Fully-Coupled Numerical Analysis of High-Frequency Induction Heating for Thin-Wall Injection Molding

Abstract

In recent years, rapid mold heating has served to enable the injection molding of thin-walled parts or micro/nano structures. Induction heating is an efficient way to heat metal parts by means of an electric current that flows through a conductive material by electromagnetic induction. The present study covers a numerical investigation of high-frequency induction heating of an injection mold in order to rapidly raise the mold temperature. To take into account the effects of thermal boundary conditions of induction heating, a fully coupled numerical analysis effectively connecting electromagnetic field calculation, heat transfer analysis, and injection molding simulation was carried out. The proposed integrated simulation was applied to the injection molding of a thin-wall part, and its results were compared with experimental findings in order to verify the validity of the proposed simulation.

Keywords:

• Coupled-field analysis
• Induction heating
• Injection molding
• Numerical analysis
• Thin wall molding

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was financially supported by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy [MKE] and Korea Industrial Technology Foundation [KOTEF] through the Human Resource Training Project for Strategic Technology.