Surrogate modeling for injection molding processes using deep learning

Injection molding is one of the most popular manufacturing methods for making complex plastic objects. Faster numerical simulation of this manufacturing process would allow faster and cheaper design cycles of new products. In this work, we propose a data processing pipeline that includes the extraction of data from Moldflow simulation projects and the prediction of the fill time and deflection distributions over 3-dimensional surfaces using machine learning models. We propose algorithms for the engineering of features, including information of injector gates parameters that will mostly affect the time for plastic to reach the particular point of the form for fill time prediction, and geometrical features for deflection prediction. We propose and evaluate machine learning models for fill time and deflection distribution prediction and provide values of Mean Absolute Error, Median Absolute Error, and Root Mean Square Error metrics. Finally, we measure the execution time of our solution and show that our solution is much faster than Moldflow: approximately, 17 times and 14 times faster for mean and median total times, respectively, comparing the times of all analysis stages for deflection prediction. Our solution has been implemented in a prototype web application that was approved by the management board of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Illogic SRL. As one of the promising applications of similar surrogate modeling approaches, we envision the use of trained models as a fast objective function for optimizing injection molding process parameters, such as optimal placement of gates, which could significantly aid engineers in this task, or even automate it.

Automated summary

Injection molding is a popular method for manufacturing complex plastic objects. This study proposes a data processing pipeline with machine learning models to predict fill time and deflection distribution. The solution outperforms Moldflow in execution time and has been approved for use by automotive companies.