Novel concept of self-adaptive clamping for precision injection molding

作者：Yuan, Qing-wen; Lai, Yan-gen; Zou, Xin-liang; Qu, Jin-ping^*

来源：PRECISION ENGINEERING-JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETIES FOR PRECISION ENGINEERING AND NANOTECHNOLOGY, 2024, 87: 33-42.

DOI：10.1016/j.precisioneng.2024.01.012

• Precision injection molding
• Self-adaptive clamping
• Prestress steel wire-winding frame
• Floating structures

Clamping precision as a key factor of precision injection molding of high-quality plastic parts is restricted by lowprecision clamping systems. Herein, a novel clamping method capable of sensing mold misalignment and selfadjusting mold position and attitude through floating structures is proposed to eliminate the restriction of clamping system, thereby achieving high clamping precision. The innovative clamping method possesses prestress steel wire-winding frames and rubber capsules filled with hydraulic oil, which ensures the floating structures work. Meanwhile, the hydraulic oil provides isostatic pressure to clamp the mold. The working space of the floating structures and the loading of the prestress steel wire-winding frames have been modeled to confirm their feasibility in the self-adaptive clamping method. Based on the modeling activities, a prototype injection molding machine was developed to evaluate the clamping precision. The experimental results indicate that the parallelism between the mold plates is 0.031 mm, far superior to that in China Machinery Industry Standards, and the uneven clamping force rate on mold cavity surface is 1.3 %. Moreover, the clamping force repeatability is only 0.14 %, superior to toggle and two-platen clamping systems. This method offers a new chance for the development of precision injection molding.