Evaluation of warpage of injection moulded parts using RE and FEM approaches

The authors propose an integrated methodology to evaluate the warpage effects of plastic injection molding parts. Numerical simulations of the injection molding process allow the evaluation of the component manufacturability at an early stage in the development cycle, without fabricating prototypes and minimizing experimental tests. A detailed investigation of warpage causes is performed using a Finite Element system. To validate FE results, part surfaces subjected to warpage are reconstructed and measured using a Reverse Engineering system. Through the integration between Finite Element and Reverse Engineering systems, the warpage of parts is analyzed and a study of the influence of process parameters on product quality is performed. The integration of all data represents a powerful approach to critical aspects of part design and/or molding processing.