A modeling study on the effect of operating parameters on RHCM process using split flow channels design

In this work, a three-dimensional numerical study of thermal behavior of RHCM mold for automotive parts production was undertaken. Particularly, simulation of several heating/cooling cycles was conducted to determine, at the regular cyclic regime, thermal behaviors at cavity/core plates and polymer as well as thermal and hydrodynamic behaviors at cooling water. It was demonstrated that heating/cooling channels with split flow design are suitable for RHCM regulation. Besides, to further promote part quality, process productivity, and profitability, the effect of cooling parameters, such as the coolant temperature and flow velocity in channels, on the RHCM process efficiency was analyzed. To highlight the influence of these parameters on the productivity and profitability of the process, the cycle time and the consumed energy were used. Temperature gap at the cavity plate surfaces after the heating phase as well as the maximum temperature difference (MTD) in the polymer part after the cooling phase were used as criteria to evaluate the automotive part quality. The results show that the coolant temperature increase in the range between 30 and 60 °C reduces the energy consumption and improves the finished product quality with almost the same cycle time obtained by low coolant temperature. As regards to coolant flow velocity effect, an optimum value of about 1 m.s−1 improves part quality and provides a compromise between the cycle time and process profitability.