Penn State Injection Molding Certificate
Who Should Attend
This training will benefit anyone who needs to gain a comprehensive understanding of the injection molding process. The target audience is primarily process technicians and engineers.
Educational Goals
The goal of this certificate series is to provide industry with process technicians and engineers that have a solid understanding of the correct methods to use when setting up injection molding processes. The student will gain knowledge of the scientific principles which apply to molding. The workshops have a heavy emphasis on hands-on training through applying principles learned in the classroom. Penn State Erie's Plastics Engineering Technology program has arguably the best university-based injection molding facility in the country, which will be utilized intensively for the hands-on portions.
Certification in this course means that the student has demonstrated an understanding and/or proficiency in the following:
- Developing and documenting a 2-stage process
- Molding machine operation and components
- Determining correct barrel and clamp size
- Plastic materials with emphasis on flow and shrinkage behavior
- Mold types and components
- Basic calculations used in injection molding
Instrumented molds will be used so that cavity pressure and temperature monitoring can be utilized, in addition to standard machine variable monitoring, to give the students an understanding of how machine settings affect the process. Quizzes will be given daily on material covered the previous day. Microsoft Excel will be used for any calculations on the quizzes. The final day will consist of proficiency tests on two different molding machines, and a final exam.
Certification in this course means that the student has demonstrated an understanding and/or proficiency in the following:
- Developing and documenting a 3-stage process
- Duplicating a process on two different molding machines
- Troubleshooting
- Basic molding economics
- Operation of grinders, dryers, thermolators and chillers
- Mold cooling
- Material drying
This course is a continuation of the first course and will build on the concepts introduced there. Process control using instrumented molds and injection velocity profiling will be introduced. Quizzes, proficiency tests and a final exam will be used to evaluate the student's performance.
Certification in this course means that the student has demonstrated an understanding and/or proficiency in the following:
- Carrying out a process capability study
- Carrying out design of experiments (DOE) on an injection molding process
- Interpreting data from capability studies and DOEs
- Setting up process monitoring and various methods of implementation
This course is for anyone who will be involved in carrying out process characterization or validation studies, as well as those implementing process monitoring. Some Excel spreadsheets will be given to the students for analysis of data. Minitab statistical software will also be used. Quizzes, proficiency tests and a final exam will be used to evaluate the student's performance.