**2. Material and methods**

#### **2.1 Industrial context**

SKG Company recognized by the injection and metallization of the PC/ABS automotive parts, discovered the occurrence of some defects in the surfaces of the injected parts. These defects caused a high rejection rate [17].

#### **2.2 Material elaboration**

The commercial PC/ABS blend used in this investigation was the T45 PG. This blend was proximately oven dried at 120°C for 4 h [17]. Its mechanical and thermal properties are exhibited in **Table 1**.

**153**

**Figure 1.**

34 mm.

**Table 1.**

was the torsion specimen [17].

*Characteristics data of PC/ABS blend [13].*

*Influence of Injection Molding Parameters on the Mechanical Properties of Injected PC/ABS Parts*

**Properties Method PC/ABS** MVR (260°C/5 kg) ISO 1133 12 cm3

Melt viscosity(1000 s−1/260°C) ISO 11443 200 Pa.s Vicat softening temperature ISO 306 112°C Tensile strength (50 mm/min) ISO 527 49 MPa Izod notched impact strength (23°C)° ISO 180 40 kJ/m2

/10 min

As illustrated in **Figure 1(a)**, a horizontal injection molding machine "FCSHN 125SV" was used to elaborate the PC/ABS parts. Their maximum injection pressure and clamping force were 217 MPa and 125 kN, respectively. Its screw's diameter was

The injection mold forms three imprints presented in **Figure 1(b)**. Imprint A was the tensile specimen. Imprint B was the dynamic tensile specimen. Imprint C

This study is an alternate to investigate the impact of the injection process on the

The developed Taguchi method goal is to determine the set of parameters which

MINITAB 18 statistical software was used to find out the optimal processing conditions. A confirmation test was performed in order to guarantee the validity of the optimal experimental conditions considered from the design of the parameters.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95089*

**2.3 Injection machine and molded part description**

mechanical properties of injected PC/ABS parts.

**2.4 Design of Experiment (DOE): Taguchi method**

*(a) Injection molding machine, (b) obtained specimens [17].*

leads to the best mechanical properties of the PC/ABS injected part.

*Influence of Injection Molding Parameters on the Mechanical Properties of Injected PC/ABS Parts DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95089*


**Table 1.**

*Quality Control - Intelligent Manufacturing, Robust Design and Charts*

by Taguchi approach is then applied to search for fine tuning of parameter values to obtain the desired responses. The Taguchi method introduces an integrated approach that is simple and efficient for finding the best range of designs for quality, performance, and computational cost [7–9]. Taguchi method is a useful methodology for analyzing the variation using the signal-to noise (S/N) ratio. The Taguchi analysis of the S/N ratio specifies three situations of quality characteristics, as well as the-largerthe-better (LB), the nominal-the-better (NB) and the-smaller-the-better (SB). A great deal of research used this approach is being carried out to understand, identify critical factors and to optimize the molding process. For example, Wegrzyn et al. conducted a study to investigate the impact of injection speed and melt temperature on electrical conductivity and dynamic mechanical properties of PC/ABS-MWCNT Nano composites [10]. These authors figured out that the injected molded specimens recover conductivity. In addition, Wang et al. elaborated experimentally the compression behavior of PC/ABS during monotonic and cyclic loading over a wide-ranging of temperatures (up to 373 K) and strain rates (up to 5000 s−1) [11]. In parallel, Li et al. analyzed effect of process parameters namely, melt temperatures, injection speed and injection pressure to determine the influence of weld lines on appearance of PP products using Taguchi experimental design method [12]. Rafizadeh et al. showed that when fixing the mixing time and temperature, temperature and pressure of injection, mold temperature, and blend composition in mixing through the Taguchi orthogonal array, the impact strength of PC/ABS blend could be optimized [13]. Equally, Ozcelik studied the influence of the injection parameters and weld line on the mechanical properties of polypropylene (PP) during IM process via the design of experiment (DOE). Mechanical properties such as maximum tensile load, extension at break and charpy impact strength (notched) of the specimens were measured [14]. Furthermore, Kuram et al. discussed the tensile and the flexural strength during injection molding of virgin and recycled PBT/PC/ ABS blends using Taguchi experimental design. The results showed the impact of injection pressure, holding pressure, and injection temperature on the mechanical properties of the molded parts [15]. Aditya M. Darekar used the Taguchi approach and found that quality and mechanical properties parts are mainly caused due to

improper selection of the processing conditions during production [16].

the surface quality of some injected PC/ABS parts.

injected parts. These defects caused a high rejection rate [17].

**2. Material and methods**

**2.1 Industrial context**

**2.2 Material elaboration**

properties are exhibited in **Table 1**.

In this study, the effect of the injection molding process on the mechanical properties of the injected PC/ABS parts was investigated. The Taguchi method was used to find out the optimal combinations of the injection molding (IM) parameters that provide better mechanical properties. These results are considered interesting especially in the automotive industries. We intend to reduce the rejection rate caused by

SKG Company recognized by the injection and metallization of the PC/ABS automotive parts, discovered the occurrence of some defects in the surfaces of the

The commercial PC/ABS blend used in this investigation was the T45 PG. This blend was proximately oven dried at 120°C for 4 h [17]. Its mechanical and thermal

**152**

*Characteristics data of PC/ABS blend [13].*
