RESEARCH ARTICLE | NOVEMBER 26 2020

Influence of injection molding parameters on the quality of

structured surfaces 
T. Schaible  ; R. Schönlein; C. Bonten

AIP Conf. Proc. 2289, 020004 (2020)

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0029147

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06 November 2023 11:01:31

Influence of Injection Molding Parameters on the Quality of
Structured Surfaces
T. Schaiblea), R. Schönlein and C. Bonten

Institut für Kunststofftechnik, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 32, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
a)
Corresponding author: tobias.schaible@ikt.uni-stuttgart.de

Abstract. The influence of injection molding parameters such as melt temperature, mold temperature and holding
pressure on the look and feel of structured plastic surfaces are investigated. Therefore, an automated test stand
measuring the gloss and color of the surface was developed at Institut für Kunststofftechnik of the University of
Stuttgart. The topography of the surface was analyzed by a digital light microscopy. Test results on structured
acrylonitrile butadiene styrene/polycarbonate (ABS/PC) test panels show, that the examined process parameters melt
and mold temperature have a higher influence on the color, gloss and topography than the holding pressure. By
increasing the melt and mold temperature, the color, gloss and roughness is significantly influenced. The color
difference and gloss decreases with increasing melt temperature, mold temperature and holding pressure, whereas

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the roughness increases. The melt temperature shows the highest influence on the surface properties. Besides the
variation of processing parameters, the structure of the mold surface was modified to adapt the molded surface
properties of two different plastic types applying standard injection molding process parameters. Furthermore, the
screening of the surface made it possible to detect surface defects in terms of color and gloss and the influences of
process parameters on the defects.

INTRODUCTION
With the high quantity of injection-molded components, the requirements on surface quality and functionality
are increasing. In order to achieve balanced color, gloss and texture effects of the assembled components, the
individual component must meet the quality requirements. Visible surfaces should reproduce exactly the same
texture of the tool surface with a consistent gloss. Furthermore, a homogeneous color distribution within the
component is required. Only minor color differences to the bordering component of the same colour are permitted.
High manufacturing effort is necessary to achieve the required look and feel properties of the structured component
surfaces [1, 2]. The relationship between the manufacturing conditions or the processing parameters while injection
molding and the look and feel properties of structured injection-molded components has been already examined.
The variation of the processing parameters such as melt temperature, mold temperature, holding pressure and
injection speed have an influence on the color, gloss and molding behavior [3, 4, 5, 6]. However, these findings only
apply to the examined plastics polypropylene (PP - dyed) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS). The color and
gloss of the PP examined depends on the color particle and their concentration. Therefore, it is neither possible to
transfer the results to other plastics nor to provide general valid relations. Moreover, the respective studies did not
measure with standardized methods, which makes it difficult to repeat and compare the corresponding measured
values with similar sample surfaces.
At the Institut für Kunststofftechnik (IKT) look and feel properties of structured plastic surfaces are investigated
as a function of the process parameters in injection molding. For this purpose, an automated test stand has been
developed, which carries out standardized measurements and automated evaluation. The objective is to specifically
identify surface defects and trace them back to the influence of the process parameters. These findings can be
transferred to other plastics, making it possible to modify injection molding tools for example in the weld line areas,

Proceedings of PPS2019 Europe-Africa Regional Conference of the Polymer Processing Society

AIP Conf. Proc. 2289, 020004-1–020004-5; https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0029147
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-4019-7/$30.00

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so that the surface defects can be eliminated. This is achievable by locally adapted structures as well as targeted
tempering of these areas.

EXPERIMENTAL
The grained test plates are injection-molded with the thermoplastic blend
acrylonitrile butadiene styrene/polycarbonate (ABS/PC) type Bayblend T50 XF from Covestro AG, Leverkusen,
Germany and the polypropylene (PP) type PP FPC 100 from SABIC, Riad, Saudi Arabia. The test plate measures
140 mm x 90 mm and is injected with a tunnel gate. There are five fields on the plate (see Fig. 1 (a), right). Field 2
and 4 are provided with a grain, which is analyzed. The difference between the two fields is that the flow path of the
melt to field 4 is longer than to field 2. Next to the structured fields, there is an obstacle in front of field 3 on the test
plate, resulting in a weld line in field 3.

For the analysis, an automated test stand with an integrated color and gloss measurement was developed
(see Fig. 1 (a), left). The CM-700d spectrophotometer from Konica Minolta, Tokyo, is used for color measurement
and the ZGM 1110 reflectometer from Zehntner GmbH, Sissach, is used for gloss measurement. The principle of
gloss measurement is shown in Fig. 1 (c) using common angles according to DIN 67530 [7].
Topography measurements are conducted with the measuring system MicroProf 300 of the company FRT
GmbH, Bergisch-Gladbach. The measurement of the surface is carried out according to the same principle as in
Fig. 1 (b). The measuring system is also equipped with an automated measuring table, so that each height value z(x)
can be assigned a corresponding coordinate on the test plate.

white light source

spectrometer

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z(x) β β

glossy matte

(a) (b) (c)

FIGURE 1. (a) Left: Scheme of the test stand for automated color and gloss measurement. Right: Grained test plate [8],
(b) scheme of the profilometer for topography measurement [9] and
(c) scheme of gloss measurement for smooth and rough surfaces [7]
In order to analyze the influence of the three individual injection molding parameters melt temperature (ϑm),
mold temperature (ϑmold) and holding pressure (phold) on the color values, gloss and molding behavior, the test plates
are injection-molded with varying parameters. The melt temperature is increased from 240 °C to 280 °C in steps of
20 K. The mold temperature is varied between 40 °C, 60 °C and 80 °C and the holding pressure between 60 bar and
80 bar. For the evaluation of the surface of the test plates and the associated detection of surface defects, the
measured values shown in Table 1 are used.
TABLE 1. Measured values for surface analysis

measured value recorded measurements

* * *
color L , a , b , ∆Eab, ∆E00, ∆H, ∆C and gloss at 8°
gloss gloss at 20°, 60° and 85°
topography Rz and Ra

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Automated measurement system: The error, the zero points of the measuring fields on the test plate and the grid
spacing of the measuring system are determined. The zero points are identified and statistically verified for the color
and gloss measurements within the respective measuring field. 50 manual measurements were carried out on three
different test plates and evaluated. The error for the spectrophotometer is approximately 3 % and for the

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reflectometer approximately 0.3 GU. The grid spacing is determined by running three test plates with different
dimensions in x and y direction with color and gloss level measurements. Thus, the minimum and maximum error of
the gloss level and color value ∆E00 can be determined. The higher the error, the more information could be
captured. It has been shown that the gloss level measurements should be carried out with a grid spacing of
1 mm x 1 mm and the color measurements of 2 mm x 2 mm [8].

Influence of injection molding parameters on the surface properties: The influence of injection molding
parameters on the surface properties are shown on the example of field 2, which is located near to the sprue (see
Fig. 1 (a), right). Field 4, which is located far from the sprue, shows similar behavior. Approximately 300 color
values and 1200 gloss level values are captured on each field to determine the surface properties (see Fig. 3 (a), top).
By calculating the mean value for each field, the influences of the process parameters can be determined. The global
surface homogeneity of the plate can be assessed by the standard deviation of each measuring field.
Figure 2 shows that the mold temperature has the highest influence on the gloss level at 60°. By increasing the
mold temperature from 40 °C to 80 °C (at ϑm = 280 °C and phold = 80 bar), the gloss level at 60° is reduced by 39 %.
As the melt temperature increases, the gloss level is reduced by 25 %. If the holding pressure is increased, the gloss
level decreases by 13 %, which represents the parameter with the least effect. A similar trend can also be observed
for gloss levels at 8° and 85°. The gloss level at 20° was not included in the evaluation since it is intended for high-
gloss surfaces that were not analyzed in this study. In general, it can be shown that the gloss level is reduced by
increasing the melt temperature, the holding pressure and the tool temperature.

Analyzing the influences of the processing parameters on the topography by means of the
average roughness depth Rz (see Fig. 2 (b)), it turns out, that the gloss level correlates directly with the roughness of
the surface. This means that with increasing roughness of the surface, the gloss level decreases. As a result of this
measurements, it is observable that the increase of the processing parameters (ϑm, ϑmold and phold) results in an
increase in the average roughness depth. For instance, with the increase of the melt temperature from

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240 °C to 280 °C (for ϑmold = 80 °C and phold = 80 bar), the average roughness depth is increased by approximately
165 %. Due to higher mold temperature the flowability of the melt and consequently the molding of the mold
structure is enhanced. It can also be observed that the holding pressure has a higher impact at a high melt
temperature. Increasing the holding pressure from 60 bar to 80 bar (at ϑm = 280 °C and ϑmold = 80 °C) leads to an
increase in the roughness depth of field 2 of about 137 %. By comparison, the mold temperature has a moderate
effect on the molding of the structured mold.
average roughness depth Rz in µm

6 180
160
5
gloss level at 60 in GU

140
4 120
80 °C-80 bar 100 80 °C-80 bar
3 80 °C-60 bar 80 °C-60 bar
80
60 °C-80 bar 60 60 °C-80 bar
2
60 °C-60 bar 60 °C-60 bar
40
1 40 °C-80 bar 40 °C-80 bar
20
40 °C-60 bar 40 °C-60 bar
0 0
240 °C 260 °C 280 °C 240 °C 260 °C 280 °C
melt temperature in C melt temperature in C
(a) (b)
FIGURE 2. (a) Evaluation of the gloss level at 60° and
(b) evaluation of the average roughness depth Rz of field 2

Detection of surface defects: Figure 3 (a) (field 2 – near to the sprue) and Fig. 3 (b) (field 4 – far from the sprue)
show the gloss level at 60° of all recorded measuring points for the respective field. In Fig. 3 (a), it is possible to
identify a surface defect in the form of a weld line, which occurs due to the two injection points at x = 5 mm and
34 mm (see Fig. 1, right). The decreased gloss level at the position of the weld line occurs due to the macroscopic
notch (see Fig. 3 (a), bottom) created by the two melt streams flowing together, so that the melt does not reproduce

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the structured mold surface [10]. With a y-value of approximately 18 mm, the gloss level at 60° return to average
values so that the weld line is not any more detectable. Far from the sprue, in field 4 (see Fig. 3 (b)), the influences
of the weld line is blurred due to the longer flow path of the melt. Consequently, the gloss level is more
homogeneous.

8 8
gloss level at 60 in GU

gloss level at 60° in GU

7
6 6
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 24
2 24
16
1 16
8 1 8
0 0
0 0
1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36
1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36
x-axis in mm
x-axis in mm

weld line

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(a) (b)
FIGURE 3. Evaluation of the gloss level at 60° (top) and macroscopic image (bottom) of field 2 (a) and field 4 (b) (ϑm = 240 °C,
ϑmold = 40 °C and phold = 60 bar)

Influence of mold structuring on the surface properties: Instead of varying injection molding process parameters
to generate similar surface properties of the two engineering plastics ABS/PC and PP, surface structuring of the
mold is used to adapt injection-molded surfaces maintaining the optimal processing parameter for fast production
cycles. Figure 4 shows the gloss level at 60° with the standard structured surface and modified surface. The gloss
level difference between ABS/PC and PP is reduced from 13 % to 1 % by adapting the structure of the same mold.
Due to the modification of surface structure, the gloss level at 60° from ABC/PC and PP is almost identical.
Therefore, structuring of mold surfaces is a measure to adapt surface properties of different engineering plastics and
avoiding the change of processing parameters.
5
gloss level at 60 in GU

0
standard modified

ABS/PC PP

FIGURE 4. Comparison of gloss level at 60° with standard injection molding parameters with modified surface

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 CONCLUSION
The results show the influences of the processing parameters known from the literature on the quality of
structured surfaces during injection molding. Key factors are the melt temperature, mold temperature and holding
pressure, however, the influence of the temperature is dominating. With the test stand it is possible to automatically
determine the color and gloss of the test panels. In combination with the programmed evaluation system, a
reproducible measurement standard was conducted to measure and evaluate the structured surfaces. Therefore,
further injection-molded surfaces can be evaluated in the same manner.
Surface defects and their location could be determined by the raster scanning of the entire surface. Knowing the
location of the surface defects and their dependence on the processing parameters, measures can be derived to avoid
or conceal the surface defects. One method is the local tempering of the affected areas to prevent weld lines.
Furthermore, surface structuring of the mold surface is a proved measure to adapt surface properties of different
engineering plastics maintaining the optimal processing parameter of every type of plastic. Proceeding with the
usual processing parameter of injection molding, gives the applicant the advantage of stable and optimized
processes.

In future work, plastics with additives, such as fibres should be included in the investigation. The effect of the
additives on the surface quality should be investigated. Furthermore, the thermal and rheological properties of the
deployed plastics should be investigated and compared with the processing parameters and their corresponding look
and feel properties.

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