Optimalmould - part II: Global optimization of the injection moulding cycle time

The time required to produce a plastic part is a key issue in injection moulding process as it strongly determine the cost per part. Several approaches have been proposed to address this problem. However they do not cover all aspects related to the complete cycle time of the injection moulding process, only focusing on steps such as filling time, cooling time and packing time. This paper presents a global optimisation strategy for the injection moulding cycle time, covering all time steps related to the injection moulding process, including a novel mathematical model to predict the ejection time. An industrial case study was considered to validate the proposed approach. The obtained results are very close to the experimental ones.