PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF COOLING CHANNELS IN A PLASTIC INJECTION MOLD MODEL

Design of the cooling channels of a plastic injection mold affects the quality and the productivity of the injection processes. In the injection process, the melted resin with high temperature enters the mold cavity, and just after the cavity is filled the heat should be dissipated through the cooling channels simultaneously. The purpose of this study is to analyse the heat transfer phenomenon and to estimate the temperature distribution in the mold to evaluate the cooling effect of the channels. The injection mold is assumed to have cooling channels of circular cross section and each channel has the same coolant flow rate. and The cavity has a rectangular shape. The results show that as the cooling channels get closer to the cavity surface, the cooling efficiency increases as might easily be guessed. However, due to the final hot resin flow from the gate an intensive cooling is required in that region.