Simulation of Injection-Compression Molding

for Optical Media

BINGFENG FAN and DAVID 0.KAZMER

Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA 0 1 003
and

RICHARD P. THERIAULT and ANDREW J. POSUNSKI

GE Plastics
One Plastics Avenue
Piftsfield, M A 01201

A numerical simulation of a coining type of injection-compression molding is de-

veloped. A hybrid finite element/flnite difference method is employed to model the
temperature and pressure fields of the process using a non-isothermal compress-
ible flow model. Simulation results for CD-R molding with respect to injection pres-
sure and mold displacement are compared with experimental observations using
an optical grade of polycarbonate. The simulation shows similar trends as experi-
mental observations on the dependence of various processing parameters such as
melt temperature, mold temperature, and packing pressure. However, the mold
displacement measurement does not show the effect of punch delay time as does
the simulation, and needs further investigation.

INTRODUCTION setpoint, the process switches h m a volumetric flow

I njection-compression molding is widely used in
manufacturing of optical media, such as CD's and
DVD's, using engineering thermoplastics. There are
basically two types of injection-compression molding.
One type is often referred to as stamping, in which the
thickness of the mold cavity is set to be slightly larger
than the nominal thickness of the part before injec-
tion. This thicker cavity allows the polymer melt to
reach the extremities of the cavity under low pressure.
At a certain time during or after the injection stage.
the mold halves start to close, thereby reducing the
mold cavity thickness to the final thickness of the
part. In stamping, the mold closing position is the set
parameter on the machine.
The other type of injection-compression is coining.
In this process, the thickness of the mold cavity is set
to be slightly less than the nominal thickness of the
part init3ally. As the screw moves forward, the cavity
pressure and the mold cavity force exerted on the ma-
chine platen increase. When the force exerted by the
melt on the mold is higher than the clamp force set on
the machine, the mold is blown open to decrease the
cavity pressure. As the screw moves past a machine
rate condition to a packing pressure condition applied
a t the nozzle. During both the filling and packing
stages, a balance is maintained between the mold
cavity force and the clamp force. When the former is
lower than the latter, the mold starts to close. This
continuous mold opening and closing, often referred
to a s 'mold breathing," is distinctive from injection
molding and improves the mold filling and the replica-
tion of grooves or pits at the surface of the discs, and
also reduces the packing pressure and residual stress
in the part. For this type of injection-compression
molding, the clamp tonnage rather than the displace-
ment is the set parameter on the machine as a func-
tion of time.
Because of the initially thicker cavity for stamping
or the mold breathing for coining, injection-compres-
sion molding offers the advantages of lower packing
pressure, homogeneous part quality, lower residual
stress, and higher dimensional accuracy over the
conventional injection molding, and i s well suited
for manufacturing extremely thin parts or complex-
shaped parts, for which conventional injection mold-
ing either can not meet the quality requirements or

596 POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, MARCH 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3
 Simulation of Injection-Compression Moldingfor Optical Media

needs very large clamp tonnage. However, despite the The momentum equation and energy equation are
advantages of injection-compression molding, the the same as in injection molding:
compression stage also adds complexity to the pro-
cess, and makes the process more diflicult to control.
Only a few researchers have presented studies on the
simulation of injection-compressionmolding (1-4). all
of which are based on the stamping process.
Chen et aL (1) developed a numerical algorithm to
simulate the filling stage of the stamping type of injec-
tion-compression molding using a n incompressible where q is the viscosity, P is the pressure, T is the
flow model. Cavity pressure was studied by changing temperature, j is the shear rate, Cp and k are the spe-
the process parameters in the simulation. Limited cific heat and thermal conductivity of the polymer re-
comparison of simulation and experiment was shown spectively.
with fair success. Friedrichs et aL (2) used a n incom- The flow boundary condition is:
pressible viscous flow model to simulate the stamping
type of injection-compression molding a s part of a
birefringence simulation. Kim et al. (3. 4) simulated where h i s the thickness of the mold cavity.
the stamping type of injection-compression molding Integration of the Eq 2 over the gapwise direction re-
using a viscoelastic flow model as part of a birefrin- sults in:
gence simulation. Since the focus of the publications
(2-4) is birefimgence, no cavity pressure results are
shown. As indicated in (5),the simulation with com-
pressible flow model shows better results than with where C, is a coefficient to be determined by a definite
incompressible flow model, especially during the post- integration of Eq 5 over the gapwise direction with the
filling stages. aid of the boundary condition Eq 4. After substitution
Despite the studies on the simulation of the stamp- of the coefficient C,, Eq 5 becomes:
ing process, the simulation of coining has not been
found in literature. In this study, both types of injec-
tion-compression molding processes are simulated
based on a compressible viscous flow model. A unified
formulation of finite element method and finite differ- where
ence method is used to solve the pressure and tem-
perature problems for the filling, packing, and cooling
stages. Simulation results of the coining type for CD-
R molding with respect to injection pressure and mold
displacement are compared with experimental obser-
vations using an optical grade of polycarbonate. The Jo q
simulation shows similar trends a s experimental ob- A second integration of Eq 5 over gapwise direction
servations on the dependence of various processing from z to k using the boundary condition Eq 4 again
parameters such as melt temperature, mold tempera- results in:
ture, and packing pressure. However, the mold dis-
placement measurement does not show the effect of
punch delay time as does the simulation, and needs
further investigation. Substituting Eq 7 into Eq 1, and integrating over the
gapwise direction, one obtains:
MATHEMATICAL MODELING
For a compressible viscous flow of simple one-
dimensional geometry, the governing equations for in-
jection-compression molding ara.
The continuity equation is modified from injection where the fluidity 5 is d e h e d as:
molding (6) to account for flow displacement from the
decrease or increase in cavity thickness. The last term
on the left-hand side of Eq 1 cannot be neglected for
injection-compressionmolding: h = dh/dt is the mold closing or opening speed, and
p, is the density of the polymer at the moving mold
wall.
According to Chiang (5),the right hand side of Eq 9
where p is density, x is the flow direction, u is the ve- can be further decomposed in order to obtain the pres-
locity in the flow direction, z is the gapwise direction, sure field, and the final expression is written as Eq 11.
and w is the velocity in the gapwise direction. which will be solved by a finite element method (7):

POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, MARCH 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3 597
 Bingfeng Fan, David 0.Kazmer, Richard P. Therhdt, and Andrew J. Poslinski
where
are modeled by Tait equation.
The energy equation is solved by a Anite difference
method to obtain the temperature field across the part
and through the thickness. The boundary condition
for temperature can be either a constant mold wall
temperature, which is:
or a Biot convection boundary condition a t cooling
line, which is:
where h, is the heat transfer coefficient between the
mold and the coolant, and T, is the coolant tempera-
ture.
During the filling stage, a flow rate boundary condi-
tion is applied at the inlet and the melt front is con-
sidered a free surface; during packing, the melt front
is made impermeable and a pressure boundary condi-
tion is applied at the inlet.
NUMERICAL ALGORITHM
Galerkin's method (7)is employed to solve the pres-
sure problem Eq 11. The disc is treated a s one-dimen-
sional geometry, and the disc elements are formulated
as strips with incremental width so that the governing
equations for channel flow can be used for modeling
disc geometries. Following the similar procedures to
Chiang (5)for injection molding, using linear interpo-
lation functions, the nodal pressure expression for in-
jection-compression molding of a n element (1). whose
length is LI'),can be written as:
follow from standard discretization methods. The svs-
tern equation was solved by the method of successive
under-relaxation (SUR) (8).
The temperature field is obtained by solving the en-
ergy equation using a finite difference method. The
implicit scheme (9)is employed in the finite difference
formulation to guarantee stability:
598
where Fo is the Fourier number defined as:
For the coining simulation. the following algorithm
is employed for the estimation of the mold breathing.
During the mold opening and closing, the thickness of
the mold cavity is not known a priori. A shooting algo-
rithm (8)is employed to calculate the cavity thickness
based on the force balance as described below:
Calculate the temperature field using the thick-
ness from the previous time step as a n initial
guess.
Calculate the cavity pressure with the h source
term (his z m prior to injection).
Integrate the cavity pressure across the mold to
obtain the force that is exerted on mold wall.
Compare the mold cavity force with the clamp
force set on the machine.
If a significant force difference exists, restore old
temperature, pressure, and viscosity, etc. pro-
files. Adjust the mold cavity thickness in propor-
tion to the error in clamp tonnage, calculate the
h source term, and alter the element properties
according to the thickness change. Go to step 1.
Once the cavity force converges to the clamp
force, the thickness is correct for this time step.
Move on to the next time step.
Compared with the coining simulation, the algo-
rithm for stamping type is relatively simple, since
there is no need for the force convergence. The follow-
ing algorithm is employed for the simulation of the
compression stage of the stamping process:
1. Calculate the temperature field using the thick-
ness from the previous time step.
2. Read cavity. thiclmess set on the machine. Cal-
culate the h source term, and alter the element
properties according to the thickness change.
3. Calculate the cavity pressure with the h source
term.
4. Move on to the next time step.
MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATIONS
All material properties including PVT,specific heat.
thermal conductivity, and viscosity used in the simu-
lation were characterized, and a fitting routine was
developed to extract the material coefficients from the
test data. The fitting algorithm is Levenberg-Mar-
quardt method (also called Marquardt Method), which
POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, MARCH 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3
 Simulation of Injection-Compression Molding for Optical Media

works very well in practice, and has become a stand- Ilo(T. P)

ard of non-linear least-square routines (8).
The G and F terms in Eq 11 are derived from the
pressure, volume, and temperature 0 state equa-
tion of polymers, which can be well represented by
Tait equation ( 10):
(26)
1+
where n denotes the power-law index, T* is a critical
stress level at which q is in transition between the
Newtonian limit, q0 is the zero-shear-rate viscosity,
and j is the shear rate.

where for T > Tt (P), .Io(rp) = Dl exp(- -A2 + (T-T*)

T*)
)
T > T,
Uo = b1,l + b2.l (T - b5)

B(T) = b3.s exp (- b4.s (T- b5)) (23) where T, is the glass transition temperature which is
obtained from fitting the PVT equation of state. The
WithT,(P) = b5 + b,P. b1.t- b43 bl,,- b4,,, b5, and parameters ( n, T*, Dl. 4, D3, A1, &) are material
b, being material parameters. constants, which are determined by curve fitting ex-
The following empirical functional forms are utilized perimental shear-viscosity data.
to model variable specific heat and thermal conductiv- AU material properties-figures and tabulated data-
ity of thermoplastic polymers (5): are available in ( 12).
Cp(T) = c1 + %(T - C5) + % tanh(c4(T- C5)) (24)
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
k(T) = A, + X,(T - A,) + X3 tanh(h,(T - AS)) (25) Geometry and Processiug Condition@
- -
where cl c5, A1 X5 are all material dependent con- The geometry and dimensional data of a CD-R with
stants. the sprue system are shown in m. 1. The nominal
The viscosity is modeled by the modified Cross-WLF thickness is 1.20 mm. The initial mold cavity thick-
model (11): ness is set to be 1.15 rnrn before molding. The final

Fig. 1. Geometry and dimensions o f a C D R with sprue.

POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, MARCH 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3 599
 BinSlfeng Fan, David 0.Kazmer, Richard P. Thericuilt, and Andrew J. Poslinski
Table 1 . Screw Speed as a Function of Position.
Position (rnrn)
Speed (rnrnls)
thickness of the part is determined by the mold move-
ment, and the shrinkage due to the free quench in the
air after demolding. The processing conditions used in
the experiment are next described.
Filling: The flow rate is controlled by the screw
speed, which is profiled to be slow at the start of injec-
tion and increase with the disc radius so as to best
maintain constant melt front velocity during the filling
stage. A 4-stage screw speed profile is listed in Table
1. The diameter of the screw is 28 mm.
Packing: A 3-step packing pressure profile is used,
which gradually decreases the packing pressure in
the cavity as the melt solidifies. The profile is listed in
Table 2. Note that the value of the packing pressure is
the hydraulic pressure. The melt pressure a t the noz-
zle is calculated by the hydraulic pressure multiplied
by an intensity factor, which is 12.36 for the machine
used in this study.
Clamping:A 3-step clamp force profile is used to
allow the mold to open (breathe) during the Ailing to
promote flow then close during the packing to pro-
mote pressure uniformity and feature replication. The
profile is listed in TQble3.
Other conditions include melt temperature, 310°C.
mold coolant temperature, 107"C, and punch delay
time, set to 0.3 seconds.
Injection Presmure
Because of the performance requirement of the part
aesthetics, it is not allowable to place transducers into
the mold cavity, so the cavity pressure is not moni-
tored. The pressure a t the hydraulic end of the ma-
chine is measured instead to infer the real pressure at
the nozzle. The simulated melt pressure at the nozzle,
and the pressure measured at the hydraulic end ad-
justed by the intensity factor are shown in %. 2. The
step effect of the flow rate on the filling pressure is
clearly seen from the simulated curve. When the mold
is completely Alled, the screw continues to move for-
ward, packing more material into the mold cavity. As
a result, the pressure will increase significantly, which
can be seen from the simulation curve. At the time of
0.195 s (0).the cavity is filled. As more material is
packed into the mold cavity, the pressure increases
sharply from 56.10 MPa a t 0.195 s to 71.94 MPa at
0.198 s (0).at which point, the force exerted on the
mold wall by cavity pressure is greater than the clamp
force set on the machine, and the mold starts to open.
As the mold continues to open up, the pressure drops
gradually from 71.94 MPa a t 0.198 s to 64.79 MPa at
0.239 s (@), at which point, the screw speed switches
over from 120 mm/sec to 80 mrn/sec, causing a dra-
matic decrease of the pressure. At about 0.247 s (a),
600
the screw reaches its full shot, the filling-packing
switchover condition applies, and the process switches
from the filling stage to the packing stage.
As can be seen from Fig. 2, the peak simulation
pressure is very close to the measured pressure. The
pressure increase due to the switchover from the sec-
ond to the third step of flow rate, and the pressure de-
crease due to the switchover from the third to the
forth step of flow rate can also be seen from the meas-
ured curve. However, if the beginning of the filling is
taken to be when the hydraulic pressure starts to in-
crease, the overall filling time for the experiment is
about 0.288 s, 0.041 s longer than in the simulation.
which is about 0.247 s. The calculated AUing time is
0.261 s without taking into account the melt com-
pressibility. In the simulation, the switchover condi-
tion from the filling to the packing stage is the mass of
the melt initially in the barrel before injection. At any
time step during the AUing, the mass in the barrel is
updated by:
M-= M
, - dt* M
where M - is the mass of current time step, Mb, is
the mass of last time step, df is the length of the time
step, and M is the mass flow rate during this time
step. When the melt in the barrel is injected, the pro-
cess switches from filling to packing. Since the pro-
cess is modeled with a compressible flow model, the
compressibility is considered in the calculation of the
mass flow rate. In addition, the specific volume of the
melt is calculated as a function of temperature and
pressure at different times and locations. Therefore,
the simulated filling time is thought to be closer to the
true filling time.
The slope and magnitude of the simulated and meas-
ured pressure curves during the filling stage differ con-
siderably, and the switchover of the flow rate from the
first to the second step cannot be seen in the experi-
mental data. This discrepancy may be due to: 1) im-
precise velocity control on the machine not obtaining
Table 2. Packing Pressure as a Function of Time.
Time (s) 0.05 0.15 0.40
Pressure (MPa) 2.45 1.47 0.40
Table 3. Clamp Force Profile.
Clamp Force (kN) 267 196 133
Duration (s) 0.8 1.50 1 .OO
Ramp Time (s) 0.2 0.10 0.50
POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, MARCH 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3
 Simulation of Irijection-CompressionMoldingfor Optical Media
0 0.1 0.2 0.3
Time (s)
Fig. 2. Pressure at nozzle: simulation us. aqmhent
the specified profile, 2) the resistance along the screw
from the hydraulic end to the nozzle, 3) possible re-
verse flow between the screw and the barrel, and 4)
the compressibility of the melt in the barrel during the
filling stage. The observed hydraulic pressure also
drops to a negative value after the switchover from the
filling stage to the packing stage, which is abnormal
since the pressure of the fluid cannot drop below zero.
One possible reason is that the back flow under pres-
sure in the hydraulic cylinder causes a n abnormality
of the instrument. This abnormality is also deemed
as the reason of the different rate and magnitude of
the pressure drop during mold opening. The discrep-
ancy of filling time and the magnitude of the pressure
between the experiment and the simulation reveals
the complexity of the process control of the injection-
compression and that it is not reliable to use the hy-
draulic pressure of the machine as a n accurate indi-
cation of the melt pressure in the mold cavity. As
such, transducers in the mold cavity are still desirable
to obtain accurate mold cavity pressure.
Mold Dieplacement
The simulated mold movement, and the experimen-
tal data are shown in Fig. 3. At 0.198 s (0).the cavity
force exceeds the clamp tonnage and the mold opens.
At 0.555 s (a), the sprue is punched off the main disc,
thereby completely shutting off the back flow. The
pressure then experiences isochoric decay, and hence
the rate of the pressure decay is expected to be lower
t h a n t h a t before the punch. The effect of sprue
POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, MARCH 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3
-Experiment
-Simulation
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
punch-off and back flow will be talked about in more
detail later in the discussion. The change of the pres-
sure decay rate can be seen by the simulated mold
displacement curve in Fig. 3. However, in the experi-
ment, the change of decay rate is not observed, al-
though there is a slight jump due to effect of the
punch force on the mold half. One possi%le reason is
that at the time of punch, when the core of the part is
still in the melt state, the punch force is not high
enough to completely cut off the sprue, and shut off
the back flow. This supposition is further evidenced
by the rough edge of the punched region of the disc
under microscopic examination.
The maximum mold opening is very sensitive to the
melt mass calculation, since when the mold cavity is
filled, any additional melt that is injected into the cav-
ity can cause a signiflcant pressure increase. There
are a number of reasons that can account for the
slightly over prediction of the mold displacement de-
spite the utilization of mass switchover condition dis-
cussed. One possible reason is that the melt tempera-
ture in the barrel is not homogeneous, and there may
be a difference between the set value and the real
value. The unknown temperature heterogeneity within
the melt causes the error in calculation of the mass
that exits the barrel in the simulation. Also, the vis-
cous heating at the nozzle is not taken into account in
the simulation.
The geometry modeling also has a great effect on
the mold displacement. A s is shown in the detailed
view in Fig. 1, the juncture between the inner disc and
 Bingfeng Fan,David 0.Kazmer, Richard P. Theriauli and Andrew J. Podinski
0 1
Fig. 3. Mold displacement. simulation us. eqeriment
the main disc will be punched during the molding
process. Study has shown that the juncture has a sig-
nificant effect on pressure loss and back flow, such
that mold displacement is very sensitive to this junc-
ture effect. A 0.3-mm-thick, 1 .O-mm-wide circular
geometry is inserted between the inner disc and the
main disc in the simulation to mimic the transition
area of the mold. Figure 4 shows the simulation re-
sults of mold displacement before and after geometry
of the juncture is modeled. It is observed that the
juncture lowers both the maximum mold opening be-
cause of the pressure loss, and the mold cavity thick-
ness decay rate prior to the punch because of the
damping effect of the juncture on the back flow.
Effects of Compression on Flow
The velocity profiles at radial locations of 27.2 mm.
33.8 mm, 40.3 mm, 46.9 rnrn, 53.4 mm, and 60 rnm
at 0.195 s just before molding opening are shown in
Fig. 5a. As is observed, the velocities closer to gate are
gene& higher than those away from the gate. A so-
lidified >;iyernear mold wall is observed, as the veloc-
ity the1L is zero. At the melt front, only the material in
contact with the mold wall solidifies, and as a result,
the velocity at 60 mm close to mold wall is higher
than those at other locations. The velocity profiles of
602
-Experiment
-Simulation
2 3 4
T im e (s)
the same locations a t 0.223 s during mold opening
are shown in Fig. 5b. As can be seen by the velocity
profiles, more material has solidified, especially at
melt front. The velocity profiles at 0,307 s just after
mold closing are shown in Fig. 5c. A s expected, all the
velocities are negative, indicating that the melt in the
mold cavity starts reverse flow, a s a result of the
clamp force. The velocity profiles a t 1.315 s after
punch are shown in Fig. 5d An interesting phenome-
non is illustrated by this figure. After punch, the
sprue is cut off, and therefore no back flow is possi-
ble. The flow in the cavity is totally due to the com-
pressibility of the melt. The melt flow within the cavity
at different locations is determined by the pressure
field, solidification of the melt, and the displacement
of the mold. At the time of 1.315 s, somewhere be-
tween 40.3 mm and 46.9 mm, the velocity is close to
zero, while the material on the gate side flows to the
gate direction, the material on the other side flows to
direction of the rim of the disc in response to the com-
pression exerted by the clamp force.
Effects of Melt Temperature on
Mold Displacement
In order to study the effects of melt temperature on
mold displacement, the melt temperature is changed
POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, MARCH 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3
 Simulation of Ieection-CompressionMoldingfor Optical Media

W i t h Juncture
Geometry
- Without Juncture
Geometry

0 1 2 3 4
Time (s)
Fig. 4. ZRe effect ofjuncture geometry on mold displacement

to 320°C and 300°C respectively with other processing
conditions unchanged. The experimental and simu-
lated mold displacements are shown in Fig. 6a and
6b. It is observed that both the experiment and the
simulation show that the higher the melt tempera-
ture, the lower the Anal thickness. This can be well
explained from the simulation results. During mold
opening, higher melt temperature results in lower vis-
cosity of the polymer melt, which reduces the flow re-
sistance. As such, the lower viscosity of polymer melt
generates lower injection pressure, and results in
lower the maximum mold opening. The same reason-
ing holds for the packing stage during the mold clos-
ing. The lower melt temperature results in higher
resistance during mold closing, and higher final
thickness. In the experiment curves, the differentia-
tion of the maximum mold opening is not so apprecia-
ble.
Effects of Mold Temperature on
Mold Displacement
The effects of mold temperature on mold displace-
ment are studied by varying the mold temperature to
114°C and 100°C respectively without changing any
other processing conditions. The experimental and
simulated mold displacement curves are shown in Fig.
7aand b. As can be seen, both experiment and simu-
lation are in agreement that the higher the mold tem-
perature, the higher the Anal thickness. But the mold
displacement in the experiment is more sensitive to
mold temperature than in the simulation.
Effects of Punch Delay Time on
Mold Displacement
To study the effects of punch delay time on mold
displacement, the punch delay time is varied to 0.5 s
and 0.1 s respectively with other parameters un-
changed. The experimental and simulated mold dis-
placement curves are shown in Fig. 8a and 8b. The
punch delay time is the time after the onset of pack-
ing stage when the inner disc and the sprue is
punched off the main disc. In the simulation, the ef-
fect of punch delay time on mold displacement is sig-
nificant. After the punch of the sprue, the back flow is
completely shut off. The pressure then experiences
isochoric decay, and hence the rate of the pressure
decay represented by the thickness decrease is lower
than that before the punch. The change of pressure
decay rate due to the shutting off of back flow by
punch is clearly illustrated by the simulation curves.
However, in the measured curves, the change of decay
rate is not observed. The three curves cannot be dif-
ferentiated clearly except the slight jumps occurring
at the time of punch. One possible reason is that at
the time of punch, when the core of the part is still in
melt state, the punch force is not high enough to com-
pletely cut off the sprue, and shut off the back flow as
is discussed in the Mold Displacement section.
Effects of Packing Pressure on
Mold Displacement
'hvo other 3-stage packing pressure profiles are used
as hlgh and low values in order to study the effects of

POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, MARCH 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3 603
Bingfeng Fan,David 0.Kazmer, Richard P. T h e m and Andrew J. Poslinski

Fig. 5. Velocity p r o p s at di~erenttime (a)0.195 s (b) 0.223 s (c)0.307 s (41.315 s.

POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, MARCH 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3

 Simulation of Znjcction-CompressionMoldingfor Optical Media

0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4
Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 8. Mold displacement at &&?rent punch &delay times (4) eqehmmt (b) simulation.

packing pressure on the mold displacement, which CONCLUSIONS

are listed in Table 4. The experimental and simulated
Injection-compression molding of both stamping
mold displacement curves are shown in Fig. 9a and b.
and coining types is simulated by a compressible vis-
Clearly, the packing pressure has a great effect on the
cous flow model. A unified finite element and finite
mold displacement. The simulation result of the high-
difference method is utilized to model the pressure
est packing pressure indicates that the maximum
and the temperature fields for the filling, packing, and
mold opening is aver predicted. The reason of the aver
cooling stages of the injection-compression molding.
prediction is deemed to be the under prediction of the
Simulation results of injection pressure and mold dis-
juncture pressure loss, which lets more pressure
placement for coining type of injection-compression
"penetrate" into the mold cavity. The effect of the
punch delay time discussed in the previous section
causes further difference of the final thickness be- Table 4. High and Low Values of Packing Pressure.
tween the simulation and the experiment since
the simulation is very sensitive to the punch delay Stage 1 ST 2ND 3RD
time, while the effect can not be observed in the High (Mpa) 3.92 1.96 0.98
Low (Mpa) 1.18 0.49 0.00
experiment.

POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, MARCH 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3 605
 Bingfeng Fan,David 0.Kazmer, Richard P. lk~&~&,
and Andrew J. Poslinski

molding of a CD-R are compared with experimental
data under different processing conditions. The dis-
crepancy of the pressure during mold filling is attrib-
uted to the inaccuracy of the representation of the
cavity pressure by the hydraulic pressure due to the
resistance, reverse flow, and compressibility of the
melt in the barrel. The comparison of the simulation
and experimental data of mold displacement shows
fairly good agreement. The effect of gate shut-off due
to the punch of the sprue is not seen from the experi-
ment, and needs further investigation.
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POLYMER ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE, MARCH 2003, Vol. 43, No. 3