Prediction of residual stress in precision injection molding of plastic optical lenses based on an improved solidification layer model

Precision injection molding technology (PIM) is the primary technique used for large scale manufacture of plastic optical lenses. However, the injection molding of plastic optical lenses results in a problem of residual stress, which affects the imaging quality of the optical system. The conventional injection molding process uses an orthogonal approach for adjusting the process parameters, requiring a large number of experiments. Therefore, this article proposes an improved residual stress model for precision injection molding of plastic optical lenses based on the solidification layer theory. The residual stress of precision injection molded aspherical plastic optical lens used for imaging optical systems was analyzed through simulation and experimentation. The results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves residual stress prediction for plastic optical lenses after injection molding.