Purpose: The examination of melt flow lines in injection moulded parts was the purpose of this research, as well as a new method of flow visualization was applied. This method can be helpful in predicting the weak areas in moulded parts, created during cavity filling. Design/methodology/approach: The method of visualization used here is not classified yet. It allows to observe how the cavity is filled by looking at a specially created flow lines pattern. These lines are surface defects and a production injection moulding process it is necessary to avoid them. The effect of flow lines on the part surface occurs by special moulding conditions. To obtain the flow lines for investigation the mould temperature was lowered, the holding stage was skipped (the holding pressure not applied), and injection time had to be short enough. Findings: On the example of moulded plastic parts of simple shape it was found that the applied method of visualization allows to observe the filling process in mould cavity with good agreement to the theory and simulation results. Research limitations/implications: The flow lines cannot be observed for all plastics grades, but only for these which are sensitive to special processing conditions, like POM or PE. The flow conditions are not the same as in a typical injection moulding process. Practical implications: This method can be used in practice for melt flow examination in the case of more complicated cavities in injection moulds. The flow lines can be used to diagnose the problems during cavity filling, that are the reason of poor part quality, for example the undesired or unexpected weld lines location in parts. Originality/value: Usually the visible flow lines on part's surface are treated as a defect. In this paper it was shown that it can be an easy method of flow visualization.
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