Project Work or Research Laboratory
© IKVTopic of the work:
Many everyday plastic products – from packaging to technical components – are produced by injection molding. Molten plastic is injected into a mold and then cools until the component can be removed from the mold. Cooling behavior plays a central role: it influences the shape and size of the component and is the decisive factor in how quickly the process takes place. The demolding temperature is required to calculate the necessary cooling time. As there is currently no efficient and process-oriented method for determining this, rough, conservative recommendations are often used in practice. These often lead to unnecessarily long cooling times and increased energy consumption. Knowing the optimum demolding time therefore offers considerable potential to speed up the manufacturing process, save energy and at the same time ensure high component quality.
The work is recorded in this working group:
The work is being carried out in the injection molding process control working group and includes preliminary tests for a planned cooling time control to compensate for material-related batch fluctuations in recycled materials.
Objective:
The aim of your work is to analyze the influence of cooling time on dimensional accuracy. To this end, you will examine the condition of the molded part at the time of demolding using established sensor systems in order to identify the main factors influencing successful and dimensionally stable demolding.
Your task:
| For a research lab assignment, you will work on the following tasks | For a project assignment, you will work on the following tasks |
| Carrying out injection molding tests with varied cooling time | Literature research on existing demolding criteria |
| Recording the dimensional change of your manufactured components | Test planning of your injection molding tests |
| Analysis of the influence of the local demolding temperature, the cavity pressure change and the cooling time on the dimensional accuracy | Conducting the injection molding tests in the form of a parameter study for virgin material and recyclates |
| Recording the dimensional change of your manufactured components | |
| Analysis of the influence of the local demolding temperature, the change in cavity pressure and the cooling time on dimensional accuracy |
Your profile:
- You should have an enthusiasm for plastics technology. Practical experience in plastics processing makes it easier to get started, but is not a prerequisite
Preferred study programs:
- General mechanical engineering
- Industrial engineering, specialising in mechanical engineering
- Industrial engineering, specialising in materials and process engineering
- Automation technology
- Computational Engineering Science (CES)
- Materials science
These are your benefits:
- Work in a young, motivated team
- Independent work with intensive support
- Co-design of current research projects
- Individual coordination of tasks and time frame
- Experimental work on industrial plants
- Fast processing, direct contact for questions during processing
- Varied mix of research, experimental work and analytics
- Immediate start possible
If you are interested in writing your thesis at IKV and in this task, please get in touch with me. We agree on the exact scope of content and schedule individually.