Abstract:
Gas-Assisted Injection Moulding (GAIM) process is a substantially effective
process for producing plastic parts having a hollow core. This technique can produce
parts with excellent part properties and low cost at the same time. With these advantages,
this process is chosen by a lot of product manufacturers throughout the world.
In previous research, the study always focused on the investigation of parts
containing straight rod-shaped ribs while the handle part has not been examined at all.
The handle parts are one of the important components, which are extensively used in
automotive parts and household appliance. For this reason, the study on handle part was
made. This thesis not only provided certain principal guidelines to achieve the high
quality of handle parts but also proved how poor part-design can influence the part
properties.
Seven crucial parameters, consisting of shot size, delay time, gas time, gas-hold
time, gas pressure, melt temperature and mould temperature, were investigated. Each
parameter influenced on the significant part qualities, including gas volume within the
part, Residual Wall Thickness (RWT), sink depth and bending strength, in different
aspects. Particularly, gas volume and sink depth are the part-properties that have not been
investigated before.
In addition, the more reliable and more accurate methods were implemented to
analyze gas volume, RWT and sink depth of the parts. The gas volume testing and image
processing were the methods used. Furthermore, the rheological properties of materials
were considered as the logical reasons to explicate the mechanism of foam formation
affecting RWT. Moreover, RWT without and with foam were used to explain the
behavior of part bending strength.
In conclusion, the desirable properties of GAIM parts should include high gas
volume, to reduce the use of plastics, high RWT, to maintain part stiffness, low sink
depth, to obtain a good surface appearance and high bending strength, to increase ability
to withstand bending load.