Abstract—This paper presents a study in which an attempt has been made to improve the quality characteristic (shrinkage) of an injection molding product (plastic tray) made from blends plastic (75% polypropylene (PP) and 25% low density polyethylene (LDPE)) by optimizing the injection molding parameters using the Taguchi method. The performance of the plastic trays is evaluated in terms of its shrinkage behavior. An orthogonal array (OA), main effect, signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are employed to analyze the effect of injection molding parameters on the shrinkage behavior of the product. The analysis of the results shows that the optimal combination for low shrinkage are low melting temperature, high injection pressure, low holding pressure, long holding time and long cooling time. Using Taguchi method for design of experiment (DOE), other significant effects such as interaction among injection molding parameters are also investigated.
Index Terms—Taguchi method, optimization, injection moulding, low density polyethylene (LDPE), Polypropylene (PP), shrinkage test
S. Kamaruddin is with the School of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Campus Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia (Phone: 604-5996382; Fax: 604-5941025; e-mail: meshah@eng.usm.my).
Z.A. Khan, is Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi – 110 025, INDIA. (E-mail: zahid_jmi@yahoo.com).
S.H. Foong is with the School of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Campus Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
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Cite: S. Kamaruddin, Zahid A. Khan and S. H. Foong, "Application of Taguchi Method in the Optimization of Injection Moulding Parameters for Manufacturing Products from Plastic Blend,"
International Journal of Engineering and Technology vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 574-580, 2010.
