The rapid thermal cycle molding (RHCM) belongs to the injection mold
temperature control system which is helpful to improve mold ability and
enhance part quality. Despite many available literatures, RHCM does not
represent a well-developed area of practice. The challenge is the uneven
distribution of temperature in the cavity after heating, which mostly leads
to defects on the surface of the products. In order to obtain uniform
cavity surface temperature distribution of RHCM, the power of heating rods of
the electric-heating system in an injection mold was optimized by the
response surface method(RSM) in this work. The proposed optimization
result was applied to design a complex RHCM injection mold with side
core-pulling, holes and different thickness of an automotive part to verify
its effectiveness by injection molding. Compared with initial design, the
mold temperature uniformity was remarkably improvedby79%. Based on the
optimization and injection molding numerical simulation results, the
workable molding process to weaken the weld-lines effects on the quality was
suggested and the practical injection molded parts were well produced.