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

• A new approach able to optimise the injection moulding is proposed and detailed to an industrial case.
• FEM, RSM and stochastic simulations are combined in a virtual prototyping environment.
• A proposed procedure permits to compare FEM prediction with measurements in the production.
• The optimisation of process parameters is performed numerically on a virtual model.
• It is robust taking in account stochastic fluctuations of parameters with a minimum of computation.

This paper proposes a new approach that enables a robust optimisation of the injection moulding process, based on the integration of numerical simulations, Response Surface Methodology and stochastic simulations in a type of integrated environment known as a virtual prototyping environment (VPE). The principal aim of the proposed approach is to include in the numerical setup of injection moulding the effects of fluctuations of process parameters.To clarify the proposed methodology, the paper details its application to the injection moulding process for the production of an engine cover. The moulded part presents some critical tolerances on different dimensions because of sealing and assembly requirements and the application of the VPE makes it possible to perform a robust setup taking into account the process fluctuations. The numerical prediction was confirmed by real production measurements on small pre-production runs performed adopting the moulding window explored in the virtual setup.