Process parameters affecting the bonding of in-mold decoration of injection molded components

This paper studies the fundamental parameters affecting bonding strength of injection molded parts by an in- mold decoration process (IMD). In order to investigate the influence of materials used and a variety of processing conditions, a test mold was created for experiments. The impact of each factor was examined quantitatively by a full factorial design of experiment (DOE). The DOE covered as processing parameters melt temperature, mold temperature and packing pressure and for product related parameters film thickness and thermoplastic material. Furthermore, the temperature in the boundary layer was experimentally determined and the thermal conditions calculated with a transient simulation. In addition, the results of the experiment were compared with the simulation.