A process for injection molded microcellular foaming various flexible foam compositions from biodegradable and industrially compostable bio-derived thermoplastic resins for use in, for example, footwear components, seating components, protective gear components, and watersport accessories wherein a process of manufacturing includes the steps of: producing a suitable thermoplastic biopolymer or biopolymer blend; injection molding the thermoplastic biopolymer or biopolymer blend into a suitable mold shape with inert nitrogen gas; controlling the polymer melt, pressure, temperature, and time such that a desirable flexible foam is formed; and utilizing gas counterpressure in the injection molding process to ensure the optimal foam structure with the least amount of cosmetic defects and little to no plastic skin on the outside of the foamed structure.

The present disclosure provides a method of measuring a true shear viscosity profile of a molding material in a capillary and a molding system performing the same. The method includes the operations of: determining a setpoint temperature of the molding material before injecting into the capillary; obtaining an initial shear viscosity profile at the setpoint temperature with respect to a shear rate of the molding material; fitting an initial temperature profile with respect to the shear rate according to the initial shear viscosity based on Cross William-Landel-Ferry model; fitting a first shear viscosity profile and a first temperature profile with respect to the shear rate according to the initial temperature profile based on the Cross-WLF model; and setting the first shear viscosity profile as the true shear viscosity profile when a difference between the first temperature profile and the initial temperature profile is not greater than a threshold.

An injection molding apparatus including a mold, an injection device and at least one sensor is provided. The mold has a mold cavity. The injection device is adapted to inject a material into the mold cavity such that the material is formed into a forming article. The at least one sensor is disposed on the mold and adapted to sense at least one of a temperature and a pressure in the mold cavity. The at least one sensor is located at an inner surface of the mold cavity and corresponds to a non-appearance surface of the forming article. In addition, an injection molding method is also provided.

Provided is a mold carrier. The mold carrier comprises a mold bearing chassis, a pressure bearing plate, and a tie bar. The mold bearing chassis includes a plurality of molds disposed therein. Each mold has one or more mold cavities. The pressure bearing plate is configured to physically couple to the mold bearing chassis during an injection molding process. The tie bar runs through the center of the mold bearing chassis and the pressure bearing plate. The mold bearing chassis is configured to allow components to be removed from their molds without separating the mold bearing chassis from the pressure bearing plate.

A plasticizing device that plasticizes a material and includes a drive motor, a screw that is rotated by the drive motor and that has a grooved face provided with a groove, a barrel that has an opposed face opposed to the grooved face and that includes a communication hole communicating with the groove at the opposed face, a heating section that heats the material supplied to the groove, a first temperature sensor that measures a temperature of the groove, and a control unit that controls the drive motor, wherein the control unit performs a first process for rotating the screw at a first rotation speed when a temperature measured by the first temperature sensor is a first temperature, and a second process for rotating the screw at a second rotation speed lower than the first rotation speed when a second measured temperature measured is higher than the first temperature.

An injection molding heat removal sensing and control system and method are provided for determining and controlling a heat transfer rate for a mold in a molding machine. The system includes an inflow temperature sensor for sensing an inflow temperature for coolant provided to the mold, an outflow temperature sensor for sensing an outflow temperature for coolant exiting the mold, and a flow rate sensor for sensing a flow rate for coolant through the mold. The electronic processor is also configured to calculate a heat transfer rate for the mold from the inflow temperature, the outflow temperature, the flow rate for the coolant, and the calculated mass and the temperature of the molten plastic. The processor determines a time lag between when heat enters the mold and when heat is removed by the coolant and pre-emptively adjusts coolant flow rate to provide uniform heat transfer throughout a molding cycle. The heat transfer rate and total energy removed can be determined and provided on the display.

A process for injection molded microcellular foaming various flexible foam compositions from biodegradable and industrially compostable bio-derived thermoplastic resins for use in, for example, footwear components, seating components, protective gear components, and watersport accessories wherein a process of manufacturing includes the steps of: producing a suitable thermoplastic biopolymer or biopolymer blend; injection molding the thermoplastic biopolymer or biopolymer blend into a suitable mold shape with inert nitrogen gas; controlling the polymer melt, pressure, temperature, and time such that a desirable flexible foam is formed; and utilizing gas counterpressure in the injection molding process to ensure the optimal foam structure with the least amount of cosmetic defects and little to no plastic skin on the outside of the foamed structure.

A sensing module includes a hollow body, a first photo sensor, and a second photo sensor. The hollow body includes a cavity portion and an insertion portion connected to each other. The insertion portion has a first channel and a second channel. The first photo sensor is disposed in the cavity portion of the hollow body and corresponds to the first channel to sense an ambient temperature and a test object temperature. The second photo sensor is disposed in the cavity portion of the hollow body and corresponds to the second channel to sense the ambient temperature.

The present disclosure discloses a method for on-line measurement of the polymer melt temperature, comprising: on-line measurement of ultrasonic sound velocity c of melt in an injection molding process, on-line measurement of melt pressure P in the injection molding process, and obtaining melt temperature T in the injection molding process by formula (1). The present disclosure also discloses an apparatus for on-line measurement of the polymer melt temperature. The method and the apparatus provided in the present disclosure may enable on-line and in-situ characterization of the melt density and further enable on-line quantitative measurement of the melt quality. Compared with infrared measurement methods, the method provided herein is significantly reduced in cost, which is of great significance to theoretical researches of crystallization process and shear heating.

Non-time dependent measured variables are used to effectively determine an optimal ejection time of a part from a mold cavity. A system and/or approach may first measure at least one non-time dependent variable during an injection molding cycle. The part is ready to be ejected from the mold upon the measured variable reaching a threshold value indicative of, for example, a part temperature dropping below an activation temperature.