A STUDY ON GATE LOCATION OPTIMIZATION FOR PLASTIC INJECTION MOLDING TO IMPROVE PRODUCT QUALITY

Abstract

Gate location is the position where melt plastic flow was directly injected into the mold cavity for the product formation purpose. The gate location has strong effects on the filling flow and product quality because it is related to the filling flow orientation of the melting material flow in the mold cavity. Defects can be appeared on the product due to selecting the gate location such as: weld lines, wrapage, and shrinkage. Therefore,  gate location is one of the most criteria to control the quality of the injected product. This paper demonstrates a numerical simulation experiment method to find an optimal gate location for the plastic injection molding to reduce defects and enhance the product quality. The defects on the product were analysed and minimized by using a numerical simulation tool. With the computerized simulation method, the optimal gate location is selected, the product defects are easy to detect and control, and the plastic product quality is enhanced.