Polyplastics develops void prediction technology for injection-moulded POM products

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 (Bernama) -- Polyplastics Co Ltd, a leading global supplier of engineering thermoplastics, has developed a unique computer-aided engineering (CAE) analysis technology that predicts the occurrence of vacuum voids in injection-moulded products made of Duracon polyoxyethylene (POM).

Voids are hollow pockets, a moulding defect which forms near the centre of thick injection-moulded products.

“Parameters such as volume shrinkage, which is produced as output from flow analyses, had conventionally been used for void prediction, but the accuracy of this method has been problematic since the actual phenomenon cannot be re-created,” the company said in a statement today.

It said that the new CAE tool can predict the risk of voids forming before creating the mould, thus helping to reduce trial samples, shorten the development cycle and reduce energy usage.

Polyplastics' void prediction technology takes into consideration changes in variables, including temperature and pressure during the resin solidification process when using Duracon POM.

“The new void prediction technology is an entirely new method that links flow analysis with structural analysis to predict the formation of voids according to strain arising inside moulded products, taking into consideration mould shrinkage, elastic modulus, and distribution of pressure in the resin solidification process.

“Since it can predict voids with high accuracy before the mould is built, the technology promises to reduce the development cycle, cut down on product development costs, and reduce energy consumption for simulations,” it added.

Polyplastics is offering the new technology as part of its overall technical support for current POM customers.

-- BERNAMA