JPH0148130B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an injection compression molding apparatus.

In injection molding, molten resin is injected into a cavity that is strictly fixed by the mold structure, and the sprue and runner parts are released from the injection cylinder through an operation called holding pressure until the thin part of the gate part solidifies. Pressure is applied through the resin to prevent the resin in the cavity from flowing back, and after solidifying the gate, the heat in the resin in the cavity is transferred to the mold and cooled to form a product.

The density of a molten resin is usually lower than that of a solid, and as the molten resin solidifies, its volume decreases, that is, shrinkage occurs. As an example, consider a product with a diameter of 100 mm and a wall thickness of 10 mm. Assuming that the resin density is 1.17 in the molten state and 1.20 in the solid state, when the volume in the molten state is equal to the volume of the cavity (78.54 cc), it solidifies and reaches room temperature. It becomes 76.57cc. If we assume that this reduced volume is caused by contraction only in the thickness direction, the thickness of the finished product will be 9.75 mm, which is 0.25 mm.
The wall thickness is insufficient by mm.

In order to deal with such shrinkage, a method of overpacking the mold until it opens slightly at the parting line has been considered, and a method of controlling the amount of mold opening at that time (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 50-39351) and a method of overpacking the mold until it opens slightly at the parting line have been studied. Use a cavity that makes it easy to
Rolinx method (“New concept in injection”
molding，Rolinx process extended
application of plastics”Plastics, 30333, April.
(1965)) have been proposed. In addition, a small hydraulic cylinder is buried in the mold so that the cavity core can be moved forward and backward, or an ejector cylinder is used to intentionally enlarge the cavity for injection, and after filling is completed, the hydraulic cylinder is moved forward. It was proposed to reduce the cavity and obtain a molded product with a predetermined thickness by using micromolder method (H. Holt: "New techniques").
in shrinkage control”SPE J, P519, Jun.
(1964)).

Of course, the most basic method is to design the cavity larger in anticipation of this contraction, but
In the case of thick-walled products or products with uneven thickness, such a design is virtually impossible and requires repeated trial and error.

It has been recognized that the above-mentioned overpacking method also has the drawback of requiring high injection pressure, and that when the product has uneven thickness, the shrinkage correction effect is limited in the thin wall portion where shrinkage is small. In the case of the micromolder method, the cylinder drum advances as it contracts, and although the product surface on the moving core side is produced with good precision, the facing precision is not sufficient.

In view of this current situation, ENGEL (LUDWIG ENGEL KG MACHINEN) has developed an injection compression molding method that uses mold clamping force to perform compression operations.
FABRIK, A-4311 SCHWERTBERG
AUSTRIA), this method uses the toggle type mold clamping force as compression pressure, and is an innovative method in which the toggle is held so that it is not fully extended during the injection process, and is fully extended during the compression process. It is something.

However, the toggle compression method has the disadvantage that the compression pressure cannot be controlled. The necessity of controlling the compression pressure indicates the relationship between "pressure applied to the resin - specific volume of the resin - temperature of the resin"
This can be explained using the PVT curve as follows.
The horizontal axis shows the resin temperature T, the vertical axis shows the specific volume V of the resin, and the relationship between V and T of the resin under a constant added pressure P (which can be considered as the pressure of the resin as a reaction) The PVT curve in Figure 1 shows this.

Using the above-mentioned injection compression molding equipment, let's follow this graph to see how resin is injected into the mold cavity, compressed, and taken out. If the end point of the primary injection pressure is indicated by (V→P)A, it is the process A- in which the resin pressure increases while the resin temperature decreases due to injection.
Even if pressure holding is completed, the resin temperature continues to fall, and since there is no external pressure, the volume contracts and becomes the specific volume when the pressure is low, so the process B-C is followed. If the toggle is fully extended and the compression operation is performed while taking into account backflow, the resin pressure will increase while the resin temperature has hardly cooled, resulting in process C-D. Assuming that the toggle is fully extended at this time, the process of decreasing the resin temperature and decreasing the pressure will be D-E.
It is. At this time, the specific volume decreases, so the resin is moved, and pressure is applied to the resin in a state where its fluidity is deteriorated, causing distortion. After this, when the mold is opened after reaching the ejecting temperature, the resin pressure increases in the process of increasing the specific volume because the external pressure decreases E-F
This is followed by process FG in which the resin temperature reaches room temperature under atmospheric pressure, and the molding is completed.

The molding shrinkage rate in this case can be determined from the difference in specific volume between E and G. In the toggle compression method, the arm length is fixed, so the pressure is adjusted by positioning, but the pressure varies depending on the mold temperature, tie bar temperature, and position settings, so the pressure cannot be fixed. Have difficulty. For this reason, it is difficult to control the compression pressure, and on the PVT curve, the end point when the toggle is fully extended is D.
It is unclear whether it is D' and cannot be controlled.

On the other hand, in the compression method using direct pressure hydraulic pressure, the maximum compression pressure can be precisely adjusted, and the
If the compression pressure is controlled to decrease so that the specific volume of the resin remains constant as the resin temperature decreases as shown in the figure, the resin will not deform at all during the solidification process, so distortion may occur. do not have. This shows that if steps A to G in the upper part of FIG. 2 are followed, molding with a constant molding shrinkage rate is possible. In this case, the difference in volume between the cavity and the resin is the difference in the specific volumes of D and G. Since it is possible to control the structure of the cavity to keep it constant, this allows molding to have a constant molding shrinkage rate from cycle to cycle.

Based on the above considerations, the present invention proposes an injection compression molding device that enables direct pressure compression. (1) How to increase the volume of the cavity and how to control it. (2) The aim is to solve the following problems: (3) how to smoothly open and close the mold to take out the product; and (3) how to obtain a compression process that allows compression to be controlled.

In order to achieve the above object, the injection compression molding apparatus of the present invention includes a long-stroke mold opening/closing hydraulic cylinder whose cylinder ram is directly connected to the movable die plate, and a mold opening/closing hydraulic cylinder that is fixed. and a tie bar support plate that is slidable on the bed of the molding machine and supports the tie bar, a compression hydraulic cylinder fixed to the tie bar support plate and having one end of the tie bar as a cylinder ram, and the molding machine. a fixed die plate fixed to the bed and to which the tie bar is fixed; a length-changeable adjustment means provided between the tie bar support plate and the movable die plate; A key is provided between the movable die plate and the movable die plate or the tie bar support plate, and the key is provided between the movable die plate and the tie bar support plate. It is configured to be inserted so that they are in contact with each other, and to be removed when removing the product.

FIG. 3 shows the correlation between the distance between the die plates, the distance between the tie bar support plate and the movable die plate, and the tie bar length for each process in the injection compression molding apparatus of the present invention, and using this, the concept of the present invention can be explained. explain.

FIG. 3a shows the distance between each plate during low-pressure mold clamping, and the tie bar length is l.
The distance l' between the stationary die plate 1 and the movable die plate 2 corresponds to the mold thickness. The distance l'' between the movable die plate 2 and the tie bar support plate 3 can be varied by moving the movable die plate 2 using a cylinder ram. During this time, the distance l'' can be set precisely. A means is provided to retract the cylinder ram during injection and stop it at the retraction limit. The arrangement at this time is as shown in FIG. 3b.

The mold is slightly opened between parting lines (PL) or other mold plates, and the mold thickness is (l′+δ). We are told to compress this δ. In this case, the above setting is possible by setting l″ to (l″−δ).

Even if the injection pressure is high during injection, (l″−δ) and l
One of the features of the present invention is that it is designed to hold the following. During injection, the cavity volume increases slightly due to the injection pressure, which causes l to expand slightly and (l″-δ) to compress slightly, but these are ignored here.

A compression cylinder required for the compression process after injection is installed on the tie bar support plate 3 so that the end of the tie bar serves as a cylinder ram, and high pressure oil is sent to the die plate on the fixed side of the cylinder to move the cylinder ram. When it is moved backward, l becomes shorter as shown in Figure 3c, and becomes (l - δ), and the distance between the die plates becomes l', which changes from (l + δ) at the time of injection.
It will be compressed to l′. At this time, if the fixed die plate 1 is fixed to the molding machine bed and the tie bar support plate 3 is made to be able to slide on the bed, the tie bar support plate 3 will move toward the fixed die plate 1 during the compression process. Advance.

The present invention relates to a means for maintaining the distance between the movable die plate 2 and the tie bar support plate 3 at (l″−δ) even if the injection pressure increases during injection filling, and the compression operation is performed on the tie bar support plate 3 after injection. The compression can be carried out using a hydraulic cylinder for compression, which uses the tie bar itself as a cylinder ram, and can freely open the mold to take out the product and close the mold for the next cycle. Furthermore, the compression margin can be reduced to microns (μm). This invention relates to an injection compression molding apparatus in which a means that can be set in units is provided between a movable die plate 2 and a tie bar support plate 3.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a model representation of the compression margin setting means in the present invention. A mold is placed between a fixed die plate 1 and a movable die plate 2, which are fixed to the molding machine bed. is configured. The movable template 6 has a complicated structure because it incorporates an ejector mechanism, but is omitted for the sake of simplicity. A mold opening/closing cylinder 9 having a mold opening/closing cylinder ram 8 is attached, and a compression margin setting mechanism is provided between a tie bar support plate 3 supporting tie bars and a movable die plate 2. The dashed line inside each cylinder indicates the side to which oil is being fed.

In FIG. 4, the key 10 is connected to the tie bar support plate 3.
The cylinder ram 8 is inserted between the adjusting means for setting the compression margin and the movable die plate 2, and the cylinder ram 8 is in the retracted state at the time of injection shown in the upper part of FIG. The state shown in FIG. 3b is reached. In the lower part of FIG. 4, high pressure oil is sent to the front side of the compression hydraulic cylinder 14 with one end of the tie bar 13 as a cylinder ram, and the tie bar support plate 3 advances toward the stationary die plate 1 via the tie bar. , the tie bar length is shortened, the daylight is shortened by this operation, and the cavity volume, which was set slightly larger, becomes the product's predetermined thickness.

As the resin cools, the compression pressure is reduced, and when compression is complete, oil is sent to the rear of the compression hydraulic cylinder 14 to lengthen the tie bar, and the key 10 is removed as shown in the lower part of Figure 5 to open and close the mold. The cylinder ram 8 is moved back and the mold is opened to take out the product. After removing the product and making it ready for injection again, move the mold opening/closing cylinder ram 8 forward, insert the key 10, and press the mold opening/closing cylinder ram 8.
Retract and make it ready for injection. This is the fifth
This is the upper part of the figure. Here, 15 is a nol provided on the stationary die plate 1.

Adjustment means 11, 12 and key 10 are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.
It is possible to arrange one set around the cylinder ram 8 as shown in the figure, or to arrange around another tie bar, or to arrange in a space other than the tie bar or cylinder ram. . Further, the adjusting means 11 and 12 may be attached to the movable die plate 2.

In FIG. 6a, when the number of keys 10 is two, adjustment means 11 and 12 for setting the compression margin are shown.
2 shows the positional relationship in which the key 10, which is attached to a mounting rod 16 arranged vertically with the adjusting means, is rotated about the mounting rod 16 and inserted. 6th
In figure b the mounting rod 16 is juxtaposed with the adjustment means. In FIG. 6c, there is only one key 10, which is attached to the cylinder ram 8 and inserted into the adjustment means 11, 12. This insertion force can be appropriately applied by a hydraulic cylinder, an air cylinder, a motor, or the like. The number of adjustment means for setting the compression margin is not limited to two, but can be set to several, or can be configured as an integral unit as shown in FIG. 6c.

Figure 7a shows a case where a block with four legs on the outer periphery of the mold opening/closing cylinder ram and a length longer than the mold opening/closing stroke is used as a key. The mold can be switched between the position where the four legs of a touch the mold, and the position where the four legs of a touch the mold, and the position where the mold can be freely inserted into the interior without any contact when rotated 45 degrees, allowing the mold to be opened and closed freely.
In addition, the shapes of the adjusting means 11, 12 and the key 10 are
It is also effective to do as shown in the figure.

Although the keys used in FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 are of the rotary type, a sliding type key driven by an air cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder may also be used. An example is shown in FIG. A ring 20 corresponding to adjustment means 11 and 12 for setting the compression margin is provided on the outer periphery of the mold opening/closing cylinder ram 8.
The key 21 is driven by the hydraulic cylinder 22 and slides along the guide 23, and when it reaches the position indicated by the broken line in the figure, the key is fully inserted. When viewed from the side, the configuration in this case is as shown in FIG. 9b, and when the key 21 is separated from the cylinder ram 8, the mold can be opened and closed freely. The hydraulic cylinder 22 can be fixed on the tie bar support plate 3, the movable die plate 2, or the tie bar.

The means for performing injection with a compression margin of a predetermined thickness without high-pressure mold clamping during injection and for later freely opening and closing the mold for taking out the product has been described in detail.

Next, as a method for setting the compression margin δ, (i) the adjustment means for setting the compression margin is configured to directly change the length of the rod or the length of the ring.

(ii) The adjustment means for setting the compression margin is configured to change the mounting position of a rod of a certain length.

It is possible that

In the first method, the length can be adjusted in microns by attaching a micrometer head to the tip of the rod. In other words, the lengths of each rod can be adjusted using a micrometer head so that they are equal in length. A precision screw can be used as an alternative to the micrometer head. In this case, in order to make settings in microns, it is difficult to balance the lengths of several rods unless the screw diameter is large or the angle indexing mechanism is not good.

Figure 10a shows that the keys may vary in length. However, it is difficult to provide a function to adjust the length of the horseshoe-shaped key shown in b.

The second method is to configure the adjusting means with a rod 24 and adjust its mounting position.As a model, as shown in Fig. 11, the result is achieved by tightening the threaded part. The rod length L changes accordingly.

As an example using this, as shown in FIG. 11b, a position adjustment plate 25 having a threaded portion on the outer periphery and a position adjustment base 25 connected to the tie bar support plate 3 is attached to a position adjustment plate 25 having a threaded portion on the inner periphery. When installed, the rod length changes due to the tie bar support plate 3 and position adjustment plate 2.
6, ΔL is obtained, and the effective rod length is L. The lengths of all the rods 24 of the compression margin adjustment means are set to a constant length, and the rods 24 are mounted by pressing them against the position adjustment plate 26 with a spring 27. When using this method, the diameter of the position adjustment base 25 can be increased, so that highly accurate adjustment is possible. For example, φ400mm
If the base is 3 mm and the pitch of the screw is 3 mm, it is possible to move forward and backward by 24 μm per 10 mm distance on the outer periphery, and the change is linear and extremely easy to control. In the case of the one-piece rod shown in FIG. 7, a screw with a large diameter can be used, and it is easier to adjust the length of the rod itself.

FIG. 12 shows a structure in which the rod length can be changed using the structure shown in FIG. 7c. In the structure shown in Fig. 7c, the compression allowance adjustment rod is replaced by a rod portion 32 attached to an adjustment screw plate 31, and when this adjustment screw plate 31 is attached to the adjustment base 30, the compression allowance adjustment rod shown in Fig. 4 can be set. Adjustment means 11 and 12 for
The sum of the lengths corresponds to the assembled length L of 30, 31, and 32, and L can be varied by ΔL by the screw fitting portions 30 and 31. ΔL is required to be the maximum mold thickness - minimum mold thickness + compression margin δ, and is approximately expressed as maximum mold thickness - minimum mold thickness.

As described above, the present invention provides an injection molding apparatus that increases the thickness of the cavity in the mold during injection by adjusting the distance between the support plate of the tie bar and the movable die plate to be constant in order to take up the compression margin. Moreover, the compression margin can be maintained by the adjustment means and the key, without relying on the clamping force of the mold opening/closing cylinder.After filling the cavity, the compression margin can be maintained by the mold clamping force of the hydraulic cylinder for compression. Compression can be performed using force, and the mold can be opened and closed freely to take out the product.
The resin does not deform at all during the solidification process, making it possible to obtain a product without distortion.

When the molding apparatus of the present invention is used to inject resin containing a foaming agent in the state shown in the lower part of Figure 4, and then the mold is opened as shown in the upper part of Figure 4, the injected resin foams. Injection foam molding can be performed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a so-called PVT curve that shows the change in specific volume with respect to resin temperature, using the pressure applied to the resin as a parameter, and shows the change when injection compression molding is performed using a toggle compression process. ,
Figure 2 shows the ideal process when injection compression molding is performed using a direct pressure compression process on the same PVT curve, and Figure 3 shows the low pressure when using the injection compression molding apparatus of the present invention. Diagram 4 showing the distance relationship between the three plates during mold clamping a, injection b, and compression c
The figure is a model representation of the compression margin setting means in the present invention. The upper part shows the arrangement of each element during injection, the lower part shows the arrangement during compression, and Figure 5 shows the arrangement during injection in the upper part. Figure 6 shows the adjustment means for setting the compression margin and the relative arrangement of the keys for two and one keys. Figure 7 is a diagram showing an example of a case where the adjustment means and key shown in Figure 7 are configured as an integrated unit. Figure 9 shows a sliding type key, showing how it slides from both sides sandwiching the central annular shape, Figure 10 is a model diagram of a key whose length can be changed, and Figure 11 shows a rod type key. This shows that the compression allowance can be minutely set by adjusting the mounting position, and a shows an example in which the length L is adjusted by screwing a rod with a threaded part onto the fixing plate of the tie bar.
b is a diagram showing an example of adjustment by providing a position adjustment base and changing the distance between it and the tie bar support plate;
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of changing the rod length using the structure shown in FIG. 7c. 1... Fixed side die plate, 2... Movable side die plate, 3... Tie bar support plate, 5, 6...
Mold plate, 7... Cavity, 8... Mold opening/closing cylinder ram, 9... Mold opening/closing cylinder, 10... Key,
11, 12...adjustment means for setting compression margin,
13... Tie bar, 14... Hydraulic cylinder for compression, 24... Adjustment rod, 25... Position adjustment base, 26... Position adjustment plate, 27... Spring, 30...
...Adjustment base, 31...Adjustment screw plate.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first hydraulic cylinder for opening and closing a long stroke mold, the cylinder ram of which is directly connected to the movable die plate, and the first hydraulic cylinder is fixed and capable of sliding on the bed of the molding machine, a tie bar support plate that supports the tie bar; a second hydraulic cylinder for compression that is fixed to the tie bar support plate and has one end of the tie bar as a cylinder ram; and a second hydraulic cylinder for compression that is fixed to the molding machine bed and to which the tie bar is fixed. the fixed die plate, the adjustable length adjustable means provided between the tie bar support plate and the movable die plate; A key is provided that can be inserted and removed through an adjusting means, and during injection compression, the key is inserted so as to come into contact with the adjusting means and the movable die plate or the tie bar support plate, and when taking out the product, An injection compression molding device configured to be removed.