Determination of residual stresses in injection-moulded flat plate: Simulation and experiments

Injection moulding is one of the most important processes for manufacturing plastic parts, but residual stresses are generated due to non-uniform temperature distribution in the mould cavity. The incremental hole-drilling method was employed to evaluate residual stresses in injection-moulded parts and the finite-element method was used for calibration of residual stresses for each increment. The layer-removal method was utilized to compare the results with the incremental hole-drilling method and commercial software, Moldflow, was also used for prediction of residual stress distribution. Experimental and predicted results showed the same residual stress behavior. The incremental hole-drilling method is applicable to residual stress measurements for polymeric materials and especially for complex geometry parts. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.