CAEDSInjectioncastingdesign

Ribs
TampereUniversityofTechnologySannaNyknen

Ribs are used mainly for two purposes: to improve melt flow into a section, like General
corner or large boss and to increase flexural stiffness of the part. Designing thin
walled plastic products one the most difficult problems is how to reach sufficient
stiffness. The most economical way to increase stiffness may be using reinforcing
ribs. Ribs should be placed on the moulds opening direction. Transverse ribs are
alsopossiblebutmakingoftheminthemouldisnoteasy.Forpartsunderbending,
ribs should be placed perpendicular to the bending moment. For parts under tor
sion,ribsshouldbeplaceddiagonally.
Designofribs
Ribs offer structural advantages but they can also lead to appearance problems.

The first thing when designing ribs is to determine dimensional limitations based
onwhatshapetheribhastobetakenintoaccountproductsstrengthandappear

ance and economical production. There are also few other points that have to be
takenintoaccountwhendesigningribs:

Thethicknessoftheribshouldbetopshalfofthepartswallthickness.This

reducessinkmarksonprimeappearancesurfaces.

Theheightoftheribsshouldnotexceedmorethanthreetimestheadjoin

ingwallthickness.Thisreducespossibleoverstressing,fillingandejection

problems.Ifbetterstrengthisneeded,itisrecommendedinsteadofincreas

ingtheribsheight,toaddmoreribsonspecifiedproportions.

Becausesharpcornersactasstressconcentrators,minimum25%ofthead

joiningwallthicknessshouldbeincorporatedatthebaseoftheribs.

Howevertheradiilargerthan50%oftheadjoiningwallthicknessgives

onlysmallimprovementsandmayresultssinkmarksontheopposingsur

face.

Ribsreinforcemosteffectivewhentheyareplaceddownthelengthofthe

areasubjectedtobending.

Thespacingoftheribsshouldbeatleasttwicethenominalwallthickness.

Enablingpartsreleasefromthemould,atleast0.5draftangleshouldbe

incorporatedoneachsideofrib.

Itisimportanttoremembertakingcareadequatemouldventingonplaces

wheregaswilltrapmostlikely.

Meansfor
avoidingsink
marksonreversed
surfaceofrib

Figure1: Thesinkmarkonreversedsurfaceofribandmeansforavoidingit.Based
onJrveletal.:Ruiskuvalu,page310.

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Dimensioningof
ribs
t=basethickness,t0.5T
h=height,h=3T
r=cornerradius,r0.250.4T
S=spacing,S2T
Draftangle0.5





Figure2: Guidelinesfordimensioningribs.BasedonGEPlastic:Designguide.


Ribscanbeusedalsoassupportribs,whichmaybeconsideredasreinforcements Supportingribs
for corners, side walls or bosses. It is important to remember that plastic material
beingusedhastobetakenintoaccount.Materialpropertieslikemeltviscosityand
mould shrinkage have notable effect on rib design. The following guidelines are
suggestedwhendesigningsupportribs:
Thethicknessofthesupportribshouldbefrom50%to70%ofthepartwall
thickness.
Theminimumdistancebetweentworibsinarowshouldbetwicethepart
wallthickness.
Theminimumlengthofaribfaceattachedtothepartwallshouldbetwice
thewallthickness.
Largeenoughradiishouldbeincludedattheendsoftheribs.
Aminimumdraftangleshouldbe0.5.
Theminimumlengthoftheribfacethatisattachedtoabossshouldbefour
timesthewallthickness.
Itisrecommendedtousealargernumberofthin,shallowribsthanafew
widedeepribs.



T=wallthickness
D=reinforcingedgethickness
A= length of rib face attached to component
A,A2T
B=distancebetweensuccessiveribfaces,B
2T
C=ribthickness,0.7TC0.5T



Figure3: Guidelinesfordimensioningofsupportribs.BasedonGEPlastic:Design
guide

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 CAEDSInjectioncastingdesign

Figure4: Someribbingdesigncharacteristics.BasedonRosato:Injectionmolding
handbook,page625.

Usuallyribsaremadeonthemouldbysparkmachining.Iftheproductsgeometry Manufacturing
is complicated, tens or hundred spark electrodes is needed. Spark machining is a
slow machining method and an unwise rib design can lead to very expensive
mouldconstructionandlengthenmouldsdeliverytime.Whenthedepthofthepart
grows,abovementionedproblemswillincrease.
Fromamanufacturingpointofviewribsshouldbeplacedinlinewiththeflowfor
assisting both venting and filling. Some times ribs can also be used as internal
runners orflow leaders for assist filling and packing. When designing ribs,a de
signer should be very careful with complicated gating, ribbed parts, that are
producedinmouldsthathavemanycoresandlongflowlengthsbecausetherewill
likelyweldlines.Whenweldlinesareformedalongtheribs,thedesignershouldbe
that the maximum outer fibre stresses do not exceed the value of materials weld
linestrength.

References

Belofsky,Productdesignandprocessengineering,Hanser,1995.
Jrveletal.,Ruiskuvalu,Plastdata,Tampere,2000.
GEPlastics:Designguide
Dym,Productdesignwithplastics,1983.
Malloy,PlasticPartDesignforInjectionMolding,HanserPublishers,1994.
Rosatoetal.,InjectionMoldingHandbook,3rded.,Kluwer,2000.

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