Injection Moulding defects

BLISTER:
Raised or layered zone on surface of the part, often caused by a lack of cooling around the tool or a
faulty heater

Burn marks:Black or brown burnt areas on the part located at furthest points from gate or where air
is trapped.

Flash:Excess material in thin layer exceeding normal part geometry

Tool or material is too hot, often

Blister

Blistering

Raised or layered zone on

caused by a lack of cooling

surface of the part

around the tool or a faulty

heater

Black or brown burnt areas on

Burn marks

Air burn/gas

the part located at furthest

Tool lacks venting, injection

burn/dieseling

points from gate or where air is

speed is too high

trapped

Color streaks Colour

Localized change of

Masterbatch isn't mixing

(US)

color/colour

properly, or the material has run

streaks (UK)

out and it's starting to come

through as natural only.
Previous colored material
"dragging" in nozzle or check
valve.

Contamination of the material

e.g. PP mixed with ABS, very
dangerous if the part is being
Delamination

Thin mica like layers formed in

used for a safety critical

part wall

application as the material has

very little strength when
delaminated as the materials
cannot bond

Mould is over packed or parting

line on the tool is damaged, too
Flash

Burrs

Excess material in thin layer

much injection speed/material

exceeding normal part

injected, clamping force too low.

geometry

Can also be caused by dirt and

contaminants around tooling
surfaces.

Particles on the tool surface,

Embedded
contaminate
s

Embedded

Foreign particle (burnt material

particulates

or other) embedded in the part

contaminated material or foreign

debris in the barrel, or too much
shear heat burning the material
prior to injection

Flow marks

Flow lines

Directionally "off tone" wavy

Injection speeds too slow (the

lines or patterns

plastic has cooled down too

much during injection, injection
speeds should be set as fast as
is appropriate for the process

and material used)

Gate Blush

Halo or Blush
Marks

Circular pattern around gate,

normally only an issue on hot
runner molds

Injection speed is too fast,

gate/sprue/runner size is too
small, or the melt/mold temp is
too low.

Poor tool design, gate position

Part deformed by turbulent flow

Jetting

of material.

or runner. Injection speed set

too high. Poor design of gates
which cause too little die
swelland result jetting.

Caused by the melt-front flowing

around an object standing proud
in a plastic part as well as at the
end of fill where the melt-front
Small lines on the backside of
Knit lines

Weld lines

core pins or windows in parts

that look like just lines.

comes together again. Can be

minimized or eliminated with a
mould-flow study when the
mould is in design phase. Once
the mould is made and the gate
is placed, one can minimize this
flaw only by changing the melt
and the mould temperature.

Excess water in the granules,

excessive temperatures in
Polymer

Polymer breakdown

degradation

from hydrolysis,oxidation etc.

barrel, excessive screw speeds

causing high shear heat,
material being allowed to sit in
the barrel for too long, too much
regrind being used.

Holding time/pressure too low,

cooling time too short, with
Sink marks

[sinks]

Localized depression (In thicker

zones)

sprueless hot runners this can

also be caused by the gate
temperature being set too high.
Excessive material or walls too
thick.

Short shot

Non-fill or
short mould

Lack of material, injection speed

Partial part

cold, lack of gas vents

Usually appears as silver

Splash mark
Splay marks

or silver
streaks

or pressure too low, mould too

streaks along the flow pattern,

however depending on the type
and color of material it may
represent as small bubbles
caused by trapped moisture.

Moisture in the material, usually

when hygroscopic resins are
dried improperly. Trapping of
gas in "rib" areas due to
excessive injection velocity in
these areas. Material too hot, or
is being sheared too much.

Nozzle temperature too high.

Stringiness

Stringing or
long-gate

String like remnant from

Gate hasn't frozen off, no

previous shot transfer in new

decompression of the screw, no

shot

sprue break, poor placement of

the heater bands inside the tool.

Voids

Empty space within part (air

Lack of holding pressure

pocket is commonly used)

(holding pressure is used to

pack out the part during the
holding time). Filling too fast,
not allowing the edges of the
part to set up. Also mould may
be out of registration (when the
two halves don't center properly

and part walls are not the same

thickness). The provided
information is the common
understanding, Correction: The
Lack of pack (not holding)
pressure (pack pressure is used
to pack out even though is the
part during the holding time).
Filling too fast does not cause
this condition, as a void is a sink
that did not have a place to
happen. In other words, as the
part shrinks the resin separated
from itself as there was not
sufficient resin in the cavity. The
void could happen at any area
or the part is not limited by the
thickness but by the resin flow
and thermal conductivity, but it
is more likely to happen at
thicker areas like ribs or bosses.
Additional root causes for voids
are un-melt on the melt pool.

Mould or material temperatures

set too low (the material is cold
Knit line /
Weld line

Meld line /
Transfer line

Discolored line where two flow

fronts meet

when they meet, so they don't

bond). Time for transition
between injection and transfer
(to packing and holding) is too
early.

Warping

Twisting

Distorted part

Cooling is too short, material is

too hot, lack of cooling around
the tool, incorrect water

temperatures (the parts bow

inwards towards the hot side of
the tool) Uneven shrinking
between areas of the par

Different types of injection moulding processes [

Sandwich-moulded toothbrush handle

Although most injection moulding processes are covered by the conventional process description
above, there are several important moulding variations including, but not limited to:

Die casting

Metal injection moulding

Thin-wall injection moulding

Injection moulding of liquid silicone rubber

Injection moulding is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting material into
a mould.Injection Molding is a cyclic process for producing identical articles from a
mold, and is the most widely used for polymer processing. The main advantage of
this process is the capacity of repetitively fabricating parts having complex

geometries at high production rates. Complexity is virtually unlimited and sizes may
range from very small to very large. Most polymers may be injection molded,
including thermo plastics, fiber reinforced thermo plastics, thermosetting plastics,
and elastomers. Critical to the adoption of this high volume, low cost process
technology is the ability to consistently produce quality parts.

The process cycle for injection molding is very short, typically between 2 seconds and 2 minutes, and
consists of the following four stages:

1.

Clamping - Prior to the injection of the material into the mold, the two halves of the mold must first
be securely closed by the clamping unit. Each half of the mold is attached to the injection molding
machine and one half is allowed to slide. The hydraulically powered clamping unit pushes the mold
halves together and exerts sufficient force to keep the mold securely closed while the material is
injected. The time required to close and clamp the mold is dependent upon the machine - larger
machines (those with greater clamping forces) will require more time. This time can be estimated
from the dry cycle time of the machine.

2.

Injection - The raw plastic material, usually in the form of pellets, is fed into the injection molding
machine, and advanced towards the mold by the injection unit. During this process, the material is
melted by heat and pressure. The molten plastic is then injected into the mold very quickly and the
buildup of pressure packs and holds the material. The amount of material that is injected is referred to
as the shot. The injection time is difficult to calculate accurately due to the complex and changing flow
of the molten plastic into the mold. However, the injection time can be estimated by the shot volume,
injection pressure, and injection power.

3.

Cooling - The molten plastic that is inside the mold begins to cool as soon as it makes contact
with the interior mold surfaces. As the plastic cools, it will solidify into the shape of the desired part.
However, during cooling some shrinkage of the part may occur. The packing of material in the

injection stage allows additional material to flow into the mold and reduce the amount of visible
shrinkage. The mold can not be opened until the required cooling time has elapsed. The cooling time
can be estimated from several thermodynamic properties of the plastic and the maximum wall
thickness of the part.
4.

Ejection - After sufficient time has passed, the cooled part may be ejected from the mold by the
ejection system, which is attached to the rear half of the mold. When the mold is opened, a
mechanism is used to push the part out of the mold. Force must be applied to eject the part because
during cooling the part shrinks and adheres to the mold. In order to facilitate the ejection of the part, a
mold release agent can be sprayed onto the surfaces of the mold cavity prior to injection of the
material. The time that is required to open the mold and eject the part can be estimated from the dry
cycle time of the machine and should include time for the part to fall free of the mold. Once the part is
ejected, the mold can be clamped shut for the nextshot to be injected