STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT MATERIAL PROPERTIES ON 2D THERMAL SIMULATION OF PLASTIC INJECTION MOLDS

Accurate prediction of mold temperature distribution is crucial for optimizing cooling design and ensuring product quality in injection molding. Numerous studies simplify simulations by assuming constant thermophysical properties of mold materials, overlooking their temperature-dependent nature and thus compromising accuracy. This work develops a 2D numerical heat transfer model in COMSOL Multiphysics that incorporates temperature-dependent thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, and density for P20 steel. The model is validated against previous ANSYS Workbench results and subjected to mesh sensitivity analysis to balance accuracy and computation time. Results show that accounting for temperature dependence increases the predicted maximum mold temperature by 4.3 °C (7.12%) compared with the constant-property model. Effects of mesh size on temperature results were investigated. By enhancing thermal simulation accuracy, the proposed modeling approach enables reliable prediction of cooling performance and supports the optimization of injection mold cooling systems. This contributes to reduced cycle time, minimized residual stresses, and improved dimensional stability of molded parts.