Optimized plastic injection molding process and minimized the warpage and volume shrinkage by response surface methodology with genetic algorithm and firefly algorithm techniques

Abstract

This goal of this paper is an optimization approach to generate suitable process setting of multi responses of the minimization of warpage and volume shrinkage in the plastic injection molding (PIM). Central composite design (CCD) was employed to handle the orthogonal array for experimental test runs and using the response surface methodology (RSM) to construct response surface equation model. Then the optimization methods of firefly algorithm (FA) that have never been applied to minimize warpage and volume shrinkage in the plastic injection molding (PIM) and genetic algorithm (GA) were employed to optimal parameter conditions with fitness function generated from RSM. Simulation software Moldex 3D and plastic injection machine were used as the experimental tests to show the comparison of the optimal performance of both metaheuristic algorithms. The results showed that the firefly algorithm created the suitable process parameters to meet the minimization of warpage and volume shrinkage better than the popular genetic algorithm for this study. It can be concluded that FA is very proper to approach the good performance in PIM.