exceed 15% of the nominal wall thickness and should always have a smooth or tapered
transition to achieve a high quality part.
4. Add draft angles to your design
Many material removal processes such as CNC machining can produce vertical walls. However,
creating a part’s design for injection moulding with vertical walls will cause the part to get stuck,
particularly at the core, as the part contracts on cooling.
If too much force is applied to eject the part, the risk of damaging the ejector pins and even the
mould becomes very high. Design the walls of parts with a slight slant to avoid this problem.
This slanting is called a draft.
Due to the high complexity, it creates in designing, the draft is usually added at the final stages
of the part design. Different surfaces require varying drafts. Textured surfaces require the most
draft. Some common surfaces found in injection moulding and their minimum draft angles are as
follows.
For “near-vertical” requirements: 0.5°
Most common situations: 1 ~ 2°
All shutoff surfaces: 3°
Faces with light textures: 1 ~ 3°
Faces with medium textures: 5°+
5. Add ribs and gussets to certain parts
Certain parts require ribs. Ribs and gussets give additional strength to parts and help to eliminate
cosmetic defects like warping, sink and voids. These features are essential for structural
components. Therefore, it is preferable to add them to parts rather than increase the thickness of
parts to increase strength.
However, if not properly designed, this can lead to shrinkage. Shrinkage happens when the
cooling rate of certain parts is much faster than others, resulting in the permanent bending of
some sections. The warping can be effectively reduced by keeping the rib thickness between 50 –
60% of that of the wall it is attached to.
6. Add radii and fillet to part design
Applying radii to parts, when possible, eliminates sharp corners, which improves the flow of
material and the part’s structural integrity. Sharp corners cause weakness in the part as the
molten material is made to flow through the corner or into the corner. The only places where
sharp corners are unavoidable are the parting surfaces or shut-off surfaces.
Radii and fillets also aid in a part ejection as rounded corners are less likely to get stuck during
ejection than sharp corners. Furthermore, sharp corners are also not structurally advisable as they
lead to stress points that can fail. Radii help to smoothen out the stress on the corners.
Also, including sharp corners in your part will exponentially increase the cost of production as
this would require the mould to feature sharp corners that can only be achieved using very
expensive manufacturing techniques.
Add internal radii at least 0.5 times the thickness of the adjacent wall and external radii 1.5 times
the size.
7. Avoid undercuts and provide slots where possible
Snap fits are obtainable through undercuts. The straight-pull mould, which consists of two
halves, and is the most straightforward design, is not suitable to manufacture parts with undercut
features. This is due to the difficulty in machining such a mould with CNC and the tendency of
the material to get stuck on ejection.
Undercuts are usually created using side cores. However, side cores significantly increase tooling
costs. Luckily there are some design tips to achieve the function of an undercut without using
side cores. One way of doing this is by introducing a slot instead.
This is also referred to as a pass-through core. Another way is to adjust or move the parting line
of the part. When doing this, also adjust the draft angle accordingly. Moving the parting lines is
most suitable for undercuts that are on the outside of the part.
You can also use stripping undercuts, also referred to as bump offs. However, only use this
feature when the part is flexible enough to deform and expand during ejection from the mould.
Also, give enough clearance: bump-offs must have a lead angle of 30° to 45° for effective
ejection. All these alternatives to expensive side cores require significant redesigning of the part.
When the redesign of a part is not possible due to the possibility that it may affect the
functionality of the part, then you have to employ sliding side-actions and cores to deal with
undercuts.
These features slide in as the mould closes and slide out as it opens. The side cores must move
perpendicularly and have appropriate draft angles.
8. Attach bosses to side walls or ribs
Bosses are cylindrical standoffs moulded into a plastic part to accept an insert, self-tapping
screw, or pin for assembling or mounting parts.
The outer diameter (OD) of the boss should be 2.5 times the diameter of the screw diameter for
self-tapping applications.
Bosses shouldn’t be freestanding. Always attach bosses to a side wall or to the floor with ribs or
gussets. Their thickness should not exceed 60% of the overall part thickness to minimize visible
sink marks on the outside of the part.
For example, a part with an outer wall of 3 mm should have internal ribs that are no more than
1.7 mm thick.
9. Gating: Highlight visually important surfaces on your part where there must not be any
marks
In order to properly design and manufacture your part using injection moulding, it is important
for the manufacturer to understand from the outset what your requirements are in terms of its
appearance.
One key point for the tool maker to consider is the gate location. Gates are entry sections through
which the molten material enters the mould. The tool maker has to choose the type of the gates
and position them strategically to minimize potential quality issues.
Gates also leave gate vestige or a visual indication that the part was gated—even if it is subtle.
That’s why we recommend letting your supplier know about any aesthetic and functional
requirements and defining where not to gate.
1b)
Economic Consideration in Material Selection Section
In engineering practice there are other important criteria that must be considered in the
development of a marketable product. Some of these are economic in nature, which, to some
degree, are unrelated to scientific principles and engineering practice, and yet are significant if a
product is to be competitive in the commercial marketplace. It is essential for the engineer to
know about and understand economic issues simply because the company/ institution for which
he or she works must realize a profit from the products it manufactures. Materials engineering
decisions have economic consequences with regard to both material and production costs. There
are three factors over which the materials engineer has control and that affect the cost of a
product; they are
(1) component design,
(2) the material(s)
(3) the manufacturing technique(s) that are employed.
These factors are interrelated in that component design may affect which material is used, and
both component design and the material used will influence the choice of manufacturing
technique(s). Economic considerations for each of these factors is now briefly discussed. Lecture
five Selection of Engineering Materials for Design Economic Considerations in Material
Selection Dr Khulood I. D.
1- Component Design: Some fraction of the cost of a component is associated with its design. In
this context, component design is the specification of size, shape, and configuration, which will
affect in-service component performance. For example, if mechanical forces are present, then
stress analyses may be required. Detailed drawings of the component must be prepared;
computers are normally employed, using software that has been generated for this specific
function. It is often the case that a single component is part of a complex device or system
consisting of a large number of components (i.e., the television, automobile, DVD
player/recorder, etc.). Thus, design must take into consideration each component’s contribution
to the efficient operation of the complete system.
2- Materials: In terms of economics, we want to select the material or materials with the
appropriate combination(s) of properties that are the least expensive. Once a family of materials
has been selected that satisfy the design constraints, cost comparisons of the various candidate
materials may be made on the basis of cost per part. Material price is usually quoted per unit
mass. In addition, during manufacturing there ordinarily is some unavoidable material waste,
which should also be taken into account in these computations.
3- Manufacturing Techniques: As already stated, the choice of manufacturing process will be
influenced by both the material selected and part design. The entire manufacturing process will
