A study of cooling for steady-state injection molding

Since many current CAE softwares assume the initial temperature condition of the mold to be constant, this research investigates how the initial temperature distribution condition of the mold affects the accuracy of the estimation of the cooling time. Two cases, a mold with uniform temperature and a mold with steady-state temperature distribution due to continuous molding, are analyzed, and indicate a 30% error in cycle time prediction. Finally, the effects of different insert materials on cooling time and the production cycle are discussed.