Deformation of Seat Support during Free-Cooling after Ejection

The deformation of an injection-molded part of a motorcycle seat support during the free-cooling stage after ejection was studied by an experimental and numerical method. Numerical analysis of heat transfer based on the uneven temperature distribution measured in the seat support was employed to re-construct the initial temperature field of the part. The temperature field was then introduced into the FEM codes to calculate the deformation of the ejected part due to thermal-stress during the free-cooling stage. It was found that the high and uneven temperature distribution of the part leads to an uneven shrinkage during cooling after ejection, which is primarily responsible for the warpage of the part.