Series is designed to serve a wide rangeof injection molding machines sized from 15-5000 tons, andcan be configured as a single- or double-arm robot. Moldedparts can be pickedwith one arm andinserts placed intothe opposite side of the mold with theother.

The rigid robustconstruction of theRC-II robot pro-vides a huge increasein part extractionspeed and allows for vibration-free, pre-cise product pickingand placing. The RC Series robot is a general-purpose robot thatperforms high-speed takeout, elevating productivity levels tonew heights. High-precision repeatable positioning accuracy isessential for such functions as loading inserts into a mold or plac-

ing molded parts into tight-tolerance pockets of thermoformedtrays for final shipping or interdepartmental transport.The robot can be equipped with an NC servo wrist that

can flip or rotate end-of-arm tooling to very precise user-pro-grammed angles. The RC Series robot equipped with the NCservo wrist can have up to seven numerically controlled axes,giving range and flexibility to handle any of your downstreampackaging, assembly, or quality needs. a

Wittmann Battenfeldseeks more information

from IMM in order toprovide an optimum

automation solution.

Dual-arm robot from Yushin picks partsand places inserts.

Arburg Inc. | www.arburg.comEngel | www.engelglobal.com/naSepro America LLC | www.seproamerica.comWittmann Battenfeld Inc. | www.wittmann-ct.comYushin America Inc. | www.yushinamerica.com

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15/44

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C r e a t e | A n a l y z e | S p e cDESIGN


When performing experiments

on surface conductivity, a mate-

rial supplier found DOE software

provided answers quicker and

more efciently.Jerry Fireman,

edited by Rob Neilley

C onductive compounds such asplastic resins with carbon nanotubeadditives make it possible to combinestatic dissipation and electrostatic dis-charge (ESD) protection with the designfreedom of injection molding. A signifi-cant challenge of implementing carbonnanotubes is that the injection moldingconditions have a large effect on the re-sistivity of the finished product.

The RTP Co. (Winona, MN), whichcompounds custom engineered thermo-

plastics, recently used design of experi-ments (DOE) to determine which injec-tion molding process conditions wouldoptimize conductive properties for a par-ticular material. DOE made it possible toexplore the complete processing spaceand provided users with a formula to cal-culate the conditions that would deliver the required resistivity levels. The pre-dictive capabilities of DOE make it pos-sible to fully explore the processing win-dow in only 32 runs, says Ned Bryant,senior product development engineer atRTP.

A carbon nanotube loading of only1%-4% provides a thermoplastic com-pound with a uniform surface resistivityof 104-109 ohms/sq (m, in, etc.). Thislevel of loading also maintains the res-ins key physical properties, includingease of processing, shrink rate, impactstrength, and surface finish. Carbonnanotube compounds provide a moreuniform conductive surface and reduce

the hot spots found with carbon-fiber-filled compounds.

These structures also enable thin-wall molds to fill at lower temperatures.Nanotube compounds are ideally suitedfor wafer processing, disk-drive compo-nents, and cleanroom applications. Theyare beneficial in automotive applicationsneeding static discharge protection, suchas fuel system components. Other auto-motive uses are body attachments suchas mirror housings, door handles, andfuel filler doors, as well as wheel covers,bumpers, fenders, and interior parts.

Although the surface conductivity of finished carbon nanotube components ishighly dependent on the processing con-ditions, molders often dont have the timeto run the many experiments normallyneeded to optimize surface conductivity.When RTPs customers asked for guid-ance in this area, previously the com-pounder performed a series of experimentsfor customers that typically involved vary-

ing one factor at a time in order to evaluate its effect on conduc-tivity. These experiments pro-vided answers to limited ques-tions such as, What is the effectof mold temperature on surface

conductivity with all other con-ditions held constant?The assumption was being

made that mold temperaturedid not interact with any other variables, but these experimentsdid not determine whether or not this was actually true.These experiments were use-ful in solving limited questionsin isolation. However, they didnot address other important is-

sues such as, What are the bestmaterial processing conditionsthat will deliver the desired lev-

Design of Experiments helps optimize injection

molding of conductive compounds

Pareto chart

Rank

A. Mold temperature (170F-220F)B. Extruder barrel temperature (500F-580F)C. Backpressure (1%-10%)D. Injection speed (4-9 in/sec)E. Hold pressure (10%-40%)F. Hold time (6-15 seconds)

30.07

25.77

21.48

17.18

12.89

8.59

4.30

0.00

1

B

2

BD

3

D

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 22

t- Value limit 2.04841

Bonferroni limit 3.49121

t - V a

l u e o

f [ e f f e c

t ]

19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 3029 31

Pareto chart shows the impact of each factor.
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17/44

DESIGNCreate | Analyze | Spec

el of surface conductivity in the finishedproduct?

DOE software makes it

easier, faster, betterMore recently, RTP had begun usingDOE to map out the complete process-ing space in order to enable processorsto optimize molding conditions whiletaking into account second-order effects.DOE provides a solid estimate of the val-ue of independent variables in every pos-sible combination by varying the valuesof all the factors in parallel. This approachdetermines not just the main effects of each factor, but also the interactions be-tween the factors. DOE also requires far fewer experimental runs than the tradi-tional one-factor-at-a-time approach andmakes it possible to identify the optimalvalues for all factors in combination.

The statistical knowledge requiredto perform DOE from scratch can be an

obstacle to its use, says Bryant. I save aconsiderable amount of time and aggra-vation by using Design-Expert software[from Stat-Ease Inc., Minneapolis, MN]

to design and analyze the results of ex-periments. Design-Expert is easy touse yet can per-form many differ-ent types of exper-iments. Matchingthe right experi-mental methodto the problem athand helps increaseaccuracy while re-ducing the number of required experimental runs.

In a recent typical experiment, Bry-ant used DOE to determine the surfaceconductivity of an RTP electronics-grade polycarbonate/carbon nanotubecompound over an extensive range of

processing conditions. The goal was tohelp processors achieve optimal resultswith the material. The advantages of thenew material include the ability to use

thinner wall thicknesses and low spe-cific gravity, bothof which combineto reduce mate-rial costs by about5%-plus. The newmaterial also makesit possible to uselower p ro c e s s -ing temperatures,eliminates isotropiceffects, allows useof regrind to lower

material costs, and provides excellentsurface appearance, according to RTP.

Bryant selected a fractional factorial ex-perimental design that examines first- andsecond-order effects while requiring onlyhalf as many runs as a full-factorial ex-

DOE [shows] ourcustomers . . . whichprocess conditions

they need to focus onHOLDING PRECISELY

and which onesthey dont need to

worry about.

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18/44



periment. With six factors to be evaluated,a full factorial experiment would require2^6=64 runs while a fractional factorialrequires only 2^6-1=32 runs. The factors

evaluated in this experiment were:A. Mold temperature (170F-220F)B. Extruder barrel temperature (500F-580F)C. Backpressure (1%-10%)D. Injection speed (4-9 in/sec)E. Hold pressure (10%-40%)F. Hold time (6-15 seconds)

Design-Expert software generated theexperimental design by specifying theconditions for each of the 32 runs basedon the inputs provided by Bryant. RTPpersonnel then molded 3-by-5-inchplaques at each of the 32 run conditionsand measured the corresponding surfaceresistivity with a Voyager test meter.Bryant entered the responses from theexperiment into Design-Expert and thesoftware performed statistical analysis.

The Pareto chart on p. 16 shows howmuch of the variability in the responsecan be attributed to each of the factors.

The results show that the vast major-ity of the variability results from varyingthe extruder barrel temperature (B) and

A response surface map generated by Design-Expert software shows how extrudertemperature and injection speed affect surface resistivity, and the interaction of thetwo variables is reected in the curvature (twisted plane) of the graph.

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19/44



a lesser amount is due to the injectionspeed (D) and the interaction betweenextruder barrel temperature and injec-tion speed (BD). The other four variables

have minimal impact on the surface resis-tivity. This information in and of itself was extremely important because it tellsprocessors which variables they need tohold very precisely and which ones theycan safely ignore, Bryant said.

Design-Expert software also fit thedata to an equation that predicts the valueof surface resistivity for any values of thefactors. The equation below can be usedby processors to adjust processing condi-tions in order to obtain a wide range of surface resistivity.

Log surface resistivity = 53.75031- (0.0837 x extruder temperature)- (2.056 x injection speed)+ (0.00411 x extruder temperature x

injection speed)

On the opposite page is a responsesurface map showing how extruder temperature and injection speed af-fect surface resistivity. The interaction

of the two variables is reflected in thecurvature (twisted plane) of the graph.This type of graph provides an intui-tive understanding of the effect of thefactors on the response. It shows howa small change in extruder temperaturehas a big effect on surface resistivity,underlining the importance of hold-ing this variable within tight limits. Italso shows that as surface temperatureis increased past 560F and injectionspeed reduced below 5 in/sec, surfaceresistivity drops sharply as a result of amultiple-factor interaction.

DOE helps our customers set their processing conditions to achieve the re-quired levels of surface resistivity withour materials, Bryant says. It showsthem which process conditions they

need to focus on holding precisely andwhich ones they dont need to worryabout. DOE also provides significantstatistical information that helps demon-

strate its validity. We have been gettingvery positive feedback from our custom-ers concerning our ability to providethese results. They appreciate getting theinformation and immediately understandits significance. They achieve better re-sults faster and are more likely to use our materials. a

Jerry Fireman ( jerry_freman@strucin o.com)is president o marketing irm Struc-tured In ormation (NeedhamHeights, MA) and wrote thisarticle on behal o Stat-Ease.

RTP Co. | www.rtpcompany.comStat-Ease Inc. | www.statease.com


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20/44

The Materials

Analyst

C r e a t e | A n a l y z e | S p e cDESIGN


W hile new developments inmaterials and processingtechnology are exciting, itis easy to lose sight of fundamentals in aworld where the next big thing is alwaysat the center of everyones attention. Re-cently, we spent a lot of time reviewingthe subject of moisture analysis. This, inturn, is related to an important require-ment for processing many polymers: dry-

ing the resin prior to molding.Most processors recognize the needfor drying, but a lot of attention to detailgoes into ensuring adequately dried mate-rial, and many molders still resist the no-tion that it is important to document thevarious parameters associated with proper functioning of their drying equipment. Irecently spoke with a client who was toldby his molder that monitoring the dew-

point of their dryers was not necessarybecause they could just tell by lookingwhether or not the material was dry.

A similar lack of understanding is as-sociated with melt flow rate (MFR) test-ing. Equipment for testing MFR hasbeen around for almost as long as injec-tion molding machines, but there is atendency in the industry to view thesedevices, formally known as extrusionplastometers, as old technology.

Two-part solutionto spiking MFREarly in my career as a processor, our company received a rejection for brit-tle behavior in parts molded from clear polycarbonate (PC). The parts had anacceptable appear-ance and all criticaldimensions were toprint, but when theassembled productwas subjected to astandard impact test,the parts we had

molded cracked.Samples of theseparts were sent tothe resin supplier and it was deter-m in ed by MFRtesting that the ma-terial had been de-graded during the molding process. Thisconclusion was based on a comparisonof the MFR of molded parts to the as-sociated raw material. The raw material

had an MFR of 10.2 g/10 min and themolded parts produced a result of 19.7g/10 minan increase of 93%.

During a visit by the technical repre-sentative from our resin supplier to eval-uate the process, he explained that theMFR value was related inversely to theaverage molecular weight of the poly-mer. As the MFR increased, the averagepolymer chain length decreased. Shorter polymer chains provide less opportunityfor chain entanglement, an importantfactor in ensuring adequate ductility inthe material. Polycarbonate is thought of as a very impact-resistant material, but if not treated properly during processing,the polymer chains can be shortened ex-cessively, resulting in brittle behavior.

As we reviewed the process to lookfor causes of the degradation, we focusedon drying, the melt temperature of the

material in the bar-rel and the hot run-ner, the time thatthe material spent inthe molten state (of-ten referred to as theresidence time), andthe management of

regrind. If polymer degradation is oc-curring during pro-cessing, these arethe factors that con-tribute to the prob-lem. If more thanone of these is out

of bounds, the cumulative effect can begreater than the individual contributions.For example, wet material degrades muchfaster at a higher melt temperature than it

will at a lower melt temperature.As we went through the various as-pects of the process, we identified two

This series of articles is designed to help molders understand how a few analytical tools can help diagnose a part failure. Michael Sepe, our analyst and author, is an independent materials and processing consultant based in Sedona, AZ. Mike has provided analytical services to material suppliers, molders, and end users for 20-plus years. You can reach him at [email protected].

Part 122: Melt ow rate revisitedPart 1

Despite your protests, you probably dont know all there is toknow about MFR. This article will get you started down the pathto enlightenment, leading to good parts.

I recently spoke witha client who was

told by his molder thatmonitoring the

dewpoint of theirdryers was

NOT NECESSARY because they could

just tell by lookingwhether or not

the material was dry.

Cant get enough of this guy? Search

plasticstoday.com/imm for Materi-als Analyst to catch up on MichaelSepes column from previous issues.
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key areas of concern. One pertained toa need for more drying time when re-grind was used. The customer allowedfor a 20% level of regrind; however, the

nonuniformity of the regrind particles ascompared to the virgin pellets resulted ina less favorable surface-to-volume ratio.This meant that a longer drying time wasneeded to remove moisture from thematerial properly. Our dryers were sizedto allow for only the minimum amountof drying time recommended, and thiswas insufficient when using regrind.

The other issue had to do with our hot runner. The placement of the ther-mocouples in our system resulted in tem-perature readings that were significantlylower than the actual temperature of thematerial in the system. By replacing thetip heaters with components that pro-vided more accurate readings, we wereable to set our temperatures in the runner system to a level that avoided overheat-

ing the material. Subsequent MFR testssaw the MFR of the molded parts dropto 12.4 g/10 min, an increase relative tothe pellets of only 22%, and the impact

test problems disappeared.

Demonstrate your owntouch of geniusSuch tutelage from resin suppliers is rarethese days. But this experience inculcateda real awareness of how important mo-lecular weight is in determining polymer properties. As a result, the first piece of equipment that went into our materialslab was an MFR tester. We didnt evenhave to buy it; we found one gatheringdust in the quality control lab. It hadbeen purchased a few years earlier for the purpose of checking incoming lots of raw material with the idea that processvariation could be traced to fluctuationsin incoming material.

As we will show later, this was a poor

application for the instrument. But theability to correlate MFR results betweena material supplier and a processor is in-herently valuable, since it promotes bet-

ter communication between supplier and customer and it creates an awarenesswithin the molding operation of the im-portance of the measurement.

The instrument also provides a meansof testing molded parts so that the mold-ing process can be designed to ensureagainst polymer degradation, somethingthat cannot be visually detected. Know-ing the results of the process while partsare being made is far less costly than be-ing blindsided by a report from a materialsupplier or an independent laboratory thatinforms you that the product you madeand shipped months ago is not up to par.

Having worked with this method for most of a 35-year career, I am constant-ly surprised when I run into processors,many of them very capable and with

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good reputations in the industry,who do not understand the signifi-cance of the test and their role in itsoutcome. While MFR values ap-

pear on many material data sheets,the connection to molecular weightand the fact that this molecular weight can be influenced by processconditions seems to have eludedmany practitioners in the industry.Sometimes the level of understand-ing is so poor that there is a refusalto believe the numbers, much lessunderstand their significance.

In some ways, this is a curioussymptom of our high-tech, data-cluttered world. We would rather monitor 14 parameters on our resindryers than make an accurate mea-surement of the moisture contentof the resin. We are drawn to a strategyfor process control that records 64 vari-ables rather than focus on the four or fivethat actually matter. We would rather doSix Sigma than simple SPC charting. Butas Albert Einstein observed, Any intel-ligent fool can make things bigger andmore complex. It takes a touch of geniusand a lot of courage to move in the op-posite direction. As it happens, in thelong run, it also makes for a clearer andmore straightforward understanding of the world around us. Bewilderment andhazy thinking cost money.

So as old as the topic of melt flowrate may be, experience suggests thatwe still need to understand and use it.In this series of articles, we will look atthe significance of the measurement,

shortcomings and limitations of the test,misconceptions about the technique, anddetails of obtaining good data from theinstrument.

The MFR tester

Lets start with what the instrument actu-ally is and what it does. The photo showsa typical MFR tester. The hardware por-tion of the device consists of a heatedchamber with a center bore into whichthe sample material is loaded. The diam-

eter and finish of this bore are carefullyspelled out in ASTM D 1238 or ISO1133, both methods devoted to describ-

ing the procedures associated with thetest. The set temperature for any givenmaterial is specified and can range fromas low as 125C to as high as 400C, de-pending on the polymer being tested.

At the bottom of the cylinder is an in-sert called an orifice that contains an evensmaller hole through which the moltenmaterial must pass. Once a sufficientamount of material has been loaded intothe cylinder and properly compacted, itis preheated for a set amount of time toensure that it has been uniformly heated.Although a temperature control is used toset the appropriate temperature, an actualthermometer designed to read very smallchanges in the target temperature is alsoplaced into a hole in the heated chamber to confirm that the correct temperature

is achieved. In older instruments, mer-cury thermometers were used as theonly temperature reading. In the newer instruments being built today, the physi-cal thermometer is often used simply as acalibration tool for the digital readout.

A piston weighing 100g is then in-serted into the cylindrical bore of the in-strument from the top side and a weightis placed on top of the piston to achievethe specified constant load. This constantload is also a material-specific parameter.

Whenever an MFR value is quoted, itshould be accompanied by a notation thatspecifies the temperature and the load

used in performing the test. Thisis important because, for better or worse, many materials can be testedat multiple conditions. As we have

discussed in a previous article, theselected conditions for a given resincan have a substantial influence onthe numbers obtained.

Once the prescribed preheattime has been achieved, the test isstarted. It can be run in one of twoways. One method involves a con-stant time. Material being pushedout of the orifice by the force of theconstant load applied from above iscollected at regular intervals speci-fied by the method, and the massof these samples is converted to aresult given in g/10 min.

An alternative method involvesextruding a fixed volume of material,regulated by a sensor that starts the timer at a fixed point in the travel of the pistonand stops it once the piston has traveleda particular distance. The conversion of the raw data into the MFR result is a littlemore complicated using this approach, butit also allows for the calculation of a meltvolume flow rate (MVR), if necessary.This approach is becoming more popu-lar with material suppliers, and if you aregoing to make an apples-to-apples com-parison with a certification supplied by asupplier that uses MVR measurements, itpays to speak the same language.

The volumetric flow rate is actually aparameter that is more relevant to a deter-mination of the viscosity of the polymer.It factors out differences that may be due

only to the density of the material. Andbeing able to perform the test in this wayenables the measurement of melt density.This is an important parameter for flowsimulation software and it has some inter-esting and little-understood applications for determining the shot capacity of a moldingmachine that we will review later.

So this, in a nutshell, is how the deviceworks. In the next part of our article wewill discuss some details of sample prepa-ration, some housekeeping consider-

ations, and start to look at how the deviceshould be used and, perhaps more impor-tantly, how it should not be used. a

A basic melt ow rate tester (extrusion plastometer).
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E n g i n e e r | B u i l d | M a i n t a i nTO O L I N G

TheTroubleshooter


Icould hear a big truck coming downthe snow-covered road in front of my office. The driver had become a

friend and, like all of the others, likes toget my packages to me as early as possibleso he can get a cup of coffee and scratchthe ears of Jake, my black Labrador Re-triever, before hitting the road again.

My package this day was a small onecontaining two parts and a cold runner being fed by a heated sprue bushing. Iknew this molder well since we have

served on several SPE groups together.We have even participated in many sem-inars, but our topics are usually different.He speaks about materials and I discuss(what else) troubleshooting techniques.

The interesting part of this project isthat this single nylon part had replaced11 metal parts that used to be bolted,welded, or bonded together. This hadbeen a big cost savings for the molderscustomer but there were still a few bugsto work outmostly cracks in the areas

where the bearing section is attached tothe mounting bracket.These cracks would show up right af-

ter molding most of the time, but some-times they wouldnt appear until after assembly. The perception was that if thepart was going to crack, it would do sosometime in the two-week period rightafter molding.

I looked at the parts and runners un-der my lighted magnifier and could im-mediately see many sharp corners andedges that had cracked.

Checking measurementsThe dimensions of the runner, gates, andheated sprue cone looked pretty good.The full-round runner wasfairly uniform at 0.110 inch,the trapezoidal gates were0.040 inch deep by 0.060inch wide, and the cone shapebeing fed by the heated spruebushing measured 0.130 inchin diameter at the small endand 0.180 inch in diameter at the large endjust rightfor the heated sprue orifice of 0.125 inch.

The gating detail was curi-ous. The tooling engineer had attacheda block that measured 0.100 inch thick,

0.300 inch long, and 0.110 inch wide tothe outside wall of the bearing section. If this was a tab gate, it was the biggest oneI had seen on a 0.050-inch-thick wall. Imade a note to ask the tooling engineer what the purpose was for this small block.Maybe they removed it after molding, or possibly it was used for positioning thepart for assembly, but it did not reallyhurt the molding process, so I decided toforget about it for the time being.

I moved on to the gates and liked

what I saw. As I mentioned before, thegates on each of the two parts had a trap-ezoidal designbasically a subgate. This

design is one I wish more tooling engi-neers and toolmakers would incorporateinto their designs, as it can be used withmost materials and wont let you downor cast doubt on your abilities. The di-mensions of this subgate that fed into theblock or tab and then into the part wallwere more than generous enough for running unfilled nylon materials.

So far it looked like the sprue, runner,and gate designs would work well. Anejector pin attached to the main runner,

just 0.050 inch away from the subgates,did give me some concerns, however.

Since the subgate entered the part at a 30angle, this close proximity of the ejector

pin would not allow the subgate to pullout of the tunnel portion of the gate with-out being distorted during ejection.

This article continues our series of troubleshooting reports from one of the leading on-the-spot problem solvers in the molding industry. Consultant Bob Hatch of Bob Hatch & Assoc. (www.bobhatchonline.com) has more than 45 years of experience finding solutions to processing challenges. You can reach him at bob.hatchthetrouble [email protected].

Part 128: The simple x for cracked partsSometimes its the little things that cause big problems.

A lack of properradiuses is a common

cause of cracking.

Troubleshooters

notebook

Part/material: Nylon.

Tool: Two-cavity cold runner.

Symptoms/problem: Parts cracked withinthe rst two weeks after molding.

Solution: Radius all sharp corners andedges; moisturize the nylon parts.
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TOOLINGEngineer | Build | Maintain


As long as the material heats were care-fully watched, this might not be a seriousproblem. It just meant that automatic op-eration of the molding machine might be

risky and should not be attempted.I also made a note to remind the

molder to be sure this mold was be-ing run in a molding machine with ageneral-purpose nozzle feeding into theheated sprue bushing. The orifice in theGP nozzle would need to match the flowtube or bore diameter of the heated spruebushing. This was not a mold that shouldbe fed with a reverse-taper nylon nozzle.

Nothing to this point led me to thinkI had found the problem that had beencausing these parts to crack.

Next, I looked closely in those sharpcorners and sharp edges, finding 12 sharpedges and 10 sharp corners that were notradiused and only two sharp inside cor-ners with any radius at all.

For my simple radiusing test, I held amedium ballpoint pen at a 45 angle anddrew a line in each of the sharp areas. Adouble line, visible on the left part in thephoto, meant insufficient radiusing andtherefore impact and tensile weakness.

Finally, here was the reason for thepart cracking! Fortunately, adding radiusis not difficult for the toolmakers. Thequestion was, how much radius should beadded? The rule for a blending radius is toadd radius equal to 25% of the thicknessof the part wall being attached to, andfor an inside corner the radius amountshould equal 50% of the nominal walls.This means the radius amount required inthis part design would be between 0.0125

and 0.025 inch. From what I saw on thesesample parts, I decided to recommend all0.025-inch radiuses, unless this created afit and function problem.

Mysterious delayNow that we knew where the crackingwas coming from, why did it only occur within that two-week period immedi-ately after molding?

It seemed unusual to me that thismolder that I had known for so many

years would forget that moisturizing ny-lon parts right after molding is one of theways for those parts to become usable

prior to at least 41 days after molding.Many of the nylon manufacturers havethis information on their websites.

We used to just dump our nylon parts

into a tub of boiling water and leavethem to soak overnight, but this is notrecommended anymore. The materialmanufacturers would prefer that anyonemolding their nylon materials place theparts on a tray and heat them to a tem-perature of 100F or a different temper-ature of their choosing for at least twoweeks. Following this procedure reducesoperator safety issues and eliminates anytendency for the soaked parts to becomeunusually flexible.

This moisturizing procedure wouldincrease the parts impact strength byseveral points, cause the part dimensionsto grow ever so slightly, and cut in half the flex modulus or stiffness of the part.

If this moisturizing is not done artifi-cially, it will occur naturally just by leav-ing the parts in the normal atmosphere. Ittakes six months or so for these changesto happen outdoors or in a warehouse(quicker in the summer and slower in thewinter), but it will happen.

I had arrived at the finish line for thisproject. All I needed to tell the molder was to have the toolmakers add the miss-ing radiuses and moisturize the nylonafter molding. I called the molder andspent my typical half hour catching upand another half hour suggesting whathe needed to have done. He wanted toknow if the toolmakers could handle themoisturizing part of the corrective actionthat I passed on to him and I politely told

him it should probably be the responsi-bility of the maintenance area.Again, we have corrected the prob-

lem presented to us and, fortunately, itdid not put the total workload on thetoolroom. Sharing the responsibility of corrective action always puts a smile oneveryones face.

It was getting lateI had spent 5 or 6 hours on this projectso I decidedto take Jake to the dog park so he couldcatch up with all his friends. The deep

snow we had this winter has made it dif-ficult for us to get around easily, so thiswould be fun for both of us. a

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