Chapter 5 Mold Testing

5.1 Testing Process

As indicated in Fig.5-1 is a typical testing process for injection molds. After assembling the molds,
the bench workers shall begin PSI (Pre-Shipping Inspection) to check preliminarily whether there are
obvious problems inconsistent with the design requirement, whereafter starts the testing, which may be
any one of the testings for T0, T1, T2 and T3. Each testing usually conducts 30 to 40 times of molding.
After each testing, the testing workers shall complete the TIR (Tryout Issue Report) to describe the
various problems existing in the testing process and suggestions for solution. Subsequently, the quality
inspection department shall make a TVR (Tooling Verify Report) on the plastic parts obtained from
testing.
As for the problems detected in TIR and TVR, it is necessary to search the TIR and TVR problem
database in the enterprise database for corresponding standard problems and the solutions whereto.
Meanwhile, problems beyond the existing problem database shall be analyzed and programmed, so that
the problem database can be further expanded and perfected.
The TIR made by the testing workers and the TVR made by quality inspection department shall be
the basis for determining whether the molds meet customers requirements. If the requirements have not
been reached, the MPI (Manufacture Processing Instruction) shall be made, whereby the factory shall
instruct mold repairing and conduct re-assembly as well as re-testing until the requirements are met. The
customers shall issue the approval certificate thereafter and shipment of molds shall be ultimately
completed, thereby transferring into the formal injection mass production.

Assembly

PSI

Testing

TIR

Expanding?
Yes

No

TVR
No

Expanding?

Yes

Qualified

No
Yes

Approval from customer

No

Problem database
Mold repair

MPI

Mold shipment

Fig.5-1: mold testing flow

5.2 PSI
After completing mold assembly, the bench workers shall begin PSI (Pre-Shipping Inspection) to
check preliminarily whether there are obvious problems inconsistent with the design requirement. For
instance, the pre-shipping inspection for injection molds of a company falls into six parts, i.e. injection
molding system, slide system, ejection system, hot and cold medium channel system, positioning system
and other aspects, wherein the six parts can be decomposed into several branches and each branch must
undergo self-detection and re-check etc, as indicated in Table.5-1.
Table 5-1: pre-shipping report of plastic injection mold
Inspection
Subject

Content
Method
Whether the sprue bush, runner and gate are processed as

IPQC

per the engineering drawings.

Whether the date code and the cavity No. are consistent
Injection

with requirement.

Molding

Whether it is necessary to intake air and if necessary

IPQC

Eyeballing

System

whether it has completed.

Whether test on the hot runner is OK.

Temperature
Control Box

Whether the electromagnetic valve switch for the needle

Eyeballing

valve hot runner has been assembled.

Whether the nameplate of the hot runner has been correctly

Eyeballing

assembled.
Whether the slide briquetting and the oil slot of endurance
Slide System

Eyeballing

mold block have been sufficiently processed and

lubricated.
Whether the slide briquetting, the endurance mold block,

On-site

the stop pin and the return spring have been correctly

Detection

assembled.
Whether the slide can glide smoothly.

On-site
Detection

Whether the thimble has been left out or assembled

Eyeballing

reversely.
Whether the oil slot of angle pin has been sufficiently
Ejection

processed.

System

Whether the angle pin and the thimble can return smoothly.

Eyeballing

On-site
Detection

Whether top of the thimble towers above the moving mold

Eyeballing

surface (0.05mm0.10mm)
Whether top of the angle pin is lower than the moving

Eyeballing

mold surface (0.02mm0.05mm)

Thermal
Cold

and

Medium

Channel

Whether the hot and cold medium channel leak (dwell for

On-site

30 minutes)

Detection

Whether blind bolt of the mold plate for testing water has

Eyeballing

been removed.

System

Whether entrance/exit of the hot and cold medium channel

Eyeballing

are marked.
Whether connector of tubes has been assembled.

Eyeballing

Whether the positioning block and positioning ring have

Eyeballing

been assembled.
Positioning

Whether all screws are secure.

System

Sampling
Inspection

Whether the thimble requiring anti-reverse is provided

IPQC

with an anti-reverse unit.

Whether all problem points listed in the MPI have been

IPQC

settled.

Miscellaneous

Whether all parts have been assembled.

Eyeballing

Whether the interposing space of the moving and fixed

Eyeballing

molds over the parting line has been aired for 0.5mm.
Whether the oil stain and smudge on the mold seat, core

Eyeballing

and cavity have been cleaned.

Whether the wedge block is assembled

Eyeballing

5.3 TIR
After PSI starts the testing, after which the testing workers shall fill in the TIR and meanwhile the
problems shall be brought into and analyzed within the range of the TIR standard problem database,
wherein the analysis include the problem points, description of problem points, origin of problem as well
as modification countermeasures etc. If it is beyond the problem database, consideration need be made
on whether the current problem database shall be expanded. Common testing problems and
countermeasures are as follows:
1. Cannot Be Sufficiently Filled
The plastic melt condenses and solidifies before it can smoothly fill in the cavity part far away from
the gate or that with thin section, the cavity therefore is insufficiently filled and the shape and structure
of the molded products are incomplete, which is intrinsically due to the low fluidity and poor filling
capacity of the plastic melt. The extrinsic cause, however, is due to the large resistance against filling
and the insufficient filling power. Specific causes thereof are as follows:
The plastic melt is provided with high flow viscosity, resulting in poor flow and filling capacity;
The plastic melt has poor plasticity, excessively low temperature for plastication and unbalanced
melt temperature, which altogether result in the poor melt fluidity;

 Mold temperature is overlow or unbalanced, temperature of some parts is too low and
temperature of melt injected into the cavity drops too fast;
The flow of melt in the mold is too long or too complicated, the resistance against filling is large
and the filling is not smooth, even resulting in stagnation;
Temperature of the nozzle is too low and the cold-slug well of feed system is improperly set,
resulting in jam and stagnation when the front cold material of melt enters the cavity;
During the filling, molds are not sufficiently aired and the gas has not been discharged in time,
thereby resulting in the expansion of filling resistance;
The actual quantity of injection for the injection machine is too small and the melt required for
filling is insufficient, thereby directly resulting in material shortage in the cavity;
The injection stroke of screw is ended and the plastic stocked in the plastication room is scarce,
resulting in poor transmission of injection pressure and insufficient post-stage power of filling;
Injection rate of screw is excessively low, the injection pressure is overlow and the filling power
is insufficient.
Wall thickness of products is uneven and the filling resistance is large;
Wall of products is too thin and the filling resistance is large; above all, temperature of melt
drops too fast when it flows through and the hertz increases.
Solutions:
Use plastics with low viscosity and sound fluidity or adjust prescription of plastics and reduce
viscosity of melt;
Improve barrel temperature, increase injection pressure, raise melt temperature to reduce
erection degree, and improve plastication quality;
Improve mold temperature and uniformity thereof, raise nozzle temperature and properly set
cold-slug well ;
Increase dimension of the runner and gate and properly set gate position to avoid overlong flow
during filling and overlarge loss of pressure when the melt enters cavity;
Properly design mold exhausting scheme and change number of position of gate as well as
position of parting line when necessary to achieve sound exhausting effect;
Select proper injection machine and correctly adjust screw injection stroke to ensure sufficient
actual quantity of injection; meanwhile, it should be ensured that the melt stored in the plastication
room at the front of the screw can perfectly transmit pressure. Check the plastic raw material in the
hopper of injection machine in due course to see whether it is sufficient;
Increase injection pressure, injection rate and the filling power of melt; meanwhile, check
whether the non-return valve on the screw is damaged to avoid pressure caused by the counterflow of
melt as well as loss of melt during injection;
Improve structure of plastic parts and design of wall thickness, reduce complication of structure,
improve uniformity of wall thickness and properly design wall thickness to reduce structural resistance
during the melt filling stroke.
2. Welding Mark
The thread mark formed at the front confluence of two or more melt flows in the cavity is called
welding mark or welding line. Usually, apart from low mechanical intensity, such defect as depression
and aberration may also occur at places where welding mark appears.
For plastic parts with holes and inserts or those of complicated structure and with uneven wall

thickness or those with overlarge structural dimension and requiring multi-gate feeding, plastic melt will
form two or more flow filling in the cavity and the welding structure shall be unavoidably formed at the
front confluence. The key index for measuring welding quality is the welding intensity at the welding
mark, whereas the position of welding mark of which certain appearance quality is required follows in
the second place.
The most influential factor for welding intensity is the temperature during the confluence of melt. In
actual engineering practice, commonly-used methods for treating welding mark include:
First, improve welding temperature to a degree as high as possible. Properly improve the melt
plastication temperature, nozzle temperature, mold temperature as well as pre-warming temperature for
inserts; reduce flow stroke or flow time of melt prior to confluence (sometimes the number of gates can
be increased at no spare); improve screw rate to achieve rapid filling, which can not only reduce heat
loss during the filling but also can increase the shearing friction heat during melt flow to remedy the heat
loss of melt; optimize the design of feed system accompanied with proper injection pressure, increase
shearing friction heating during the flow, improve flow state of melt and strengthen the capacity of
confluence.
Next, change position of welding mark and locate it on a part insensitive to the mechanical property
and appearance quality of products; change wall thickness on the premises of not influencing
requirement for use of the plastic parts.
During mold design, preferably reduce the number of gates; properly design the cold-slug well
and the exhausting measure for molds at places where welding mark occurs; use release agent as less as
possible; sufficiently dry the raw materials.
3. Shrink Mark, Depression and Shrinkage Porosity
Both the shrink mark and shrinkage porosity are defects of injection products due to the molding
shrinkage at thick walls where no sufficient follow-up compensation is made. During the injection
molding process, the surface layer of products often condenses first, followed by the center layer, which
will cause sinking on the surface of parts with thick walls, thereby producing obvious inner concave on
surface of products, wherein the small concave is called shrink mark and the large concave is called
depression; conversely, when parts with thick walls have condensed and when the surface intensity and
rigidity are large enough to resist the shrinkage stress resulted from the subsequent shrink of the center
part, a large shrinkage porosity or a series of minute shrinkage holes will form inside the parts with thick
walls. Usually when such shrinkage porosities or holes appear, depression will more or less occur at the
surface of products.
Although shrink mark has no impact on the structural intensity of products, it will cause rather
obvious visual defect on the surface whereof; depression influences both surface quality and structural
property of products; shrinkage porosity can bring bad effect on the structural property of products. The
three defects usually occur at parts with relatively thick walls or at hot spot of products such as the back
of lug boss, stiffening rib as well as straight gate of sprue.
During actual production, optimization of structure and material of product, the injection technics
as well as mold structure are usually adopted to avoid shrinkage porosity and meanwhile to control the
surface shrink mark of products at the minimum degree that can be accepted by users. The specific
solutions are as follows:
Optimize the structural design of injection products. The injection products should not be too
thick and when necessary the stiffening rib can be added to reduce wall thickness; the wall thickness

must be kept as uniform as possible and the shape and structure should be simple and symmetric; the
parts with insufficient shrinkage compensation can be approached from structure of products, whereby
the section of runner can be enlarged by adding stiffening rib to make it easier for shrinkage
compensation; on important surface of products, structural intersection should be reduced as much as
possible so that hot spot thereon can be reduced accordingly; at positions such as hot spot where
depression may occur, thickness of cavity section can be properly increased through reverse
compensation to counteract the shrinkage depression value; decorative patterns can also be designed at
positions with shrink mark to cover up the visual defect caused by surface depression.
Optimize prescription of plastics and preferably use resins with low shrinkage; reduce dosage of
recycled materials; dry the materials as much as possible; add proper amount of lubrication additive to
improve fluidity of melt and to reinforce the effect of shrinkage compensation; select proper reinforcing
filling material to reduce shrinkage and to improve the materials capacity for resisting shrinkage stress
so that surface depression can be avoided.
Optimize injection technics. Properly improve injection and dwell pressure as well as the injection
rate to increase melts compression tightness; prolong time of injection and dwell (the freezing of gate
should not occur too early) to realize sufficient shrinkage compensation; properly reduce melt
temperature and properly raise mold temperature (whereas cooling should be reinforced at parts with
thick walls) on the premises that the ejection quality and dimension precision of products after ejection
are ensured; properly increase melt plastication quantity to ensure sufficient material supply and
effective transmission of pressure; when depression occurs around the insert, the pre-warming
temperature of insert should be increased to a certain degree. In addition, depression and shrinkage
porosity which are unavoidable due to the structural property of products can be removed by adopting
gas-assisted injection molding.
Optimize mold design. Properly increase section dimension of gate and runner; the position of
gate is set at thick walls of the plastic parts and should be as symmetric as possible; improve mold
exhausting condition; set cold-slug well with sufficient capacity to avoid cold materials entering into
the cavity and influencing filling and shrinkage compensation; properly dispose cooling water channel
and intensify cooling at depressed parts with thick walls to achieve effective shrinkage compensation,
on the basis that uniform cooling for all parts of the cavity can be ensured; carefully analyze whether a
bottleneck exists at the runner of melt within the cavity, otherwise, replace gate position or increase
number of gate and when necessary, enlarge section of runner where the bottleneck is located; for
products with thick walls, fan gate or flush joint gate can be adopted to shift the possible depression
and shrinkage porosity to the gate.
4. Flow Mark
Flow marks refer to the obvious flow cracks of melt that can be found near the gate. Sometimes it is
also called flow lines. Flow marks not only influence the surface quality of plastic parts but also can
influence their mechanical property. According to the causes of flow marks and their different
appearance features, they fall into such types as ejection flow mark, wheel wave flow mark centered
around the gate, turbulence flow mark and nebulous flow mark.
Ejection Flow Mark
It is a snake-shaped squirt flow formed upon the melts entering the cavity with thick walls and
large section with excessively high injection rate. Such snake-shaped squirt flow can stay at the surface
of plastic parts, whereby influencing the appearance quality, and meanwhile, minute welding mark may

form at the snake-shaped folding; moreover, it can also result in poor exhausting and reduce the quality
of plastic parts. The ejection is mainly due to overhigh screw rate as well as improper position and type
of gate.
The treatment measures include optimizing the position, form and dimension of gate to enlarge
contact between melt at the gate and the surface wall of cavity and to reduce melt shearing rate and
shearing stress; reducing injection rate of screw to avoid overhigh rate when the melt is injected into
mold cavity. Lapping gate, tab gate and fan gate can be adopted to achieve such purpose.
Wheel Wave Flow Mark
When melt with unsteady flow is injected into the mold cavity through the runner and gate in
semi-solidified state, refluence and stagnation can form during its flow in the cavity due to the extrusion
and pushing by follow-up melt that is continuously injected therein, and thereby wheel wave flow mark
centering around the gate occurs on the surface of plastic parts.
The treatment measures include raising mold temperature and nozzle temperature, improving
injection rate, increasing injection and dwell pressure, properly designing size and position of cold-slug
well and optimizing design of feed system so that the unsteady flow of melt can be improved through the
shearing heat during the flow and filling of melt.
Turbulence Flow Mark
When the melt flows from a runner with narrow section into a cavity with large section or when the
runner is very narrow and the surface roughness is rather poor, turbulence flow will form within the
runner (including the cavity), thereby resulting in the turbulence flow mark on the surface of plastic
parts.
The treatment measures include properly reducing screw injection rate or controlling it through
hierarchical injection; opening a gate on the thick walls or side walls of plastic parts, wherein the type of
gate should be propitious for the melts steady entering the cavity, such as tab gate, fan gate and slice
gate; sometimes the section dimension of runner and gate can be properly enlarged to reduce flow
resistance; optimizing structure of plastic parts when necessary to avoid uneven wall thickness wherein
melt in the cavity can flow from narrow section to large and thick section; in addition, the fluidity of
melt can be improved through increasing temperature of mold, barrel as well as nozzle.
Nebulous Flow Mark
The volatile gas produced from the resin in the melt and the lubricating agent under processing
temperature is stored in between the melt flow and surface wall of cavity and interferes the flow of melt,
whereby the nebulous flow mark is formed. The treatment measures withal are: improving the
exhausting condition of molds; properly increasing dimension of gate and reducing melt filling rate;
properly reducing mold temperature and melt plastication temperature; replacing additives such as
lubricating agent which can produce volatile gas.
5. Crazing
Crazing is silvery white filamentous speckle occurring on the surface or near-surface of injection
products along the direction of melt flow. It is resulted from the moving of gas in the resin which is then
stored in between the melt and surface wall of cavity and subsequently crushed. Crazing sometimes is
also called mica mark, silver line or silver speckle.
The most essential reason for the occurrence of crazing is that volatile gas is contained in the melt,
withal the following measures can be taken:
As for raw materials. In allusion to degradation gas crazing, resins with uniform granularity are

required to be used, dosage of recycled materials should be reduced, promptly clear the remnant foreign
materials in the barrel, and when necessary replace the additives such as lubricating agent which can
decompose easily; in allusion to aqueous vapor crazing, the plastic raw materials should be strictly dried
and the plastication back pressure of screw should be improved.
As for molding technics. In allusion to degradation crazing, the temperature of barrel and nozzle
should be reduced, the retention time of melt in the barrel should be shortened to avoid partial
temperature rising, properly reduce plastication and injection pressure to avoid high temperature of
materials under high pressure; in allusion to aqueous vapor crazing, properly raise plastication pressure,
increase compression ratio of screw, reduce rotation speed of screw and use barrel and screw with
exhausting function.
As for mold design and injection operation. In allusion to degradation crazing, properly increase
section dimension of sprue, runner as well as gate, reduce shearing rate of melt, expand space of
cold-slug well and improve exhausting condition of molds; in allusion to aqueous vapor crazing, add
mold exhausting channel, check whether the cooling water channel is leaking and whether the surface
wall of cavity is affixed with moisture.
6. Air Cavitation, Air Bubble and Burn Mark
During the process of injection molding, due to the poor exhausting condition of molds, the water
vapor in the melt, the air in cavity, the volatile gas from volatile substance in raw materials as well as the
material decomposition gas either remain inside the products to form air bubble or are stored in between
the melt and surface wall of cavity to form air cavitation which causes inner concave on the surface of
products. Sometimes, at parts with thick walls, gas may also exist in the shrinkage porosity caused by
insufficient shrinkage compensation. The occurrence of air cavitation and air bubble may further result
in inadequate filling in the cavity and insufficient dwell, and may even lead to the rising of gas
temperature due to the compression of melt, thereby occurring such phenomenon as degradation,
discoloration or scorching of plastics around the air cavitation or air bubble.
As for injection raw material. If the raw material contains too much water, additive of
decomposition gas and recycled materials may occur therein and thereby forming gas sources. Hence,
the raw material of plastics should be strictly dried and barrels with exhausting function should be
applied to the injection machine; preferably reduce or replace the additives easy to decompose, and
reduce the use of remnant materials or recycled materials.
As for molding technics. Air bubble or air cavitation may occur in the plastic parts due to
improperly-controlled material temperature and mold temperature, overfast injection speed, overlow
injection pressure, too large or too small quantity of injection, insufficient dwell, unbalanced or
insufficient cooling etc. Therefore, the injection rate of melt should be properly reduced to ensure
sufficient time for gas in the cavity to be discharged; properly improve injection pressure and mold
temperature, keep appropriate molding pressure in the cavity and properly prolong dwell time; dosage of
injection should be kept in a proper amount; reinforce the effect of uniform cooling; improve
temperature at pre-warming section of barrel; increase length of pre-warming section, reinforce
dehumidifying and exhausting effect of plastics in the barrel; properly reduce temperature of plastic melt
and the time of storing at high-temperature section to avoid degradation which will produce
decomposition gas.
As for product structure and mold design. Optimize mold exhausting scheme, and exhausting
channel should be particularly set at confluence of front materials of plastic melt in the cavity; optimize

design of product structure and mold feed system (especially gate position and section dimension of gate)
to avoid severely uneven wall thickness, wherein the gate should be set at the thick wall of plastic parts,
and the section shape and dimension of gate should be suitable for the weight of plastic parts to avoid
such occurrences as unbalanced flow, stagnation and track effect etc and to achieve rational flow of melt
in the mold, thereby enabling the gas under extrusion of melt filling to be discharged smoothly through
sound exhausting method during the extrusion, especially at the final confluence of melt.
7. Overflow and Flash
During the injection and filling process, the plastic melt enters into the clearance of parting line,
clearance of sliding surface of the slide, gap between inserts and holes of ejector pin which are related
with mold cavity structure, and overflow thereby occurs. These surplus materials overflowing from
cavity shall attach to the injection products after ejection, thereby forming flash. The occurrence of flash
not only increases the workload of operators but also reduces productivity and influences ejection and
the quality of products. The specific causes are as follows:
Insufficient clamping force.
Unbalanced mold clamping and fluctuated clamping force.
Overlow or overhigh viscosity of plastic raw materials. Overlow viscosity shall increase the
possibility of occurring flash despite the high precision of fit clearance; if the viscosity is too high, the
flow and filling resistance of melt will increase, and consequently the molding pressure within the cavity
shall rise and flash will form due to the insufficient clamping force.
Overhigh injection pressure, overfast injection rate, excessively small section dimension of gate,
overhigh temperature of barrel, nozzle and mold, which altogether result in the overlow flow viscosity
of melt.
Deflected position of mold cavity, which result in unilateral tension of the mold during injection
and thereby forming flash.
Overlarge fit clearance of relevant parts of mold cavity due to deformation, abrasion and foreign
matters existing on the parting line, or due to the overlow design precision for the clearance of moving
or fixed part of mold as well as the inadequate processing and assembly.
Overlarge or overdeep exhausting clearance.
The solutions include:
Use injection machines with large clamping force, wherein the rated clamping force must be
higher than the tension of injection molds during filling, otherwise, mold expansion and flash will occur.
Check the clamping system of injection machine, especially whether the toggle unit is straight
under clamping state; dispel such factors as unbalanced clamping and fluctuated clamping force of melt
during the process of injection and filling.
Optimize gate position and achieve balanced mold-filling; avoid unbalanced clamping and
partial over-dwell for melt in parts where filling has been completed.
Properly reduce injection pressure and dwell pressure and switch pressure in time.
Optimize prescription of plastic raw materials, properly reduce dosage of lubricating agent, keep
the viscosity of plastics within a proper range; appropriately reduce temperature of barrel, nozzle and
molds and injection rate, properly increase section dimension of gate and thereby optimizing the flow
and filling state of melt.
Check the attaching degree of parting line for deformation or foreign matters (if any), and polish
the part of parting line with flash; check the places that have gliding or insert fit with the molding

parts for discrepancy of assembly or abrasion clearance (if any); check whether rigidity of mold plate
is sufficient; when necessary, properly improve the design and manufacturing precision of clearance at
moving or fixed part of molds.
Check whether exhausting slot is overlarge or overdeep and properly arrange the clearance
dimension of mold exhausting channel.
8. Poor Glossiness
The products are provided with uneven surface glossiness and are even covered with shades. The
causes whereof comprise:
Insufficient drying of plastic raw materials, excessively strong volatility of raw materials,
foreign matters existing therein, poor intrinsical glossiness of resin, bad influence of additives on
glossiness;
Poor quality of plastication, overlow melt temperature, insufficient quantity of injection, overlow
mold temperature, and excessive dosage of mold release agent;
Oversmall section of gate and runner, improper gate position, and unsteady flow of melt in the
mold;
No cold-slug well provided for the molds, inadequate exhausting, moistures attached to the
surface wall of cavity, and rough cavity surface.
Solutions:
Use plastics with sound glossiness (such as ABS and PP etc), appropriately add additives which
can improve the glossiness of products, and reduce the content of volatiles in raw materials (such as
lubricating agent);
Dry the raw materials sufficiently. Improve plastication condition of plastics, increase back
pressure, improve plastication quality and properly reduce melt temperature;
Increase injection pressure and injection rate, and ensure sufficient dosage of injection; reduce
dosage of mold release agent;
Properly improve mold temperature; optimize design of feed system and product structure to
improve flow status of melt in the mold and to avoid such phenomenon as turbulence flow;
Improve the exhausting capacity of molds, and properly set exhausting position; add cold-slug
well or increase volume of the well;
Check whether leakage occurs to the hot and cold medium channels;
Polish surface of mold cavity. Sometimes the surface of products can be designed into frosted
surface to settle the problem of glossiness.
9. Aberration
Aberration refers to the discrepancy of color on the products wherein the tint is uneven. The causes
whereof comprise:
Polluted raw materials;
Uneven distribution of colorant;
Unstable colorant;
Degradation of materials;
Overlarge dosage of mold release agent.
The solutions include:
Improve the purity of raw materials, reduce dosage of volatile additives in the materials and dry

them sufficiently.
Improve thermal stability of materials and colorant and increase dispersibility of colorant.
Check thermocouple, temperature control instrument and heating system for maladjustment or
malfunction (if any); reduce melt plastication temperature.
Optimize plastication screw structure, properly reduce rotation speed of screw and plastication
pressure, and improve melt plastication quality.
Reduce stockpile of melt in the plastication room at the front of barrel.
Properly reduce injection pressure and screw injection rate.
Optimize design of feed system, properly increase dimension of nozzle, runner and gate, and
reduce shearing and flow rate of melt.
Properly reduce dosage of mold release agent.
Reinforce setting of mold exhausting system.
10. Dark Spots or Black Lines
Color is normal on the surface of products, though black spots or lines occasionally occur.
The dark spots or black lines are fundamentally caused by the thermal degradation of material or
carbonization of impurities due to various factors. The raw material is mixed with impurities (such as
impurities falling off when the operator is unripping the package of plastic raw materials or foreign
matters accidentally mixed during color mixing etc) and remnant from decomposition of materials exists
in the barrel; insufficient plastication results in overhot or partially overhot melt in the barrel (melt
temperature is too high and duration at high-temperature section is too long); overfast injection rate and
oversmall section of gate result in excessive shearing of plastics; the surface of molding parts is not
smooth and the melt is sprained when flowing through; the inadequate exhausting leads to the storing up
of gas in the mold, the rising of temperature thereof under compression and the carbonization of plastics
around the air mass; the rough surface of molding parts and the oversmall draft result in the plastic
powder (which has been scraped from the previous plastic part during ejection) remnant on the surface
of molding parts.
Solutions:
Reduce the addition amount of recycled plastic materials, reinforce clearing of remnant in the
barrel and cavity and avoid interfusion of impurities in the raw materials.
Sufficiently dry the materials, reduce content of volatile component in raw materials and
improve thermal stability of resins and additives.
Optimize screw structure, reduce plastication pressure and shearing rate of screw, shorten the
storing time of melt in the plastication room of barrel and properly reduce melt plastication temperature.
Reduce screw injection rate, increase section dimension of nozzle and gate to avoid degradation
caused by shearing and overfast flow of melt.
Improve mold exhausting condition and optimize exhausting scheme.
Reduce roughness on the surface of molding parts and increase draft.
11. Condensed Material of Sprue Sticking to the Mold
The condensed material of sprue sticks to the sprue of molds, which poses difficulty for ejection.
The causes thereof are due to the high injection pressure, insufficient cooling in sprue, oversmall draft in
sprue, incorrect design of fit between bush and nozzle of sprue, insecure assembly of molds, incorrect
design of device for condensed material in ejection runner (pulling rod or cold-slug well etc), as well as

insufficient dosage of mold release agent.

Solutions:
Properly reduce injection pressure and dosage of injection;
Reinforce cooling for sprue;
Properly design dimension of the spherical concave on the outer bush of sprue according to the
spherical radius of nozzle for the injection machine;
Correctly design dimension of mold retainer-ring and ensure that the central line of nozzle
accords with the central line of sprue of injection mold during assembly;
Increase draft of sprue;
Correctly design the pulling rod or cold-slug well of condensed materials in the ejection runner;
Ensure smooth inner surface of sprue, wherein the processing trace of inner surface should
stretch along the ejection direction of condensed materials in the sprue;
Properly increase dosage of mold release agent.
12. Difficult Ejection
The injection parts stick to the mold, making it rather difficult for ejection. The causes thereof
comprise:
Too much injection materials.
Overhigh injection pressure, overlarge dwell pressure and overlong dwell time.
Overhigh melt temperature.
Overlow or overhigh mold temperature.
Incorrect design of draft.
Improper design of ejector unit, incorrect position of extrusion, oversmall number of ejector pins,
and oversmall ejection force; no air intake device for the core, resulting in vacuum during ejection.
Rough molding surface of cavity.
Inadequate dosage of mold release agent or incorrect spraying.
Solutions:
Avoid excessive injection of melt.
Reduce injection pressure and dwell pressure, shorten dwell time.
Reduce injection rate and barrel temperature, optimize dimension of nozzle, runner and gate,
avoid overhigh shearing heating during the flow and filling of melt so that melt temperature can be
properly reduced.
Properly adjust mold temperature, since under overhigh temperature the plastic parts will easily
stick to the mold, whereas overlow temperature shall result in large molding shrinkage and high
ejection resistance during ejection.
While ensuring proper retaining mode of plastic parts in the mold, increase draft.
Use appropriate ejection mode and ejection parts in accordance with the structural features of
plastic parts; carefully analyze the ejection resistance and its distribution, properly arrange position and
number of ejector pin, properly select section dimension of ejector pin; increase ejection force; as for
plastic parts such as containers with deep cavity and thin walls, an air intake unit should be applied to the
mold core to avoid vacuum during ejection.
Increase smoothness for the surface of cavity, and at the final stage of polishing for molding
parts, the polishing should be done along the ejection direction of plastic parts.
Properly spray mold release agent and properly increase dosage of the agent at places with large

ejection resistance.
13. Ejector Mark
During ejection, white ejector mark usually appears on the plastic parts in contact with the ejector
pin and such ejector mark will easily crack during actual use of the products. The causes thereof
comprise:
Overhigh injection pressure, overfast dwell time, overlow mold temperature, accompanied with
overfast cooling speed of products in the mold as well as unbalanced cooling, which altogether lead to
the increase of internal stress of products;
Oversmall draft, incorrect or insufficient spraying of mold release agent, overlarge ejection
resistance;
Improper design of ejector unit, overfast ejection speed, resulting in large ejection stress at the
contact area of plastic parts and ejector parts (mainly for ejector pin or ejector tube);
Improper design of structure for the products.
According to the above causes, measures should be taken to minimize the internal stress for the
molding of products and to reduce the ejection resistance and the ejection stress applied on the plastic
parts by the ejector pin; proper reinforcing measures should be adopted for the contact area of product
and ejector pin. The specific measures therein are as follows:
Avoid excessive injection of melt.
Reduce injection pressure and dwell pressure, shorten dwell time.
Reduce injection rate, optimize design of feed system, and realize sound mold filling.
Properly improve mold temperature, prolong cooling time, properly reduce cooling speed,
optimize mold temperature control system and structure of products and try to keep uniform cooling of
products in the mold.
While ensuring proper retaining mode of plastic parts in the mold, increase draft.
According to the structural features of plastic parts, carefully analyze the ejection resistance and
its distribution, use suitable ejection mode, properly arrange position of ejector pin, and try to achieve
balanced ejection; increase number of ejector pins at places with large ejection resistance, and
meanwhile expand section dimension of ejector pin, reduce ejection stress at contact area of product and
ejector pin; properly increase wall thickness at places where ejector mark will easily occur, to strengthen
the resistance of products against destructivity of stress.
Increase smoothness for the surface of cavity, and at the final stage of polishing for molding
parts, the polishing should be done along the ejection direction of plastic parts to reduce ejection
resistance; for molds whereto the ejector mark has already occurred, it is recommended that polishing be
applied to the surface of molding parts corresponding to the ejector mark.
Properly spray the mold release agent.
14. Deformation of Products
The improper design for the structure of plastic parts, the incorrect setting of injection molding
technical condition, inappropriate design of mold feed system, temperature control system as well as
ejector unit etc altogether result in overlarge remnant internal stress inside the products, and
accompanied with insufficient rigidity of product structure and delayed treatment for the removal of
stress, the final shape of products after ejection shall be inconsistent with mold cavity, manifesting such
change of shape as warping, bending as well as distortion.

Solutions:
Avoid excessive injection of melt.
Reduce injection rate, optimize design of feed system, and realize sound mold filling.
Reduce injection pressure and dwell pressure, shorten dwell time.
Properly improve mold temperature, reduce cooling speed, prolong cooling time in the mold,
optimize the relation between mold temperature control system and structure of products and try to
achieve uniform cooling of products in the mold.
While ensuring proper retaining mode of plastic parts in the mold, increase draft and reduce
ejection resistance.
According to the structural features of plastic parts, carefully analyze the ejection resistance and
its distribution, use suitable ejection mode, properly arrange position of ejector pin, and try to achieve
balanced ejection; increase number of ejector pins at places with large ejection resistance, and
meanwhile expand section dimension of ejector pin, reduce ejection stress at contact area of product and
ejector pin, whereby the deformation of products can be avoided during ejection.
Increase smoothness for the surface of cavity, and at the final stage of polishing for molding
parts, the work should be done along the ejection direction of plastic parts to reduce ejection resistance.
Structurally try to avoid or reduce such cases as uneven wall thickness; sometimes due to the
overlarge structure of products or the particularity in structure, such as the front and rear protecting
casing or some inner decorative articles of cars, the deformation tendency shortly after ejection shall
unavoidably exist, and therefore timely restriction measures should be made after ejection by employing
steel stand, appliance or draw hook withal.
For important plastic parts, timely post-treatment can be made after ejection to reduce the
influence of remnant internal stress on the precision of products shape and dimension.
When large deformation occurs to the products, major causes for such deformation should be
analyzed. Usually optimization for the process of dwell pressure, i.e. through sectional and hierarchical
dwell, can greatly relieve the degree of such deformation as warping.

5.4 TVR
Mold Verify Report (TVR) is based on the products acquired from mold testing to assess whether
corresponding molds reach the requirement through the measurement thereof. Since one mold is usually
provided with a plurality of cavities and certain differences always occur for plastic parts molded in
different cavities, the TVR, therefore, should not only be based upon mold No. and testing No., but also
be related with cavity No.. The quality verification of injection products includes:
1. Appearance and Surface Quality Verification
The appearance and surface quality of injection products refers to the quality characteristics that can
be visually sensed by human beings, such as the geometric modeling, color and glossiness as well as
surface defect of injection products. The verification standard for the appearance and surface quality of
injection products should be determined in accordance with the size, use and part of the products, for
example, the requirement for the appearance quality of exposed part of the products after assembly is
higher and stricter than that of the unexposed part. Usually the appearance quality of injection products
is not represented with statistic data but with substantial samples within the allowable limit of
appearance defect. When sampling the degree of allowable limit of appearance and surface quality of
injection products, overhigh requirement will unavoidably increase the difficulty and cost of mold design

and manufacture; meanwhile, much stricter requirement will be imposed upon the setting of injection
technics and corresponding parameter control of injection equipment; moreover, the productivity thereof
shall be definitely reduced to a certain extent. All these will be ultimately reflected in the price of
products. Thus, if the appearance defect (except for cracks) is not extremely obvious, the products can be
deemed as qualified.
2. Dimension and Tolerance Verification
The external dimension and precision verification of injection products should be circumscribed in
a required measurement environment (temperature and humidity), wherein special tools and instruments
for measuring plastics (for products without much requirements for dimension precision, the
measurement condition can be less strict), as well as suitable measurement method should be adopted to
avoid deformation of plastics during the process. The measurement for external dimension and precision
of injection products mainly aims at those parts easily distorted and warped, which accordingly
influences the external precision, parts with special requirement for assembly and positioning, and those
which are deformable and damageable under stress during assembly.
3. Performance Verification
The performance verification of injection products mainly includes verification for mechanical
intensity, heat resistance, weather and age endurance, environmental stress and crack resistance,
chemical resistance, electric property as well as optical performance of transparent products etc, wherein
the mechanical intensity verification comprises such content as verification for tensile strength, impact
strength, bending strength, falling test, fatigue intensity as well as comprehensive intensity of hot and
cold circulation etc.
TVR embodies multiplex contents, wherein the most essential one is verification for the key
dimension and tolerance of plastic parts, for which corresponding assessment standard can be established
by different enterprises. The typical working procedure of TVR is as follows:
Decide the position of drawings, nominal dimension as well as the upper and lower deviation of
the verified project;
Decide the verification methods. Several verification methods can be adopted by an enterprise in
accordance with its own circumstance;
Determine the number and dimension of samples to be verified;
Respectively calculate the intermediate dimension as well as upper and lower deviation, whereof
the formula is as follows:

uTol0 + dTol0
2
uTol0 dTol0
uTolm =
2
uTol0 dTol0
dTolm =
2
Dm = D0 +

Wherein:

Dm : Intermediate dimension.
uTol m , dTolm : Upper and lower deviation based upon intermediate dimension.

(5-1)

D0 : Nominal dimension.
uTol0 , dTol0 : Upper and lower deviation based upon nominal dimension.
Calculate the rate of upper and lower deviation of samples as corresponding to intermediate
dimension, whereof the formula is:

uF =

Dmax Dm
uTolm

dF =

Dmin Dm
dTolm

(5-2)

Wherein:

uF : Upper deviation rate of samples.

dF : Lower deviation rate of samples.

Dmax : Maximum dimension of samples.

Dmin : Minimum dimension of samples.
Conclusion of verification. The enterprise establishes the assessment standard according to the
actual circumstance and thereby concludes whether the products are qualified or unqualified, as
indicated in Fig.5-2.

Fig.5-2: TVR

5.5 MPI
According to the TIR made by testing workers and the TVR by quality inspection department, the
MPI (Manufacture Processing Instruction) can thereby be formulated, wherein the following aspects are
included:
Mold No. and Testing No.
Description of Problem Points.
Dash No. (including Cavity No.).
Countermeasures for Mold Repair.
Mold Repair Department.
Corresponding Dimension and Current Status of TVR.
The factory shall arrange for the repair of mold according to the description of problem points listed
in MPI as well as corresponding solutions, wherein the arrangement for new mechanical processing and
bench work procedures such as polishing may be involved. Moreover, if one of the parts is discarded,
new materials shall be prepared for re-processing to replace the discarded part, which is referred to as
re-processing operation. Upon the completion of processing for parts and components, the bench worker
shall re-assemble them and prepare for re-testing.