The integration of assembled foils in injection-molded parts is a challenging step. Such assembled foils typically comprise a plastic foil on which a circuit board is printed and electronic components are mounted. Those components can detach during overmolding when high pressures and shear stresses prevail due to the injected viscous thermoplastic melt. Hence, the molding settings significantly impact such parts' successful, damage-free manufacturing. In this paper, a virtual parameter study was performed using injection molding software in which 1206-sized components were overmolded in a plate mold using polycarbonate (PC). In addition, experimental injection molding tests of that design and shear and peel tests were made. The simulated forces increased with decreasing mold thickness and melt temperature and increasing injection speed. The calculated tangential forces in the initial stage of overmolding ranged from 1.3 N to 7.3 N, depending on the setting used. However, the experimental at room temperature-obtained shear forces at break were at least 22 N. Yet, detached components were present in most of the experimentally overmolded foils. Hence, the shear tests performed at room temperature can only provide limited information. In addition, there might be a peel-like load case during overmolding where the flexible foil might bend during overmolding.
Keywords: Moldflow; in-mold electronics; injection molding; over-molding; simulation.