Development of an expert system for the determination of injection moulding parameters of thermoplastic materials:: EX-PIMM

Injection moulding is a process in which a hot polymer melt is forced to flow into an empty, cold cavity of desired shape and then allowed to solidify under a high holding pressure. There are several parameters of the injection moulding process. It is not easy to handle the relationships between these parameters in order to obtain an effective and rapid moulding. The goal of this study is to develop a frame-based, modular and interactive expert system (called "EX-PIMM") for the determination of the injection moulding parameters of thermoplastic materials. The selection of the most suitable plastic injection moulding machine (PIMM) and thermoplastic material for the given job are the main objectives of this study. In addition, the optimum number of cavities can be determined according to the selection strategy used in this study. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.