A Study on the Determination of Virtual Process and Quality Data in Injection Molding Simulation

Abstract

The current applied research study is embedded into the topic of connected industries and industry 4.0 at Robert Bosch GmbH by investigating the potential usage of process simulation to assist process optimization and hence make it more efficient. This work presents the state-of-the-art regarding a comparison between process simulation results on one hand and measured sensor data as well as measured part weight on the other hand. The investigations were carried out at the example of a multi-pin connector device. For the study, commercially available software was used, such as AUTODESK MOLDFLOW AMI® and Moldex3D®. During the injection molding trials using a short glass fiber-reinforced PBT grade in a double cavity mold, the in-mold cavity pressure was recorded with flush-mounted pressure sensors. After processing with varying process parameters, the weight of the samples and two dimensions of the samples were measured. Ten different settings were used for the investigation in order to determine the current gap between simulation results and measured data. Furthermore, the deviations of currently used model approaches and measured material data were discussed to improve the understanding of the gathered results.