TRANSIENT TEMPERATURE MODEL FOR REACTION INJECTION-MOLDING

A model of the temperature response for reaction injection molding (RI M) operation is developed that assumes uniform mold temperature and a very fast reaction with slow heat transfer from the reacting mass to t he mold and negligible heat losses to the surroundings. The model para meters are fit to data from a number of RIM experiments that agree wel l with published values of the physical constants for the reactants. T he simple model can be fitted on-line to data from the RIM apparatus a nd the results used to detect and correct deviations of the part prope rties from its desired values which could otherwise result in the prod uction of many defective parts.