How to solve the difficulty of thin wall of PEEK opening ring?

How to solve the difficulty of thin wall of PEEK opening ring?

Optimize Mold Design

• Reasonable Design of Gates: The position and size of gates are crucial for thin-walled molding. For PEEK open rings, pin-point gates or submarine gates can be tried. This enables the plastic melt to quickly and evenly fill the thin-walled parts and avoid the phenomenon of short shots. Meanwhile, the size of the gates should be finely adjusted according to the specific dimensions and wall thickness of the open rings to ensure that the melt can fill the mold smoothly.
• Design of Cooling System: Precisely design the cooling channels of the mold to ensure uniform cooling. In thin-walled molding, uneven cooling may lead to problems such as a decline in the dimensional accuracy of the open rings and warpage deformation. Conformal cooling channels can be adopted to make them fit the shape of the open rings better, effectively remove heat, reduce cooling time, and improve production efficiency.

Adjust Molding Process Parameters

• Control of Injection Speed: Due to the high viscosity characteristic of PEEK materials, the injection speed needs to be appropriately increased to ensure that the melt can fully fill the thin-walled areas. However, if the injection speed is too fast, defects such as air entrapment may occur. Therefore, it is necessary to find the optimal injection speed through repeated tests to ensure the quality of the thin-walled parts of the open rings.
• Adjust Holding Pressure and Cooling Time: A reasonable holding pressure time can compensate for the shrinkage of materials. For thin-walled open rings, appropriately extending the holding pressure time helps reduce sink marks. The cooling time should be determined according to the size and wall thickness of the open rings as well as the cooling efficiency of the mold to ensure that the open rings have sufficient strength and dimensional stability when demolded.

Material Pretreatment

• Drying Treatment: PEEK materials are prone to absorb moisture. They should be thoroughly dried before molding. Otherwise, during the high-temperature molding process, moisture will turn into steam, resulting in defects such as bubbles and silver streaks in the products and affecting the quality of the thin-walled parts of the open rings. Generally, vacuum drying or high-temperature drying methods are adopted to control the moisture content of the materials at a relatively low level.

Process Difficulties of PEEK Split Rings: Our injection molding machines range from 90 tons to 530 tons in tonnage, and the size range of the moldable parts varies from 3.5 grams to 2,200 grams. We will provide different technical support during the drawing review and mold design stages according to the different design structures of each part. We will ensure that the dimensional tolerances of your products are within the precise range and select the appropriate molding processes for you, including CNC machining, precision injection molding, metal insert molding, and overmolding.