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Injection mold construction

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Injection mold construction 1

Injection mold construction

The injection molds are used to perform Injection molding operation using Injection molding machine, generally
used to produce plastic parts using core and cavity. The molds are classified into two plate mold and three plate mold
depending on daylight in mold, the two plate mold will have single day light and three plate mold will have two
daylight (multiple). The mold construction depends on the shape of the component, the shape of component is the
criteria for parting line selection, runner and gate selection, component ejection system selection etc. The mold base
size selection depends on component size and number of cavities to be planned per mold.

Considerations in Injection Mold Design

• Draft: To be provided in core and cavity for easy ejection of component.
• Shrinkage allowance : Depending on shrinkage property of plastic material core and cavity size has to be arrived.
• Cooling circuit: In order to optimize the cycle time water will be circulated through holes drilled in core and
cavity plate has to be considered
• Ejection gap : The gap between ejector plate face and core back plate face should be component holding
dimension in core plus allowance to ensure component is fully removed from the mold.
• Air vents: To remove air gases entrapped between core and cavity usually less than 0.05mm gap excessive gap
results in flash defect in component
• Mold Polishing: The core, cavity, runner and sprue should have good surface finish and should be polished along
material flow direction.
• Mold Filling : The gate should be placed such that the component is filled from thin section to thick section and
the position of gate should not be to fill from thick section to thin will result in mold defect.

General Injection Mold elements

• Register Ring :
It is used to align injection molding machine screw with injection mold
usually of medium carbon steel material case hardened.
• Sprue Bush :
It will have 1.5° to 3° taper from injection molding machine nozzle the
material enters into the mold through sprue bush usually of medium
carbon steel material case hardened.
Injection mold_1 Showing Sectional front
• Top Plate: view,Top view and sectional side view Drawn by
PrabhakarPurushothaman
It is used to clamp the top half of the mold with the moving half of the
molding machine usually of mild steel material.
• Cavity Plate:
The plate used to fit the cavity insert, the cavity insert will have gap of the details to fill the plastic material and form
plastic component Cavity plate usually of mild steel material cavity insert usually of hot die steel (through hardened)
P20 direct use with out hardening after cavity machining.
• Core Plate:
Injection mold construction 2

The plate used to fit the core insert, the core insert will have projection
and will create hallow portion in plastic component Core plate usually
of mild steel material and core insert usually of hot die steel (through
hardened) P20 material direct use with out hardening after core
machining.
• Sprue Puller Bush:
Sprue puller bush is used to accommodate sprue puller pin usually of
medium carbon steel material case hardened.
• Sprue Puller Pin: Injection mold_2 Showing Sectional front
view,Top view and sectional side view Drawn by
Sprue puller pin pulls the sprue from the sprue bush usually of medium PrabhakarPurushothaman
carbon steel material case hardened.
• Core Back Plate:
It prevents the core insert coming out and act as stiffener to core plate
usually of mild steel.
• Guide Pillar and Guide Bush:
To align fixed and moving halves of mold in each cycle usually of
medium carbon steel material case hardened guide pillar will have
higher hardness than guide bush due to manufacturing constrains.
• Ejector guide Pillar and Guide Bush:
It ensures the alignment of ejector assembly therefore ejector pins will Injection Mold_3 Showing Sectional front view
not get damaged usually of medium carbon steel material case Drawn by PrabhakarPurushothaman
hardened guide pillar will have higher hardness than guide bush due to
manufacturing constrains.
• Ejector Plate:
It is used to accommodate ejector pins usually of mild steel material.
• Ejector Back Plate:
It prevents the ejector pins coming out usually of mild steel material.
• Heel Blocks:
It Provides gap for ejector assembly therefore the component will be
ejected from core usually of mild steel material.
• Centering Bush: Injection mold_4 Showing Top view Drawn by
PrabhakarPurushothaman
It Provides alignment between bottom plate and core back plate usually
of medium carbon steel material case hardened.
• Bottom Plate:
It is used to clamp the bottom half of the mold with the fixed half of the molding machine usually of mild steel
material.
• Rest Button:
It is used to support ejection assembly to reduce area of contact between ejection assembly and bottom plate for easy
cleaning, as small foreign particles stick on to bottom plate will result in ejection pins projecting out from core will
result in ejection pin mark in component.
Injection mold construction 3

• Core and cavity will be usually of following materials P20,En 30B,

S7, H13 & 420SS

Various Types of Gates Used in Injection Mold Design

• Sprue gate :It is used for large size component, gate mark is visible
in component and no runner is required. eg: bucket molding
(backside cylindrical gate mark visible and can be felt)
• Edge gate : Most commonly used gate type suitable for square,
rectangular components Injection mold_5 Showing sectional side view
• Ring gate : Most suitable for cylindrical component to eliminate Drawn by PrabhakarPurushothaman

weld line defect

• Diaphragm gate : Most suitable for hallow cylindrical component
• Tab gate : Most suitable for solid thick components
• submarine gate : used when auto de- gating is required to reduce
cycle time
• Reverse taper sprue gate (Pin gate): Generally used in three plate
molds.

Various Types of Ejection system used in Injection

Injection mold in molding machine from
molds
wikipedia article injection molding
• Pin Ejection
Cylindrical pins are used for ejection purpose, in case of square and
rectangular components minimum fore pins a the four corners are
required and in case of cylindrical component minimum three pins at
120° apart is required based on the component profile, size and area of
ejection the number of pins to be increased. visible ejection marks will
be be there on component
• Sleeve Ejection
This type of ejection is preferred for only to cylindrical cores and core
has to be fixed in bottom plate. This ejection is limited to cylindrical
cavity plate cooling by drilled holes
core due to manufacturing constrains, when ejection assembly is
moved the sleeve will slide over the core and eject the component. No
visible ejection marks will be be there on component.

Direct cooling of core insert

Injection mold construction 4

Annular cooling of cavity insert

• Stripper Plate ejection

This ejection is preferred for component with larger area, an additional plate (stripper) will be provided in between
core plate and cavity plate. In order to avoid flash the stripper plate will be in contact with cavity plate and gap is
maintained between cavity and core plate. No visible ejection marks will be be there on component
• Blade Ejection
This type of ejection is preferred for thin rectangular cross sections, rectangular blades will inserted in cylindrical
pins or cylindrical pins will be machined to rectangular cross section till ejection length for easy accommodation of
ejection pin head in counter bore provided in ejection plates
• By Rotation of Core (Internal Threaded Components)
This method of ejection is required for threaded components were component is automatically ejected by rotating the
core insert.
• Air Ejection
This method is used to actuating the ejection pin fitted in core using compressed air,retraction of ejection pin in core
is by spring.

Injection Mold Alignment

Injection mold is designed as two half, core half and cavity half in order to eject the component. For each cycle the
core and cavity has to be aligned properly in order to avoid mismatch of core and cavity which results in defective
component. The core and cavity alignment is ensured by guide pillar and guide bush, usually four guide pillar and
guide bush is used out of which three guide pillar will be of one diameter and one with different diameter to ensure
wrong alignment will not take place of top and bottom half based on "POKE YOKE" (Mistake proof) concept. The
Register ring will have interference fit in top plate and will have transission fit with injection molding machine
pattern, therefore the machine pattern and top plate is aligned. The pillar fitted in cavity plate with interference fit
has spigot, the spigot will have transission fit with top plate thus top plate and cavity plate alignment is ensured to
injection molding machine nozzle center.
Injection mold construction 5

Mold Cooling
• Constant Mold Temperature for uniform Quality
• Reduced Cycle time for Productivity
• Improved Surface Finish without Defects
• Avoiding War page by uniform mold surface temperature
• Long mold Life

Methods of mold cooling

• Cavity Plate cooling by drilled holes
Cavity plate is drilled around the cavity insert and plugged with taper plugs (copper or aluminum plugs)at the ends of
openings and using pipe connector connected at the inlet and outlet ports water is circulated and mold is cooled.
• Direct cooling of core insert (baffle system)
The core is drilled by keeping sufficient wall thickness and in between the drilled hole a baffle plate is provided, this
separates the hole into two halves therefore the water contacts the maximum area in core and cooling takes place
• Annular cooling of cavity insert:
In this method a circular groove is created on core for water circulation on the core and in order to prevent the
leakage O-rings are used on above and below the the cooling channel.

References
• Injection Mould Design R.G.W. Pye Godwin Books; 3rd Revised edition edition (1 February 1983)
Article Sources and Contributors 6

Article Sources and Contributors

Injection mold construction  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=621809394  Contributors: Bgwhite, KylieTastic, Magioladitis, PrabhakarPurushothaman, Vanjagenije,
ZaphodsCatwalk, 4 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:Injection mold 1.jpeg  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Injection_mold_1.jpeg  License: Creative Commons Zero  Contributors: PrabhakarPurushothaman, Sfan00
IMG
File:Injection mold 2.jpeg  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Injection_mold_2.jpeg  License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  Contributors: PrabhakarPurushothaman,
Sfan00 IMG
File:Injection Mold 3.jpeg  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Injection_Mold_3.jpeg  License: Creative Commons Zero  Contributors: PrabhakarPurushothaman, Sfan00
IMG
File:Injection mold 4.jpeg  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Injection_mold_4.jpeg  License: Creative Commons Zero  Contributors: PrabhakarPurushothaman, Sfan00
IMG
File:Injection mold 5.jpeg  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Injection_mold_5.jpeg  License: Creative Commons Zero  Contributors: PrabhakarPurushothaman, Sfan00
IMG
File:Injection mold in molding machine.png  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Injection_mold_in_molding_machine.png  License: Creative Commons Zero
 Contributors: PrabhakarPurushothaman, Sfan00 IMG
File:Cavity plate cooling.png  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cavity_plate_cooling.png  License: Creative Commons Zero  Contributors: PrabhakarPurushothaman,
Sfan00 IMG
File:direct cooling.png  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Direct_cooling.png  License: Creative Commons Zero  Contributors: PrabhakarPurushothaman, Sfan00 IMG
File:Annular cooling of cavity insert.png  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Annular_cooling_of_cavity_insert.png  License: Creative Commons Zero  Contributors:
PrabhakarPurushothaman, Sfan00 IMG

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