BLOW MOULDING

Blow moulding is a process for manufacturing hollow articles. The articles commonly made are
bottles, edible and lube oil containers, jerry cans, drums, toys and automotive components.

TYPES OF BLOW MOULDING :

(i) Extrusion blow moulding - continuous or intermittent type

(ii) Injection blow moulding
(iii) Extrusion stretch blow moulding
(iv) Injection stretch blow moulding

EXTRUSION BLOW MOULDING :

In extrusion blow moulding (Fig 1), a parison is formed by an extruder. Basically the plastic is
melted by heat which is transferred through the barrel by the shearing action of the extruder
screw as it passes through the extruder.
Turning continuously, the screw feeds the melt through an annular orifice as an endless parison
or into an accumulator. Size of the part and the amount of material necessary to produce the
part (shot size) dictate whether an accumulator is required. The non- accumulator machine
offers an uninterrupted flow of plastic melt. With the accumulator, flow of parison through the
die is cyclic.
When the parison or tube exits the die and develops a preset length, a split cavity mould closes
around the parison and pinches one end. Compressed air inflates the parison against the hollow
blow mould surfaces which cool the inflated parison to the blow mould configuration. Upon
contact with the mould wall, the plastic cools and sets the part shape. The mould opens, ejects
the blown part, and closes around the parison to repeat the cycle.
Fig 2 shows a typical blow mould.

INJECTION BLOW MOULDING :

The basic process as shown in Fig. 3 consists of three stages :-

(a) Injection moulding of a parison / pre-form onto a steel core pin.
(b) Transfer of this core pin, with its pre-form to a blow mould and blowing of the pre-form
to the cavity shape.
(c) Ejection of the blown container.
Fig 2. Blow Mould Construction and Nomenclature
ADVANTAGES OF INJECTION BLOW MOULDING :

(1) Superior gloss

(2) Higher dimensional accuracy
(3) No welded seams / weak points
(4) Better weight control, both cavity-to-cavity and shot-to-shot.
(5) Superior mechanical properties due to the orientation effect.
(6) Product is flash free

DISADVANTAGES :

(1) Higher mould cost

(2) The process produces centre neck containers only
(3) No handled or asymmetric containers can be produced
(4) Economical for high volume production
(5) The maximum container size is 1 litre, normally containers less than 300 cm3 are
produced

STRETCH BLOW MOULDING :

Biaxially stretching the extrudate before it is chilled in the mould can impart improved properties
to the finished bottles.
The stretch-blow process can give many resins improved physical and barrier properties. In
biaxial orientation, the bottles are stretched lengthwise by an external gripper, or by an internal
stretch rod, and then stretched radially by compressed air to form the finished container. This
process aligns the molecules along two planes providing additional strength and better barrier
properties than is possible without biaxial orientation. Other advantages include better clarity,
increased impact strength, or toughness, and reduced creep. The actual increase is dependent
on the ratio of blow up in each direction.
Stretch blow moulding is possible for thermoplastic materials such as PET, PVC, PS, PAN &
PP. The amorphous materials with a wide range of thermoplasticity are easier to stretch than
the partially crystalline types.
Stretch-blow moulding whether extrusion (Fig 6) or injection (Fig 7) initially involves the
production of a pre-form, followed by tempering of the pre-form to the proper orientation
temperature. This is followed by axial stretching and blowing to achieve biaxial orientation.
Stretch-blow processing can be separated into two categories : In-line and two-stage. In-line
processing is done on a single machine, while two-stage processing requires either an extrusion
or injection line to produce pre-forms and a reheat-blow machine to make the finished bottles.

RESIN CHARACTERISTICS FOR BLOW MOULDING

Blow moulding requires resins with higher melt strength for parison formation and good
processability during extrusion. Consistent melt swell is also important. Product requirements
usually include stiffness, impact strength and good environmental stress crack resistance
(ESCR).
The three important factors which determine the properties of polyethylene are

i. Molecular weight,
ii. Molecular weight distribution
iii. Density.

Tables 1, 2 & 3 show the effect of molecular weight, molecular weight distribution and density
on physical properties of polyethylene respectively.
Higher the density better is the chemical resistance, gas barrier, stiffness and hardness however
toughness and ESCR decrease.
A lower melt flow index (MFI) gives better mechanical properties, ESCR and melt strength.
A broader molecular weight distribution gives better swell, processability & ESCR but poorer
surface gloss.
HDPE blow moulding grades have broad MWD’s with optimum combination of stiffness and
stress crack resistance. This can be achieved with a low MFI and appropriate density. A
higher density grade would give lower ESCR but higher stiffness.

TABLE 1

EFFECT OF MOLECULAR WEIGHT (M.I) ON PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

PROPERTY MI INCREASING
MELT VISCOSITY ↓
MELT STRENGTH ↓
SOLID STRESS CRACK RESISTANCE ↓
TOUGHNESS ↓
ABRASION RESISTANCE ↓
RESISTANCE TO CREEP ↓
 TABLE 2

EFFECT OF MWD ON PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

PROPERTY MWD BROADENING

MELT VISCOSITY (HIGH SHEAR) ↓
MELT STRENGTH ↑
SURFACE GLOSS ↓
TOUGHNESS ↓
STRESS CRACK RESISTANCE ↑

TABLE 3

EFFECT OF DENSITY ON PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

PROPERTY INCREASING DENSITY

IMPACT STRENGTH ↓
STIFFNESS ↑
HARDNESS ↑
TOUGHNESS ↓
STRESS CRACK RESISTANCE ↓
CHEMICAL RESISTANCE ↑
PERMEABILITY ↓
 RELENE BLOW MOULDING GRADES

Table 4 lists the RIL blow moulding grades. The corresponding competitor grades are shown in
Tables 5 and 6

RIL blow moulding grades have the following characteristics:-

◊ Broad molecular weight distribution

◊ High melt strength
◊ Grades suitable for food contact & pharmaceuticals applications
◊ Products exhibit
- Excellent ESCR characteristics
- Superior drop impact strength and stiffness
- Exceptional toughness even at low temperature
- Good resistance to weathering

TABLE 4

RELIANCE HDPE GRADES FOR BLOW MOULDING

GRADE DENSITY MFI MWD TYPICAL

(gm/cm3) (dg/min) APPLICATIONS

B 46003 0.946 0.30 Broad Detergent bottles / pesticide

containers
B 56003 0.956 0.30 Broad Oil bottles / jerry can
containers upto 100 litre
capacity
EB16 0.952 0.28 Broad Lube oil containers
PROCESSING GUIDELINES

EXTRUSION TEMPERATURES

◊ Melt temperatures in the range 175 - 205°C are recommended.

◊ Normally, temperatures of 190 - 205°C will result in optimum ESCR properties
◊ No premium in stress crack resistance can be expected by increasing melt
temperature above 215°C.

MOULD TEMPERATURE :

◊ Mould temperatures should be preferably 25-28°C to minimize cycle time. The

cycle time also depends upon mould design and atmospheric conditions.
◊ Mould should not be too cold, as this would lead to mould sweating

SHRINKAGE :

◊ Shrinkage limits will be between 0.010 & 0.050 cm/cm. Shrinkage will depend on:
a) Mould design
b) Melt temperatures
c) Mould temperature
d) Blowing pressure
e) Bottle sections

SWELLING CHARACTERISTICS :

1. HDPE resins comprise of long and medium chain molecules, which in the molten state have
complex motions, with themselves and with each other, forming a coiled mass of molecules.
2. When extruded through the die, they are forced to uncoil and stretch in the flow direction on
emergence these relax to their random orientation.
3. HDPE resins manufactured by different processes, differ in their swelling characteristics.
Swells are of 2 types as shown in the fig.

- Diameter Swell
- Thickness Swell ( Weight Swell)

Swell can be adjusted by adjustments in temperatures , screw speed & type of tooling used.
 TYPES OF TOOLING

There are basically two types of tooling:-

DIVERGENT TOOLING (FIG. 9)

A divergent tooling (Fig. 9) is generally preferred for larger articles. It gives greater thickness
swell as compared to diameter swell.

CONVERGENT TOOLING (FIG. 10)

A convergent tooling (Fig. 10) is generally preferred for smaller articles. It gives greater
diameter swell as compared to thickness swell.
TROUBLE SHOOTING IN BLOW MOULDING

SR.NO PROBLEM CAUSE SUGGESTED REMEDY

1. Streaking a) Contamination in die head a) Clean die head
b) Degraded material on
tooling b) Clean tooling
c) Cold spot in tooling or die
head c) Raise temperature & check
heating bands
2. Rough surface a) Insufficient venting a) Add venting by either
finish sandblasting the mould
surface adding channels on
the mould faces or venting
the interior of the mould
b) Check fuses, heating bands
b) Material temperature too and thermocouples. Raise
low heat inputs
c) Check air pressure and air
c) Air pressure too low or rate lines for foreign material
of air flow too slow d) Increase blowpin diameter
d) Air leakage around blow
pin
3. Parison not a) Blow timer defective a) Replace blow timer
being blown b) Clogged blow lines b) Clean blow lines
c) Pinch-offs too sharp c) Stone pinch-offs to create
more pinch area
d) Clamp not cushioning d) Reset cushion
e) Cut parison e) Clean tooling
4. Air bubbles in a) Insufficient back pressure a) Clean back pressure valve
parts and reset
b) Air leaking into head b) Check fit of mandrel in
forming pin
c) Nozzle valve not seated c) Check seat of spool to
properly prevent air from being
drawn in by movement of
spool
SR.NO PROBLEM CAUSE SUGGESTED REMEDY
5. Varying parison a) Parison not dropping a) Adjust centre bushing
wall thickness straight
b) Loose mandrel b) Tighten mandrel on mandrel
stud; and check fit of
mandrel in forming pin
c) Check alignment of mould
c) Parison not centred with with parison
mould d) Tighten forming pin and
d) Loose forming pin check O.D
6. Poor colour a) Insufficient number of a) Remove screw and clean
dispersion straining rings on screw straining
b) Poor blending of material b) Check ratio of coloured
resin to natural resin
c) Back pressure too low c) Raise back pressure to
improve mixing by screw
d) Clogged screen pack d) Change screens
7. Inadequate a) Stripper stroke not long a) Adjust knockout stroke for
stripping of enough longer movement
moulded parts b) Insufficient air pressure b) Check air pressure and lines
c) Lengthen exhaust time,
c) Parts sticking in mould check for large undercut
8. Parison curling a) Mandrel and bushing not a) Remachine tooling
flush
b) Bushing too cold b) Raise bushing temperature
9. Flashing a) Melt too hot a) Reduce melt temperature
b) Blowing air pressure too b) Reduce air pressure
high
c) Clamping mechanism out of c) Reset clamp or increase
adjustment clamp pressure
d) Excessive material being d) Increase recess at pinch-off
forced into mould areas to accommodate
more material
10. Warped or a) Slow parison extrusion a) Check extruder rate
deformed parts b) Melt temperature too low b) Increase melt temperature
c) Parts ejected too hot c) Increase cooling cycle
d) Design of ribs, undercuts, d) Review and alter mould
threads, etc. inappropriate design if necessary
SR.NO PROBLEM CAUSE SUGGESTED REMEDY
11. Excessive a) Mould temperature too high a) Reduce mould temperature
shrinkage b) Melt temperature too high b) Decrease melt temperature
c) Increase blowing air cycle
c) Blowing air conditions and / or blowing air
inadequate pressure
12. Parts blow-out a) Blow-up ratio too large a) Use large die
b) Mould separation b) Increase clamp pressure
or decrease blow pressure
c) Pinch-off too sharp c) Provide wider land in pinch-
off
d) Pinch-off too hot; no weld d) Cool Mould pinch off
e) Parts blow too fast e) Use low-pressure blow
followed by high-pressure
blow
13. Parison tail a) Parison too long a) Shorten parison length or
sticking to parts increase pinch-off land area
to cool compressed tail.