Optimization and design of the vulcanization press sandwich pressure plate parameters

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to present the optimization of the vulcanization compactor pressure plate construction design. The basic factor for the mechanism functionality is the required stiffness compliance. The total construction stiffness has an influence on the vulcanization form tightness. Several solutions of the pressure plate have been proposed in the initial phase. Each proposal has been optimized in order to minimize the pressure plate weight meeting the conditions of the maximum displacement and the maximum allowed stress. The best solution has been chosen on the base of the evaluation afterwards. The multisoftware approach using ADINA and MATLAB software was used to perform FE analyzes.