A Study for Detecting Flow Lines on The Aesthetic Plastic Parts During Design Phases as Using Material Flow Analysis Programs

Authors : Ayça Küçükoğlu, Sinan Vargelci, Atanur Acar

Pages : 68-74

Doi:10.26701/ems.481761

View : 18 | Download : 20

Publication Date : 2019-06-20

Article Type : Research

Abstract :In today’s competitive business environment the automotive industries aim to increase the usage of the plastic materials in automobile components in order to reduce weight of the vehicles. Although the plastic materials provide a considerable savings on vehicle weight, these materials have some problems to be solved. One of the difficult problems encountered in the production of plastics is the flow lines on plastics because of its unpredictable behavior. As a result, considered problem faced by automobile companies often spend plenty of time and money is an issue to resolve. In this study the source of plastic flow lines on automotive external aesthetical parts are investigated by using material flow analysis programs. According to conventional methodologies; weld lines, temperature differences, filling times, clamping forces, shrinkages parameters are examined deeply before tooling face especially to eliminate aesthetical problems. But in this case we observed an unordinary situation such as flow lines on front bumper visible surfaces after tooling phase and therefore we searched a new approach to simulate this flow lines on the material flow analysis program. Flow directions and flow velocity are comprehensively examined step by step during filling analysis. As a result of the analysis the geometric factors that affect the balance of flow and brings turbulence are detected. After the root cause analysis for plastic deformation the potential techniques are researched to find best solution.   Analysis are repeated in the same conditions that are considered to be made for all geometric changes.   The experiment results are comparatively analyzed and the solution approach that have the best flow balance is selected.
Keywords : Automotive aesthetical plastic parts, flow lines, mold flow, plastic injection