A virtual prototyping environment for a robust design of an injection moulding process

tThis paper proposes a new approach that enables a robust optimisation of the injection moulding pro-cess, based on the integration of numerical simulations, Response Surface Methodology and stochasticsimulations in a type of integrated environment known as a virtual prototyping environment (VPE). Theprincipal aim of the proposed approach is to include in the numerical setup of injection moulding theeffects of fluctuations of process parameters.To clarify the proposed methodology, the paper details its application to the injection moulding processfor the production of an engine cover. The moulded part presents some critical tolerances on differentdimensions because of sealing and assembly requirements and the application of the VPE makes it pos-sible to perform a robust setup taking into account the process fluctuations. The numerical predictionwas confirmed by real production measurements on small pre-production runs performed adopting themoulding window explored in the virtual setup.