TY  - JOUR
AB  - As global industries seek to reduce energy consumption and lower CO2 emissions, the need for sustainable, efficient maintenance processes in manufacturing has become increasingly important. Traditional mold cleaning methods often require complete tool disassembly, extended downtime, and heavy use of solvents, resulting in high energy costs and environmental impact. This study presents a novel localized ultrasonic cleaning process for injection molding tools that enables targeted, in situ cleaning of mold cavities without removing the tool from the press. A precisely positioned ultrasonic transducer delivers cleaning energy directly to contaminated areas, eliminating the need for complete mold removal. Multiple cleaning agents, including alkaline and organic acid solutions, were evaluated for their effectiveness in combination with ultrasonic excitation. Surface roughness measurements were used to assess cleaning performance over repeated contamination and cleaning cycles. Although initial tests were performed manually in the lab, results indicate that the method can be scaled up and automated effectively. This process offers a promising path toward energy-efficient, low-emission tool maintenance across a wide range of injection molding applications. Keywords: ultrasonic cleaning; injection molding tools; in situ maintenance; surface roughness; Resin Transfer Molding (RTM); sustainable cleaning
AU  - Deviprasad Chalicheemalapalli, Jayasankar
AU  - Thomas, Tröster
AU  - Thorsten, Marten
DO  - 10.17619/UNIPB/1-2401
PB  - Universitätsbibliothek
DP  - Universität Paderborn
LA  - eng
PY  - 2025
SN  - 2227-7080
SP  - 1 Online-Ressource (19 Seiten) Illustrationen, Diagramme
T2  - Technologies
TI  - Localized ultrasonic cleaning for injection mold cavities: a scalable in situ process with surface quality monitoring
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:466:2-56201
Y2  - 2026-02-06T23:38:07
ER  -