Optimal injection velocity profiling

Recently, manufacturers of thermoplastic injection moulding machines have developed controllers with programmable velocity control. The speed of the ram can typically be varied in as many as ten zones during the injection process to establish a velocity profile. This velocity profile however, is determined by trial and error. Some controller manufacturers have made claims about injection velocity profiling, however, actual experimental data is not available to confirm them. In this paper, some experiments were conducted in order to verify the effectiveness of these claims. The results of these experiments indicate that injection velocity control has little effect on reducing or eliminating the problems for which the claims are made.