Injection-Compression Molded Part Shrinkage Uniformity Comparison between Semicrystalline and Amorphous Plastics

Both semicrystalline polypropylene (PP) and amorphous polystyrene (PS) parts were molded by injection-compression molding. The Taguchi method was utilized to investigate the effects of six processing parameters, including mold temperature, compression speed, compression time, compression distance, delay time, and compression force, on part shrinkage uniformity (SU), which was represented by standard deviation of shrinkage. Analyses of means and variance showed that the compression force is the most important parameter for SU of both parts. The compression distance is the second most significant parameter of SU on the PS parts, but it is the least important parameter on the PP part. The optimal processing parameters for improving the SU of both parts were found and verified experimentally.