 Sink Marks

 Warpage
 Short Shot
 Air Traps
 Weld Lines
 Flash
 Jetting
 Burn Marks
 Dimension Variation
 Stress in Parts

Prepared by: Allande

SINK MARK

CAUSES

 Low injection and packing pressure

 Short hold time & short cooling time
 High melt or mold temperature
 Localized geometrical features

REMEDIES
A sink mark is a local surface
depression that typically occurs in
 Increase injection & holding pressure
moldings with thicker sections, or at  Increase size of gate and runners
locations above rib, bosses, and  Increase cooling time
internal fillets.  Relocate gate to thicker section
 Alter the Part Design

Prepared by: Allande

ALTERNATE DESIGN TO AVOID SINK MARK

Before After
Prepared by: Allande
WELD LINE

CAUSES

 Material - Mold too cold

 Injection pressure tool low
 Insufficient mold venting
 Improper gate location

REMEDIES

A weld line (also called a weld mark or a  Increase cylinder temp, increase overall cycle time
knit line) is formed when separate melt fronts  Increase Injection pressure
traveling in opposite directions meet. A meld  Improve venting
line occurs if two emerging melt fronts flow  Alter gate location
parallel to each other and create a bond
between them. Weld and meld lines can be
caused by holes or inserts in the part,
multiple gates, or variable wall thickness. Prepared by: Allande
ALTERNATE DESIGN TO AVOID WELD LINE

Prepared by: Allande

JETTING

Jetting occurs when polymer melt

is pushed at a high velocity through
restrictive areas, such as the nozzle,
runner, or gate, into open, thicker
areas, without forming contact with
the mold wall. The buckled, snake-
like jetting stream causes contact
points to form between the folds of
melt in the jet, creating small-scale
"welds"

Prepared by: Allande

ALTERNATE DESIGN

CAUSES

 Wrong location of gate

 Higher injection speed
 Gate size too small
 Melt temperature not enough

REMEDIES

 Direct the material to hit the wall

 Decrease injection speed
 Increase gate size
 Increase cylinder temperature,
increase cycle time

Prepared by: Allande

AIR TRAP

An air trap is air that is caught inside the mold cavity. It becomes
trapped by converging polymer melt fronts or because it failed to escape
from the mold vents, or mold inserts, which also act as vents. Air-trap
locations are usually in areas that fill last. Lack of vents or undersized
vents in these last-to-fill areas are a common cause of air traps and the
resulting defects. Another common cause is race-tracking (the tendency
of polymer melt to flow preferentially in thicker sections), caused by a
large thickness ratio.

CAUSES
 Insufficient venting
 Section thickness too great
 Wrong gate location
 Injection rate very fast

REMEDIES

 Improve venting
 Maintain uniform section thickness
 Relocate gate, vent at the runners first, alter
flow pattern
 Slow down injection rate
Prepared by: Allande
WARPAGE

Warpage is seen as distortion in the shape

of the molded component and is usually
caused by the wrong design of part, wrong
gate location and non uniform temperature
of surfaces

CAUSES
 Uneven mold cooling layout
 Part design with uneven thickness
 Gate location not proper
 Distortion due to internal strain
 Ejection at high temperature

REMEDIES
 Maintain uniform temperature in mold
 Design part with uniform wall thickness
 Gate for balanced filling and from thick to thin
region
 Uniform flow pattern
 Eject at lower part temperature

Prepared by: Allande

SHORT SHOT

A short shot is a molded part that is

incomplete because insufficient material
was injected into the mold. In some cases,
short shots are intentionally produced to
determine or visualize the filling pattern. But
problematic short shots occur when the
polymer melt cannot fill the entire cavity (or
cavities)-most commonly at thin sections or
extremities.

CAUSES
 Restricted flow areas
 Low melt temperature
 Lack of vents
 Low injection pressure
 Longer filling pattern

REMEDIES

 Open flaw areas

 Increase melt temperature
 Provide / Increase vents
 Increase injection pressure
 Minimize filling path length

Prepared by: Allande

FLASH

Flash is a defect where excessive

material is found at locations where the
mold separates, notably the parting
surface, movable core, vents, or venting
ejector pins.

CAUSES
 Low clamping force


Gap within mold parting line
Improper venting
Flash
 Too high injection pressure
 Too hot material

REMEDIES
 Increase clamping force
 Clean / regrind parting faces
 Inspect vents
 Decrease injection pressure
 Decrease melt temperature

Prepared by: Allande

BURN MARKS

Burn marks are small, dark or black spots

that appear near the end of the flow path of a
molded part or in the blind area where the air
trap forms.

CAUSES
 Entrapped air
 Material Degradation
 High melt temperature
 Restricted flaw path
 High screw rotation speed

REMEDIES

 Provide / Clean vents

 Decrease the barrel temperature
 Enlarge restricted areas
 Decrease screw rotation speed

Prepared by: Allande

DIMENSION PROBLEMS

Dimensional variation is a defect

characterized by the molded part dimension
varying from batch to batch or from shot to
shot while the machine settings remain the
same.

CAUSES

 Unstable machine controls

 Improper process condition settings
 Unstable material property
 Increased part of regrind scraps

REMEDIES

 Ask for stable machine control

 Maintain processing conditions
 Change material lot
 Maintain suggested level of mixture

Prepared by: Allande

STRESS ON PARTS

Shear stresses develop within the melt

during the filling and packing stages.
These flow stresses cannot relax CAUSES
completely when the part is cooled
rapidly below the glass transition
temperature, leaving residual stresses.  High injection & packing pressure
 Small gate cross section area
 Small nozzle orifice
 Non uniform surface temperature

REMEDIES

 Decrease injection & packing pressure

 Increase gate cross section area
 Open nozzle orifice
 Maintain uniform surface temperature

Prepared by: Allande