X-ray measurement lowers cost, time of tooling adjustments

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Effective use of CT in injection moulding

The German company F.&G. Hachtel has been benefiting from its use of an industrial Phoenix X-ray computed tomograph from GE since 2008. The company has collected decades of professional experience in engineering, tool and mould construction and injection moulding operations. Today Hachtel uses computed tomography for plastic component qualification and tool adjustments, and the company also offers such services to other shops. The following two examples illustrate how using CT directly has led to noticeably increased levels of productivity at the company.

Fast component qualification with visual checks

Complex plastic components are often assessed using geometric dimensioning and tolerancing in combination with RPS alignment. With plastic components alone – whose shape often deviates from ideal CAD specification due to warpage effects – this procedure often results in misinterpretation and incorrect conclusions for the tool adjustment process. This is clearly demonstrated by the plastic components shown in Photo 2 (in gallery). During the analysis, minimal deviations in the alignment surfaces that are defined in the drawing lead to geometric dimensions and tolerances that have been clearly exceeded. This produced the conclusion that substantial geometrical deviations could jeopardise the function of the component. However, the good usability of the sample in question and the positive result of the functional tests contradicted this. A simulated change in the alignment also showed that the dimensional compliance of the component was very good overall. Here, in contrast to the CT method, the classic coordinate measurement method only provides measurements in a table format. This means that it is rarely possible to correctly interpret a component's dimensional compliance. In contrast to laser scanning technology, the use of CT means a complete description of the geometry can always be generated, allowing for the testing of various alignment philosophies. In the aforementioned example, a time-consuming, expensive and unnecessary tool adjustment process costing approximately €6,000 was avoided. Instead, just four hours and €750 were needed to test and qualify the component.

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