From time to time, we highlight one of the more popular courses in our plastics training library. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at our Practical Injection Molding Expert Series. This course brings the molder inside the injection molding process by looking at exactly what the plastic is doing during the molding cycle. It is the course that defines Paulson’s “from the plastic’s point of view” teaching philosophy.
As any molder knows, the really important stuff that happens during the injection molding cycle, the things that make the difference between a good part produced at lowest cost, and a reject part, is invisible to the molder. This inability to actually see what is happening can make it difficult to learn what controls affect the various part properties and how various control changes should be prioritized.
In the Practical Injection Molding Expert Series, we solve that problem by using cutaway animations. These high definition 3D animations clearly illustrate things like the formation of sink marks, different levels of plastic orientation, how back pressure affect melt temperature and many other molding factors. It truly is a course that teaches injection molding from the plastic’s point of view.
Who should take the Expert Series? It is definitely not a course for novice molders. Our suggestion is that a molder should have gone through our Practical Injection Molding – Basic Series and the Optimizing Machine Controls Series before trying the Expert Series. The reason for this is two-fold:
First, the molder needs to know the knowledge and skills that these two courses teach, and second we introduce a common molding language and terminology in these courses that carries over to the Expert Lessons. This assures that everyone is speaking the same language on the production floor
If your personnel are ready to bring their injection molding knowledge to the next level and truly understand molding from the plastic’s point of view, this is the course that can bring them there.
Practical Injection Molding – Expert Series
Course Description:
Practical Injection Molding – Expert Series is a 5-CD program that builds on the knowledge gained from the PIM – Basic Series and Optimizing Machine Controls Series. Emphasis of this course is on building an in-depth understanding of the molding process for those wanting to be at the expert molding level.
Lesson Descriptions:
Lesson 1: Inside the Injection Molded Part
This lesson describes the structure of plastic molecules and the different internal structures than can develop in molded parts – crystalline, amorphous and oriented. A part’s internal structure affects finished part properties.
Lesson 2: Plastic Flow: Understanding How Flow Affects the Molding Process
This lesson explains how the various types of plastics flow, orient, and change their viscosity. Molecular orientation is discussed including its effects on part directional properties and frictional heat generation.
Lesson 3: The Effects of Temperature, Pressure, Flow & Cooling on the Molded Part
This lesson shows that although a typical molding machine has from 15 to 30 separate controls, the plastic knows only the four primary plastic processing conditions — pressure, temperature, flow rate, and cooling rate.
Lesson 4: The Requirements to Control Molded Part Quality
This lesson continues our discussion of the four primary plastic processing conditions. Here we examine the effects of cavity pressure on molded part properties. The internal part stresses caused by pressure and cooling are explained.
Lesson 5: The Expert Use of Molding Machine Controls
This lesson teaches the practical application of the information presented in the previous lessons. The effects of machine controls on plastic behavior is analyzed to show how control changes affect finished part properties.
More video samples from our complete injection molding library are available at the Plastics Training Center.
