Ultrasound based monitoring of the injection moulding process - Methods, applications and limitations

Journal Article · Thu May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4873755· OSTI ID:22270970

Praher, B., E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail]; Straka, K., E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail]; Usanovic, J., E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail]; Steinbichler, G., E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail], E-mail: [e-mail] ^[1]

---

1. Institute of Polymer Injection Moulding and Process Automation, Johannes Kepler University Linz (Austria)

We developed novel non-invasive ultrasound based systems for the measurement of temperature distributions in the screw-ante chamber, the detection of unmelted granules and for the monitoring of the plasticizing process along the screw channel. The temperature of the polymer melt stored in the screw ante-chamber after the plasticization should be homogeneous. However, in reality the polymer melt in the screw ante-chamber is not homogeneous. Due to the fact the sound velocity in a polymer melt is temperature depending, we developed a tomography system using the measured transit times of ultrasonic pulses along different sound paths for calculating the temperature distribution in radial direction of a polymer melt in the screw ante-chamber of an injection moulding machine. For the detection of unmelted granules in the polymer melt we implemented an ultrasound transmission measurement. By analyzing the attenuation of the received pulses it is possible to detect unwanted inclusions. For the monitoring of the plasticizing process in the channels of the screw an ultrasonic pulse is transmitted into the barrel. By analyzing the reflected pulses it is possible to estimate solid bed and melt regions in the screw channel. The proposed systems were tested for accuracy and validity by simulations and test measurements.

• OSTI ID: 22270970
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1593, Issue 1; Conference: PPS-29: 29. international conference of the Polymer Processing Society, Nuremberg (Germany), 15-19 Jul 2013; Other Information: (c) 2014 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
ACCURACY
ATTENUATION
FASTENERS
INJECTION
MOLDING
MONITORING
POLYMERS
PULSES
SIMULATION
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
TOMOGRAPHY
ULTRASONIC WAVES