Understanding Injection Molding of Thermoplastics

– The key to optimum plastic part design

16-17 June 2022

Hotel Scandic Sydhavnen
Sydhavns Pl. 15
2450 København SV

Taught in English by Professor Vito Leo, the BIMS-SEMINARS srl.
The seminar has been upgraded. Many people will find it useful to attend a second time.

Seminar scope
The seminar focuses on the complex phenomena behind the Injection Molding process with a strong emphasis on the understanding of parts’ problems (aspect, shrinkage, war-page, weld lines, burns, etc.) and their relationship with material properties (amorphous, semi-crystalline, filled, unfilled) and the process itself.

Seminar content

basic polymer thermal and rheological behaviour
effect of pressure on polymer properties
the flow process in Injection Molding
part geometry and flow pattern
compressibility, phase change and PVT data
what is crystallinity and how does it affect processing?
the packing phase: key to the dimensional quality of the part
effective part, mould and process design for proper cavity packing
understanding the shrinkage build-up
part warpage mechanisms: designing for minimum warpage, according to material properties and part shape
warpage: the special case of fibre filled materials.
the concept of residual stresses: the compromise with warpage
final conclusions and wrap-up – seminar evaluation by the participants

The seminar is not specifically about Injection Molding Simulation. However, the intention is to clearly help those among the participants who are “Flow Analysis users” to gain a thorough understanding of the concepts that form the basis of the existing code. Model assumptions and corresponding limitations will be highlighted and discussed.

The seminar is highly interactive with limited attendance, allowing for questions, group discussion and an analysis of the attendants’ problems. Parts or drawings are welcome for open discussion, when possible.

The first part of the seminar will quickly describe the process cycle for the purpose of setting up a common vocabulary.

Further information
For more detailed information on the course content, please contact Vito Leo directly at:
Dr. Vito Leo, Sentier de BOMAL 8, 1315 INCOURT – BELGIUM, vito@bims-seminars.com,
Tel.: +32 475556198. FAX : +32 2 6125066.
http://www.bims-seminars.com.

Why attend the seminar?

the course is highly interactive
attendance is limited, allowing for questions, group discussions and analysis of attendant problems
parts drawings are welcome for open discussion when possible
a thorough introduction to the aspects of the polymer injection molding process in only two days
the seminar provides an opportunity to expand your professional network
Dr. Vito Leo has more than 30 years of experience in Polymer Processing and is known as an excellent teacher

Participants’ profile could be

design engineers in charge of molded parts
mold making specialists
molders
flow analysts looking for analysis interpretation support
project leaders involved in developing molded parts
research engineers interested in injection molding
mechanical engineers interested in process induced weakness and strength
material engineers or designers wishing to improve their understanding of a given class of materials (i.e. glass fiber filled polymers).
students involved in the field
young, skilled professionals with little field experience
flow analysis developers
customer support engineers

The seminar may not fit the needs of beginners in the field.

Statements from past participants
‘I would like to praise Dr. Vito Leo for some very good lessons. He is a very good teacher and lecturer. It is very obvious that he is an expert in the field’, Jonas Holm-Christensen, Louis Poulsen
‘It was amazing’, Dana-Maria Cobzaru, R&D Engineer, Novo Nordisk A/S
‘All mechanical engineers need to go through the course’, Emil Gram Spork, Mechanical Design Engineer, Demant A/S

Vito Leo’s Professional background
Vito Leo is a physicist by training, and has been working for more than 30 years in the field of Polymer Processing. He is particularly active in the field of Injection Molding of Thermoplastics and the use of Finite Element Numerical Simulation of this process.

Vito Leo has worked for the largest chemical company in Belgium and been involved in a number of research projects in the field of Rheology and Injection Molding.

His well known expertise has recently gained him a position as Professor at Université Libre de Bruxelles, where he is currently teaching an introductory course in Polymer Processing to students of the Engineering Faculty.

The teacher’s word
As a professional in the Plastic Industry for many years, I have met a very large number of people involved in this field: part designers, mold makers, molders, technicians on the shop floor, or academic people involved in fundamental research. I have always had the impression that everyone has a limited view of the problems, a good understanding in his particular field, but usually little knowledge of the process as a whole. Even worse, people usually do not understand each other because their job and training background are so different. Very few part designers or project managers know about the really peculiar behavior of molten polymers in a molding process. And no University Professor or Flow Analysis developer seems to know how a molding machine really works or how a mold is made.

During my professional life I have tried to bridge the gap between those different approaches, being involved in academic research, attending conferences or training sessions, publishing papers, using software, but also spending a lot of time on the shop floor, running the machine myself, and working days and sometime entire weeks in molding shops throughout the world optimizing the process.

Flow Analysis Codes (Moldflow®, Moldex® and the likes) are now established and respected tools, readily available on PC and with excellent user interface and very good modeling capabilities. But optimum use and proper interpretation of results still requires very skilled and experienced specialists. The users I come across are often young computer minded engineers, with limited knowledge of plastics and processing technology.

I also noticed that the recent boom in the Mobile Communications Business is generating extremely fast growth in leading companies, where very young professionals are now in charge of world-wide projects, involving complex plastic parts, special materials, and very demanding dimensional and mechanical requirements. These engineers would benefit from an appropriate training in Injection Molding and Polymer Physics.

Now that I have a good understanding of the molding process and the underlying physics, I want to try to share my knowledge with people in the industry.

The challenge I give myself is the following: I want to go deeply into the physics of the various thermoplastics processing behavior, thoroughly explain the mechanisms involved in this complex process from filling to final warpage, and yet present this seminar material with simple words and concepts, and minimum mathematics, so that the whole interested community, with or without high level university training, will benefit from these training sessions.