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Methodology of Press System of Compression Moulding

Technical Report · May 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2771.5447

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 Mechanical System Design, 1 May 2016
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Pekan, Malaysia

Methodology of Press System of Compression Moulding

Soffarina

ABSTRACT
Compression molding is a method in which the molding material are preheated, is
first placed in an open, heated mold cavity. At an elevated pressure, pressure is applied to
force the material into contact with all mold areas in an enclosed mould where compression
take place, while heat and pressure are maintained until the molding material has cured. The
pressure can distort and damage the hollow inserts especially if they are of plastics. The
advantage of compression molding is its ability to mold large, fairly intricate parts.
Furthermore, it is one of the lowest cost molding methods compared with other methods such
as injection molding and transfer molding due to it wastes relatively little material. The
compression molding method is either using hand molds or molds constructed so that the
upper and lower cavities were fixed to the press platens. Thermoplastic materials are used to
heat the material in order to make it soft and it is cooled rapidly with cool water to chill the
mold in order to harden the material. In this study however, we had implement an innovation
on the compression moulding where it is portable. This type of machine are easy to make a
desire object from a recycle things to a complete product.

Keywords: hydraulic system, compression moulding, polymers, lifting tool, fatigue

INTRODUCTION
In the late 19th century in 1860 and Wohler’s fatigue investigations, mechanical
design has had a major influence on fatigue life determination experiments and predictions
[1, 2]. A lot of huge efforts have been made by researchers to safely assess the fatigue life of
mechanical components under time-variable loadings [3]. In addition, correctly estimating
fatigue life in real components is a complex process having a large number of variables to
deal with to avoid unwanted and critical failures [4, 5]. Non-zero superimposed static
 Mechanical System Design, 1 May 2016
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Pekan, Malaysia

stresses, the degree of multiaxiality in the stress field and effects of stress concentration
phenomena are the reliability of a fatigue estimation technique depends on its ability to model
damage [6-9]. Damage depends on all of the stress components and their variations during
the whole time period of load application, thus fatigue life is difficult to estimate especially in
the cases of cyclic or random multiaxial loading conditions. [6, 10]. The calibration of such
an engineering fatigue assessment method should be based on pieces of experimental specify
detail that can be easily obtained through tests run in accordance with the pertinent standard
codes in order to make the results close to exact value, [4, 6, 11-13]. By directly post-
processing simple linear elastic finite element (FE) models, the stress analysis is conducted to
correctly estimate fatigue damage [14].Multiaxial loads, which can be in-phase (proportional)
or out-of-phase (non-proportional), are common for many components and structures [15].
Even under uniaxial loads, multiaxial stresses often exist, although typically in-phase, due to
constraints at notches. Automotive, aerospace, and power generation, among others are
frequently encountered in such multiaxial loads and stress states [15-17]. To make new tests
and developing models for description of the fatigue phenomena, many scientific centres and
researchers are dealing with this issue. However, still no universal solution has been found
[18]. In this paper, the die material undergoes fatigue life as it compressed by the
compression moulding.

Figure 1 : Example of Press System of Compression Molding

Polymers has been a great demand in the society nowadays. Most manufacturers decide upon
polyethylene as the polymer of choice for the plastic moulding process because of its
availability, ease of use, and suitable properties. According to recent reports 80% - 90% of all
polymers used in the plastic moulding industry are polyethylene compounds (HDPE, LPDE
and LLPDE).[33-35] Although PVC, nylons, and polypropylene compounds are also used.
The pressure at which the assembly of fibres is maintained during this stage of the process
 Mechanical System Design, 1 May 2016
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Pekan, Malaysia

will be such as to maintain the individual fibres in intimate contact but not such as will
compact them and in particular not inhibit the selective melting of the polymer. In general
pressures in the range 0.5 to 2.0 MPa are preferred. The precise value is not normally critical.
In addition, the arrangements for keeping the mold closed will need to be more robust since
the pressures applied to the mold tend to force the two mold halves open during filling and
feeding. And the molds themselves must be made from stronger materials to withstand being
repeatedly exposed to these pressures. Reducing the viscosity of the polymer will clearly
allow higher flow rates at the same applied pressures, or permit the use of substantial
machinery and tooling. The polymer chains tangle around each other and form so-called
‘mechanical cross links’, effectively strengthening the material in the solid state but making it
more difficult to cast in the fluid state. So the grade polymer, which is easy to cast,[30-32] is
going to give inferior performance in the end product and the best performance will be
obtained from a material that is more difficult to cast.

Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an

equilibrium point. Therefore, this need to consider too in our design and improvement as it
need to conclude a plate to make the platform higher, so the compression moulding can
compress or stamp the material efficiently. Many researchers have tackled the vibration
problem of laminated composites. For instance Thambiratnam and Zhuge (1996)
implemented a finite element model to Balcı et al. [35] Besides, International Journal of
Automotive and Mechanical Engineering undertake a free vibration analysis of isotropic
beams with uniform cross sections on an elastic foundation using Euler-Bernoulli beam
theory. Huang, Shih, and Kim (2009) attempted to use an inverse vibration method to solve
the forced vibration problem raised in cutting tools that were modelled as Euler-Bernoulli
beams. [34] In numerical solutions, the conjugate gradient method was utilized, and
simulation results for the beam displacements were used to estimate external forces on the
cutting tool. Della and Shu (2005) analytically solved the free vibration problem of composite
beams with two overlapping delamination. [36] In their study, various boundary conditions
were investigated, natural frequencies and mode shapes were obtained, and they compared
their results with experimental finding.
We try to make an improvement and innovation on the compression moulding based on: the
ease of carrying it to one places to another places, low cost setup, and lightweight
 Mechanical System Design, 1 May 2016
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Pekan, Malaysia

Figure 2: An improvement and innovation on the compression moulding.

EXPERIMENTAL SET UP

Design of Experiment

Based on the design study, the mould is from a recycle object which need to undergo heating
process in order for them to melt. The table below is necessary for the reference of the
recycle object in order to manoeuvre the temperature. For this reason, the experiment was
accomplished according to the design of experiment since design of experiment provides
advantages to save time and cost reducing the number of experiments [22, 27]. Why use
thermoplastics? This is because they are easy to shape and mould when they are hot. Thermoplastic
turn to liquid at high temperature and turn to hard solid material when they are cool, solid plastics. .
Keyboards are often made of thermoplastics and compact disc cases. The advantage of
thermoplastic are they have high strength, lightweight and low processing costs. Laurence Girard
state that it is easy to manufacture thermoplastic components in high volume with high
precision and due to its lightweight.
 Mechanical System Design, 1 May 2016
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Pekan, Malaysia

Thermoplastic advanced composites compared to other materials:

 60% lighter and 600% stiffer than steel

 30% lighter than aluminum
 200% tougher than thermoset composites
 500% stiffer than injection molded plastics
 60% less scrap during production than sheet goods

Experimental Procedure

Strain-based models are considered for this study as they are more robust in capturing high-
cycle fatigue and also low-cycle fatigue where plasticity may occur, and the models under
study have either gained some degree of acceptance or are representative of a larger group of
related models [19]. A model has been proposed based on cyclic shear and normal strain on
the plane of maximum shear to define the stress parameter [20, 22] as in Eq. (1). Cyclic shear
strains will help to nucleate cracks, and normal strain will assist in their growth.

where ∆γmaxis the maximum shear strain range, ∆εnis the normal strain range on the plane
experiencing ∆γmax, Sis a material dependent parameter representing the influence of normal
strain on material crack growth, Nfis fatigue life, σf’, εf’, E, b, care material properties
having their usual meanings.
By using Finite Element Analysis on the particular material, the result which is in a short
duration will be obtained. The shorter the duration of time the compression moulding stamp,
the higher the production rate. As the steel plate is considered to be the critical point for crack
initiation and to predict the fatigue life as close to the experimental values as possible, the
state of stress and strain at the steel plate is used in estimation of fatigue life. Thus, with
estimation of fatigue life, the heat deliver can be calculated to make it more efficient when
the compression moulding stamp the plate in seconds.
Pressure, time and temperatureof two platens hot press were set. The temperature was set on
180º with tolerance ± 5º (depend on material used). Pre-formed blanks, powder or pellets are
places in the bottom section of heated mold or die. The other half of the mold is lowered and
pressure is applied. The pre-heat process took 6 minutes to the sample become molten. The
mould undergo heating process to heat the recycle thermoplastic in order to make it into a
liquid form .After the preheat process, the machine was pressed to move up lower platens
until the mold nearly touch the upper platens. The pressing process took 4 minutes inorder to
shaped on mold (depends on material that been used). The sample is then are left to cool. It
took 2 minutes. Lastly, we got the end product.
 Mechanical System Design, 1 May 2016
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Pekan, Malaysia

Figure 3: Compression moulding structure

MATHEMATICAL MODELLING

In order to calculate the pressure inside the shaft, the equation (1) is used :

P total = F/A (shaft) (1)

where P₂- Pressure inside the cylinder tank, P₂ = pgh, P₃ - Pressure at the piston

This equation can measure the maximum pressure in the shaft where the applied force can be
deliver. Such as in this case, the pressing apparatus is bellow.

H (loss) = (f*L/D + ∑K) *(V ²/2*g)

where f- Friction factor, L- length, D- diameter, K- loss coefficient, V- velocity, g-gravitational

acceleration

Due to pipe attachment to the mold, where the oil are filled to transmit applied force to mold, there
are head loss. Head loss such as elbow or bends, sharp-edged, sudden expansion and contraction.
 Mechanical System Design, 1 May 2016
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Pekan, Malaysia

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

From this experiment, there are particular variables that may consider [37]. First variable is the type
of the polymer’s sample that we want to produce which lead to how the compression molding will
be run. Second variable is the weight of the product where an accurate and precise amount of the
weight of the product will give a perfect product. To know a precise value of the weight we should
consider the density of the product that we used which can be used to determine the weight needed
after the volume. Pre-formed blanks, powder or pellets are places in the bottom section of heated
mold or die. The other half of the mold is lowered and pressure is applied. The pre-heat process took
6 minutes to the sample become molten. The mould undergo heating process to heat the recycle
thermoplastic in order to make it into a liquid form After the preheat process, the machine was
pressed to move up lower platens until the mold nearly touch the upper platens. The pressing
process took 4 minutes inorder to shaped on mold (depends on material that been used). The
sample is then are left to cool. It necessary because we need to make it totally harden and allow
complete solidification on the thermoplastic and it took 2 minutes. Lastly, we got the end product.
On the other hand, samples that we used are thermoplastics

CONCLUSION
With the new design, the press system of compression moulding in the lab of Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering can be use again not only for lecturer but as well students for their learning tools.
Besides, the implementation of tools to lift up the lower die so that compression can occur
efficiently can happen. By increasing the lower die, we need to consider the vibration so that when
the compression moulding are stamped to the material, there are no shaking of the die. The change
of the timer on the compression moulding make the compression process of the material to be in a
short period to fully complete the process. Furthermore, the thermal of the material need to be
consider so that time consumption to compress the die will be in a split second. Thus these can
increase the productivity over time with quality and quantities.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This section is compulsory to appreciate the funding body, research grant and other supporting
members. Here is the example: The authors would like to be obliged to Universiti Malaysia Pahang
for providing laboratory facilities and financial assistance.
 Mechanical System Design, 1 May 2016
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Pekan, Malaysia

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