Clogging of venting slots in injection molds is a common maintenance problem caused by the degradation and the accumulation of gaseous and volatiles by‐products of polymer melting. In this work, the effect of laser‐induced periodic surface structures on the self‐cleaning properties of venting slots is investigated. The degradation of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) over different surfaces is characterized by reproducing the mechanisms that occurs in mold cavities when the air is pushed through the venting channel. An imaging technique is developed for the quantification of the sediment that deposits on sample surfaces due to condensation of by‐products of PET melting. The experimental results indicate that the use of a multiscale texture minimizes the deposition of residues on the vent surface reducing it from 17.2 to 3.1%. A linear dependency between contact angle and clogging ratio indicates the efficacy of the model that explains vent self‐cleaning properties considering their wetting properties.

中文翻译：

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亚微米激光纹理排气孔，用于自清洁注塑模具

注射模中排气槽的堵塞是一个常见的维护问题，是由于聚合物熔融过程中气态和挥发性副产物的降解和积累而引起的。在这项工作中，研究了激光诱导的周期性表面结构对通风槽自清洁性能的影响。聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯（PET）在不同表面上的降解，其特征在于，当空气被推动通过排气通道时，会在模腔中产生机理。开发了一种成像技术来量化由于PET熔化副产物的冷凝而沉积在样品表面上的沉积物。实验结果表明，使用多尺度纹理可最大程度地减少残留物在通风口表面上的沉积，将残留率从17.2％降低至3.1％。