Effect of processing conditions on warpage of film insert molded parts

In order to investigate effects of injection molding conditions on viscoelastic behavior and thermal deformation of film insert molded (FIM) parts, injection molding was performed with various conditions such as injection speed, melt temperature, and packing time. It was shown that variation of the warpage was decreased monotonically with increasing injection speed and exhibited a bell-shaped curve as a function of melt temperature. Warpage variation was not affected by the packing time significantly and the proportional relationship between warpage of the film insert molded part and shrinkage of the injection molded part without film was observed. The FIM specimens produced with unannealed films showed the warpage reversal phenomenon (WRP) during annealing and the magnitude of reversed warpage was affected significantly by the injection parameters and the extent of thermal shrinkage of the unannealed film. Warpage of the FIM specimen was predicted by three dimensional numerical flow and stress analyses and the predicted values showed a good agreement with the experimental results.