Study of ejection forces in the AIMTM process

✍ Scribed by Neil Hopkinson; Phil Dickens

• Book ID: 104314269
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1999
• Weight: 294 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0261-3069
• DOI: 10.1016/s0261-3069(99)00015-1

✦ Synopsis

The AIM TM process has been used to successfully produce short runs of injection moulded parts. One of the main drawbacks w of the process is the tendency of the tools to be damaged during part ejection Jacobs PF. Recent advances in rapid tooling from stereolithography. Proceedings of the 2nd National Conference on Rapid Prototyping and Tooling Research. Buckinghamshire x TM College 1996, ISBN: 085298 982 2 . At De Montfort University a successful AIM moulding cycle has been developed in which simple shapes from polypropylene are produced and the ejection forces required are measured. Two different ejection methods are used; one uses conventional ejector pins and the other uses a conformal ejector pad. The tool surface roughness is measured before and after moulding to observe any changes caused by ejection. Results show that ejector pins require a lower ejection force than a conformal ejector pad and this may contribute to longer tool life for the AIM TM process. Possible reasons for the results are discussed along with recommendations for further work.