What is Shrinkage and Warpage

in Plastic Injection Moulding

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What is Plastic Injection Molding Shrinkage?

In plastic parts manufacturing, shrinkage is a normal

process in injection molding that refers to how much the
polymers will contract during the cooling phase. The
primary cause of shrinkage is the transition from the
density of melted plastic to the density of its cooled, rigid
state. While it occurs during the cooling stage, minimal
shrinkage can continue after the part’s ejection as the
moisture and temperature stabilize. If areas of the part
shrink unevenly – known as warpage – it can cause severe
part defects. Beyond the shifting of the polymer’s density,
other factors facilitate variable shrinkage, as well.

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 How Shrinkage Occurs
In general, there are four shrinkage variations:

1. Regional
This is when shrinkage rates vary on the part between the
regions closest to the gate and regions closest the end of fill
(EOF); typically this variance is between the thicker (gate
area) and thinner (EOF) areas of the part. One region is
essentially shrinking more than another.
2. Through the Thickness
When looking at the cross-section of the part, this shrinkage
difference occurs when the shrinkage on the top differs from
that of the bottom. This variance can cause the part to bow
because one side is able to shrink more and, as a result

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 How Shrinkage Occurs
3. Directional
Due to molecular or fiber alignment, differences in shrinkage
can occur both parallel to and perpendicular to the material’s
orientation, or direction of flow. As mentioned previously, an
amorphous material tends to shrink more in the direction
parallel to flow. For crystalline materials, shrinkage is usually
higher perpendicular to flow.
4. In-plane vs. Thickness
Polymers tend to shrink more in the thickness direction than
they do in the plane of the surface. This effect is caused by
mold restraint (or lack of mold restraint through the thickness
of the part). The difference in shrinkage between the in-plane
and thickness directions can cause warpage, particularly in
the corners of the part due to these sometimes being thicker
than the nominal wall thickness.
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 Shrinkage Cause
1. Orientation Due to Filling
Initially, the orientation of long, stringy polymer molecules is
caused by shear stress during flow. When the polymer is still
at a high temperature and shear stress is removed, the
orientation will relax. (Orientation is locked-in only when
shearing and freezing occur simultaneously.) When this
relaxation occurs in amorphous materials, there is generally
more shrinkage parallel to flow. Because the molecules of
crystalline materials are aligned in the direction of flow, most
crystallization will occur perpendicular to flow, causing more
shrinkage in that direction.

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 Shrinkage Cause
2.Cooling Rates
With any semi-crystalline material, a high cooling rate results
in less time for the crystalline structures to form. This effect
decreases total volumetric shrinkage. The same effect
applies to amorphous materials, but because there is less
overall shrinkage the degree to which high cooling rates
reduces shrinkage is lessened.
Autodesk Mold flow screenshot showing fiber orientation.
Red = fibers are oriented along with flow;
Blue = oriented perpendicular to flow

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 Specimen showing Orientation of fibers

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 Shrinkage Cause

3. Mold Restraint
While the part is in the mold, it can’t shrink within the plane
of its surface—but it can shrink in the direction of its
thickness. This has two effects. First, there is more
shrinkage in the thickness direction. Second, the polymer
accumulates stresses in the plane of its surface. After
ejection, these stresses may relax as the part continues to
cool, causing warpage. The higher the mold temperature, the
lower the cooling rate, and the more stresses relax from the
part. Mold restraint is also material dependent. Materials that
resist creep (and relax more slowly) have higher linear
shrinkage, while materials that relax more quickly have lower
linear shrinkage.

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 Shrinkage Cause
4. Temperature Differences Through the Thickness
When the mold temperature on one side of the cross-section
is different from the other, shrinkage will not be uniform from
side to side. In essence, the plane on one side of the part will
shrink more, causing it to be smaller than the other side
creating a bending moment that can lead to warpage.
5. Thickness Variations and Uneven Packing
When there are varying thicknesses of the part, thick areas
will take longer to cool, which can lead to higher shrinkage. A
similar effect occurs with areas that are far from the gate. If a
constant packing profile is used, areas closer to the gate will
be denser and cool at a different rate than areas further from
the gate, causing shrinkage variance.

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 Velocity profile of polymer melt filling across
part thickness

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 Velocity profile of polymer melt filling
across part thickness

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Orientation degree profile of polymer melt
filling across part thickness

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 How product shrinkage influences
product warpage
The immediate cause of warpage defects of an injection
molded product is the uneven shrinkage of the product. If the
influence of shrinkage during the filling process is not taken
into consideration during the mold design stage, the
geometry of the product will vary greatly from the design
requirements. For warpage analysis, shrinkage itself is not
important, but what is important lies in the shrinkage
difference

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What is Plastic Injection Molding Warpage?
Warpage is one of the most common quality issues in plastic
injection molding. This defect is when there is an excessive
distortion of a part after ejection which deviates significantly from
the injection mold cavity. A warped part – also known as
deformation – can bend or twist due to uneven shrinkage rates
or by a mechanical force, such as during ejection. Your injection
molding manufacturer must be well aware of the ways to avoid
warpage, as it can result in expensive alterations to the
tooling or material.

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 Plastic Injection Molding Warpage

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 How residual thermal stress
influences product warpage

During the plastic injection molding process, residual thermal

stress is an important factor that causes product warpage,
and thus exerts a great influence on the quality of an
injection molded product. Since the influence of residual
thermal stress on product warpage is very complicated, it will
not be detailed here

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 How the metal insert influences
product warpage

With regard to plastic injection molded products with inserts,

it is easy to cause distortion (even cracking), since the
shrinkage of plastic is much higher than that of metal; to
improve this, the metal part needs be preheated (generally at
a temperature of no lower than 100°C), before being put into
production.

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 Cooling rate and cooling channels
One of the most common causes of a warped part in
premature ejection. That is when the part gets ejected before
it has completely cooled. The part needs to cool to the point
it solidifies and shrinks. The hardening and shrinking of the
product have to occur under adequate pressure. If the part
gets ejected before the shrinkage occurs. Then shrinkage
occurs at lower pressure. This causes dimensional instability
as internal bending moments occur. Some parts will shrink in
a different direction and at different rates. Thus resulting in a
warped part. So one way to prevent warpage is to allow
complete cooling. This can be by increasing cooling time
hence cycle time. It can also be by having more cooling lines
or a higher flow rate of cooling fluid through the lines.

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 Cooling rate and cooling channels

The design of the cooling lines affects the effectiveness of

cooling the mold. The cooling lines must run close enough to
the cavity to allow good heat transfer. Where possible, use
the conformal cooling system. These allow the cooling lines
to conform to the shape of the product. This way every part
of the product is equidistant from the cooling lines. This
ensures that the product cools in an even manner.
When the surface of the product cools too fast. There isn’t
enough time to remove heat from the center of the product.
This means a temperature gradient between the center of
the product and the part next to the mold wall. This
difference in temperature means some parts will reach
shrinkage temperature before others. This will result in a
warped part. So having the mold core cooling too fast or
having a too low initial temperature can lead to warpage.
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 Mould Cooling effect on warpage

The outer part of the product cools faster than the surface.
When the product gets released the center cools but with no
pressure exerted. This leads to a warped part. This is a case
where the product seems fine on the first inspection. But
later as other parts of the product begin to cool, warpage
occurs. Image illustrating uneven cooling in a product.

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 Mould Cooling effect on warpage

If the mold cooling system is not properly designed or the

mold temperature is not properly controlled, insufficient
cooling of a plastic product will cause it to warp. Especially,
when the wall thickness of it differs greatly, the plastic
product is particularly prone to warpage due to inconsistent
cooling shrinkage of each part of the plastic product.
Therefore, when designing the shape and structure of a
plastic product, the section thickness of each part should be
as consistent as possible.
The mold temperature should be appropriately lowered or
the cooling time appropriately extended

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 Ejector Design
For the best use of time, the product gets ejected as it
reaches the shrinkage temperature. Thus allowing the mold
to prepare for refilling in the next cycle. This means that the
product remains quite hot as it gets ejected. If the pins are
too thin or low in number this can result in a warped part.
This is because then the ejector pins are not wide enough or
well spread out. This leads to the uneven force applied to the
product resulting in bending. The product in this hot state is
more sensitive to such an uneven force. As the product
continues to cool this deformation remains and leads to a
warped part. The general rule is the place ejector pins at the
parts that resist ejection most. The chances of poor ejection
leading to warpage increases with pre-existing inefficiencies.
For example, if the cooling rate is uneven

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 Ejector Design

If a plastic product is subjected to a large unbalanced

external force during the ejection process, its shape and
structure will be greatly deformed, e.g., insufficient draft
angle of the mold cavity, difficult product ejection, undersized
ejection area or unevenly distributed ejectors, inconsistent
ejection speed of each part of the plastic product, or too fast
/ slow ejection during mold release, improper setting of mold
core-pulling devices and inserts, core bending or insufficient
mold strength, poor accuracy, unreliable positioning,

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 Ejector Design
Therefore, in terms of mold design, the draft angle, and the
location and quantity of ejector pins should be reasonably
determined to improve the strength and positioning accuracy
of the mold; for small and medium-sized molds, anti-warpage
molds are able to be designed and produced according to
the pattern of the warpage – design the cavity with a curved
surface opposite to the warping direction, to offset the
orientation deformation. However, this method is difficult to
control and requires repeated trial production and mold
repair. Usually, it is applied to plastic products with a large
quantity.
In terms of mold operation, the ejection speed should be
appropriately slowed down or the ejection stroke
appropriately increased.

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 Gate Design
The gate determines a lot about how the final product turns
out. This is because the design of the gate has a lot to do
with the flow pattern of the melt. The flow pattern of the melt
in turn affects the temperature distribution. What parts of the
plastics cool first? There are different types of the gate like a
submarine, fan, and edge gate amongst many others. The
mold designer chooses the gate based on the product
design and the type of plastic. There are a few general rules
when choosing gate design. For example, is for products
with a flat design there should be more than one gate
leading to the cavity. If only one gate gets used this would
mean that the stream has too long to travel to fill and could
result in a warped part. This warpage is due to uneven
cooling. Another rule is to do with the location of the gate.
For products like gears, the gate should get located at the
center for even filling. Locating the gate in the wrong place
can result in a warped part amongst other defects. So when
you detect a warped part in a lot, check the gate type and
location
 Gate Design
When determining gate location, do not allow the melt to
directly impact the core, but ensure a uniform force on both
sides of the core; for large-sized rectangular and flat plastic
products, if resin materials with high molecular orientation
and shrinkage are used, adopt film gate or multi-point side
gate, and avoid direct gate or pinpoint gate distributed in a
straight line; for disc-shaped plastic products, adopt pinpoint
gate or direct gate, and avoid side gate; for ring-shaped
plastic products, adopt disc gate or ring gate, and avoid side
gate or pinpoint gate; for shell-shaped plastic products,
adopt direct gate, and avoid side gate.
Besides, when designing mold gating system, the melt flow
characteristics should be adjusted to keep the flow as
parallel as possible during the mold filling process. This way,
large warpage will not be caused, though the shrinkage of a
molded product differs in the two mutually perpendicular
directions.
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 Temperature in Barrel
As the plastic gets melted by the rotational and reciprocal
action of the screw in the barrel. There exists a temperature
gradient along the length of the barrel. The plastic comes in
through the hopper in the solid form as pellets or granules.
At this point, the temperature is the lowest. The solid plastic
must then exchange heat with the barrel walls through the
heaters. Some heat is also generated from the friction
between the screw melt and barrel. The plastics heats up
and gets into a viscous melt state further down the barrel. At
the end of the barrel, the plastic is at its hottest. The
temperature here must give it enough viscosity to flow
through the channels. These are the nozzle, gate, and
runners. If the melt plasticization goes wrong and it gets too
hot as it reaches the mold this can contribute to warpage.
Also if there are insufficient mixing and melting. Note that the
screw and barrel don’t only melt, they also mix. If the screw
rotation is too fast or backpressure insufficient, melt doesn’t
mix or compact well. This could lead to a warped part
 Unbalanced Molecular Orientation

The warpage of thermoplastics largely depends on the

difference between the radial and tangential shrinkage of a
plastic product, which is caused by molecular orientation.
Usually, during the injection molding process of a plastic
product, the molecular orientation along the melt flow is
greater than that along the direction vertical to the flow. This
is caused because most of the polymer molecules are
arranged along the flow direction during mold filling, while
the oriented molecules always try to restore the original
curled state, leading to reduction in the length of the plastic
product in this direction.

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Unbalanced Molecular Orientation
Therefore, the shrinkage of a plastic product along the melt
flow is greater than that in the direction vertical to flow. Due to
the unbalanced shrinkage in the two mutually perpendicular
directions, the plastic product is bound to be warped.
In order to minimize the warpage caused by the difference in
molecular orientation, conditions should be created to reduce
flow orientation and ease the relaxation of orientation stress.
Among all, the most effective way is to lower melt
temperature and mold temperature. When opting for this
method, it is better to combine it with the heat treatment of the
plastic product. Otherwise, the effect of reducing the
difference in molecular orientation often becomes temporary,
because when material temperature and mold temperature
are lower, the melt cools more quickly, so a higher internal
stress remains in the plastic product, which causes the
product to warp during future application or when the ambient
temperature rises.
 Remedies for unbalanced molecular
orientation

If a plastic product is heat-treated immediately after product

ejection, keeping it at a higher temperature for a certain
period of time and then slowly cooling it to room temperature
is able to largely eliminate the orientation stress in the
product. The heat treatment process is: immediately after the
plastic product is ejected, put it in 37.5-43°C warm water and
allow it to cool slowly

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 Warpage reduced Using Shrink Fixture

Plastic products that are prone to warpage can be placed in

wooden fixtures suitable for their appearance and structure
to forcibly keep them in shape. However, it should be noted
that no pressure should be applied to the plastic product in
the fixture, but it should be allowed to shrink freely.
Appropriate cooling can be applied to supplement the
shaping of a plastic product at the earliest possible time; for
box-like plastic products such as turnover boxes, support
plates or frames can be used to shape them to prevent their
shrinkage or expansion.

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 Warpage due to improper process
conditions
During process operation, a plastic product tends to warp if
the injection pressure is too low, the injection speed is too
slow, the holding time and injection cycle are too short on
condition that the mold is not overly filled, the melt
plasticization is not uniform, the temperature is too high
during the drying of raw materials, or the annealing process
of the plastic product is not properly controlled. In this
regard, corresponding process parameters should be
adjusted separately according to the specific situation.

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Warpage due to improper process
conditions
Cavity Pressure
Cavity pressure is always highest near the gate. So plastic in
the gate area shrinks less than plastics at the far end of the
part. If a dimensional shrinkage difference down the length of
the part is the problem, reduce the plastic viscosity. This will
reduce the pressure differences in the cavity. In this case
you would also reduce the packing pressure
Fill Rate
Plastic molecules tend to orient when they flow. Higher flow
rate causes more orientation. As the plastic cools the
molecules try to get rid of their orientation. But much of the
orientation is trapped. These molecules continue to try to
shrink. This causes immediate as well as post-molding
shrinkage
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 Process Parameter influencing Warpage

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 Process Parameter influencing Warpage

Effect the warpage was holding pressure by 57.82%,

followed with back pressure by 25.75%, clamping pressure
by 16.27% and injection pressure by 0.16%. It is found that
the optimum parameters setting that have been obtained
were injection pressure at 950 bar, clamping pressure at 600
KN, holding pressure at 700 bar and back pressure at 75
bar. The depreciation value of warpage minimum index in
this experiment was decreased by 4.6% after confirmation
run.

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 Warpage Trouble shooting

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 Warpage Trouble shooting

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 Thanks for watching!

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