Abstract:
In an injection molding process, the mold parts can be moved relative to each other (separation of the mold parts shown as line  50 ). Injection starts as the mold parts are being moved towards each other (injection pressure shown as line  60 ). The movement of the mold parts stops briefly as injection is completed, and the mold parts are then fully closed.

Description:
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the present application are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a method of injection molding of plastic, and in particular to a method in which molten plastic is injected into a mold as the mold is closing. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    Injection molding is a very well-known method of forming articles from plastics. In a standard injection molding process, molten plastic is injected into a mold cavity formed between two mold halves, where it cools and hardens into the shape of the cavity. 
         [0006]    The standard process has certain disadvantages when used to form certain types of articles. For example, if the article to be formed has long thin parts, the injection pressure must be sufficient to force the molten plastic into the long thin parts of the mold cavity before the molten material solidifies. In turn, this high injection pressure will tend to force the mold halves apart, and so the clamping force needed to hold the mold halves together during injection must be increased. This increases the power requirements and thus the overall costs of the process. 
         [0007]    A variant of the standard process, which is more suitable for forming articles with long thin parts, is injection compression molding. In this process, the mold halves are brought close together, but are not completely closed. Molten material is injected into the open mold, and the mold halves are then clamped together. As the mold halves approach each other, the molten material is forced into the long thin parts of the cavity. Thus, the clamping force does not need to be sufficient to withstand the tendency of the injection pressure to push the mold halves apart, and the power requirements and cost of the procedure can be reduced. 
         [0008]    However, the entire charge of plastic material is injected into the mold while it is open. Whilst injection molding can be a very fast process, the injection of the entire charge takes a certain amount of time to complete, and during this time the first parts of the material to be injected are in contact with the mold parts, and cooling as a result of this contact. As it is necessary for the plastic to remain sufficiently fluid for it to take up the shape of the mold when the mold parts are moved towards each other at the end of the injection, it may be necessary to increase the temperature of the injected material, or provide some means of heating the mold to prevent unwanted solidification from occurring before the mold is closed. This can also increase power requirements and costs. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for molding articles from molten plastic material or the like in a two-part mold, the parts of which can be moved towards and away from each other, comprising the steps of: 
         [0010]    1) moving the mold parts towards each other; 
         [0011]    2) while the mold parts are approaching each other, commencing injection of molten plastics material into the mold; 
         [0012]    3) pausing the motion of the mold parts for a brief period while injection of molten plastics material into the mold continues; 
         [0013]    4) completing injection of molten plastics material into the mold; 
         [0014]    5) moving the mold parts towards each other into their closed position; and 
         [0015]    6) maintaining the mold parts in their closed position while the molten plastics material cools and solidifies. 
         [0016]    As the molten plastic is injected into the mold while it is closing, the overall cycle time can be reduced (as mold closing can take place at the same time as injection). Even a very small decrease in cycle time can lead to a significant improvement in output over the entire life of the process. 
         [0017]    Further, injecting molten plastic into an open mold is easier than injecting into a closed mold. Thus, the viscosity of the molten plastic can be lower, and the molten plastic can be delivered at a lower temperature, which reduces the heating requirements and thus the overall power requirements. 
         [0018]    In addition, as the plastic can be injected at a lower temperature, less cooling of the plastic required in order for it to solidify. Therefore, less cooling of the mold is required, which again reduces overall power requirements and leads to a reduced cycle time. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0019]    A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0020]      FIG. 1  is a graph showing various parameters in a standard injection molding process; and 
           [0021]      FIG. 2  is a graph showing parameters during a preferred embodiment of the process of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0022]      FIG. 1  is a graph showing the variation in time (measured along the x-axis in seconds) of four parameters during a conventional injection molding process. Specifically, the graph shows variation in mold part separation (line  10 ), injection pressure (line  20 ), injection screw displacement (line  30 ), and injection screw speed (line  40 ). 
         [0023]    As this is a conventional injection molding process, in which molten plastic material is injected into a closed mold, the mold part separation (line  10 ) is 0 at all times during the process. 
         [0024]    As the process starts, injection pressure (line  20 ) starts to increase. This leads to motion of the injection screw, shown by a decreasing injection screw displacement in line  30  and an increasing screw speed in line  40  at around 0.05 seconds. As the mold cavity fills with injected molten plastics material, the pressure rises, and the screw continues to move forward and accelerates in order to overcome this pressure. 
         [0025]    When the mold cavity is nearly full, the pressure maximises (at around 0.26 seconds). At this point, the screw speed is falling, and the screw is close to its final position. The screw continues to move forward slowly as the molten material cools and solidifies. 
         [0026]    The later steps of ejecting the cooled and solidified article from the mold are not shown. 
         [0027]      FIG. 2  is a graph showing the variation in time (measured along the x-axis in seconds) of four parameters during a preferred embodiment of the molding process of the invention. Again, the graph shows variation in mold part separation (line  50 ), injection pressure (line  60 ) and injection screw displacement (line  70 ), and this time also shows mold clamping force (line  80 ). The y-axis is scaled in millimetres and shows mold part separation. 
         [0028]    Injection commences at t=0 (the start of the process). At this point in time, the mold parts are separated by about 11 mm (see line  50  at its intersection with the y-axis); however, as can be seen by the slope of the line, the mold parts are already moving towards each other at t=0 (in other words, motion of the mold parts towards each other starts before the injection starts). 
         [0029]    Although this description will refer to “motion of the mold parts towards each other”, in practice, one mold part will be stationary while the other is pushed towards it. 
         [0030]    As injection commences at t=0, injection pressure (line  60 ) increases, and injection screw displacement (line  70 ) decreases. 
         [0031]    For around 0.18 seconds, molten plastics is injected into the mold while it is closing (as shown by the decreasing mold part separation in line  50 ). 
         [0032]    Then (in this embodiment at t=0.18), motion of the mold parts towards each other is stopped, so that line  50  becomes almost horizontal (with, in this case, a mold part separation of around 6.2 mm). However, injection of molten plastics material continues, as shown by the displacement of the injection screw (line  70 ). 
         [0033]    At about t=0.55 seconds the screw is fully forwards (so that the full charge of molten material has been injected), and the injection pressure drops to nearly zero. There is a small delay. 
         [0034]    At t=0.75 seconds, motion of the mold parts towards each other resumes. The mold parts are pushed towards each other for 0.25 seconds, and the mold is fully closed at t=1 second. As can be seen from line  80 , the clamping force rises from zero as the mold closes. 
         [0035]    As with the conventional process, the mold is held closed while the molten material cools and solidifies. Again, the later steps of ejecting the cooled and solidified article from the mold are not shown. 
         [0036]    Thus, it will be seen that there is a pause in the motion of the mold parts towards each other, and injection of the charge of molten plastic is completed during this pause. The length of the pause can be varied depending on the process requirements; however, if the pause is too long, it has been found that gravity starts to affect the molten material, which tends to run to the lower part of the mold cavity. This can lead to an unacceptable product. For this reason, the mold parts should be stationary for no longer than one second. 
         [0037]    Further, it would be preferable for this pause period to be as short as possible, in order to reduce the cycle time. It will be appreciated that an injection molding process is repeated a great many times, and so even a very slight reduction in cycle times (such as the reduction achieved by having the injection take place simultaneously with the mold closing) can have a significant effect on the overall productivity. 
         [0038]    In the extreme case, it is possible for the pause period to be zero; in other words, the motion of the mold parts towards each other slows down, but does not actually stop. The specific details of timing and so forth can of course be varied depending on the exact specifications of the molded product to be produced by the process.