Mathematical modeling of injection mold filling: A review

Abstract The flow of molten polymers in molds is described by the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. Several simplifications have been proposed in the last 40 years. The early models were essentially unidirectional approximations. More recently, the Hele–Shaw flow approximation has been used together with the appropriate analytical or numerical methods. Current developments include commercially available computer software based on network models for flow simulation in complex molds and modern sophisticated finite element solution of the complete conservation equations that give insight to fountain flow and small scale phenomena.