Comparison of coolant flow strategies for conformal cooling channels in plastic injection molding

Aim It is aimed to determine the most appropriate flow strategy for conformal cooling channels. Design & Methodology Cooling channels with different flow strategies were first analyzed numerically and the obtained results were experimentally verified. Originality Use of spiral, zig-zag and parallel conformal channels Findings With the using of conformal cooling channels instead of a linear channel, the cooling time has been reduced by 51% and the amount of warpage by 25%. Conclusion The shortest cycle time was obtained with the spiral channel and the lowest distortion was obtained with the zigzag channel. Declaration of Ethical Standards The author(s) of this article declare that the materials and methods used in this study do not require ethical committee permission and/or legal-special permission.