A Combined Experimental and Modelling Approach towards an Optimized Heating Strategy in Thermoforming of Thermoplastics Sheets

Abstract

Abstract Determining the operational settings for the heating equipment in thermoforming is still mainly done by trial and error as well as personal experience. Depending on the type of IR heating equipment, these settings can be the consumed electrical power or the desired temperature of the heating elements. In this study, a workflow is developed, applied and validated to characterize the IR heating equipment and to determine the optimal heating strategy. The workflow starts with an on-site equipment/machine characterization, which takes all machine and environment parameters into account. This approach results in the optimal heater setting and heating duration in order to obtain a through thickness temperature distribution which lies within a predefined forming range. The proposed methodology is universally applicable as it can deal with different types of sheet material and thicknesses. Moreover it can be applied to any type of IR heating element (halogen, metal foil, ceramic or quartz). Moreover, the methodology can easily be implemented in an industrial environment. Additionally, an estimate for the thermal efficiency of halogen heater equipment can be determined.