Molded foam manufacturing apparatus and screw for molded foam manufacturing apparatus

A molded foam manufacturing apparatus comprising:

• a cylinder in which a plasticization zone where a thermoplastic resin is plasticized and melted into a molten resin, a starvation zone where the molten resin is put into a starvation state and an injected physical foaming agent is dissolved in the molten resin, and a feeding zone where the molten resin in which the physical foaming agent is dissolved is compressed and metered are provided in this order from an upstream side;
• and
• a screw that is installed inside the cylinder so as to be freely rotatable around an axis of the cylinder and has flights formed in a spiral shape on an outer circumference of a shaft, wherein
• a lead angle of the flight of the screw corresponding to the feeding zone is set smaller than a lead angle of the flight of the screw corresponding to the starvation zone,
• number of pieces of the flight of the screw corresponding to the feeding zone is set smaller than number of a plurality of pieces of the flight of the screw corresponding to the starvation zone, and
• a lead angle of the flight of the screw corresponding to the feeding zone is set in a range of 0.50 to 0.62 times the lead angle of the flight of the screw corresponding to the starvation zone.

A molded foam manufacturing apparatus comprising:

• a cylinder in which a plasticization zone where a thermoplastic resin is plasticized and melted into a molten resin, a starvation zone where the molten resin is put into a starvation state and an injected physical foaming agent is dissolved in the molten resin, and a feeding zone where the molten resin in which the physical foaming agent is dissolved is compressed and metered are provided in this order from an upstream side;
• and
• a screw that is installed inside the cylinder so as to be freely rotatable around an axis of the cylinder and has flights formed in a spiral shape on an outer circumference of a shaft, wherein
• a lead angle of the flight of the screw corresponding to the feeding zone is set smaller than a lead angle of the flight of the screw corresponding to the starvation zone,
• number of pieces of the flight of the screw corresponding to the feeding zone is set smaller than number of a plurality of pieces of the flight of the screw corresponding to the starvation zone,
• the number of pieces of the flight of the screw corresponding to the feeding zone is set to ½ or less of the number of pieces of the flight of the screw corresponding to the starvation zone.

A molded foam manufacturing apparatus comprising:

• a cylinder in which a plasticization zone where a thermoplastic resin is plasticized and melted into a molten resin, a starvation zone where the molten resin is put into a starvation state and an injected physical foaming agent is dissolved in the molten resin, and a feeding zone where the molten resin in which the physical foaming agent is dissolved is compressed and metered are provided in this order from an upstream side;
• and
• a screw that is installed inside the cylinder so as to be freely rotatable around an axis of the cylinder and has flights formed in a spiral shape on an outer circumference of a shaft, wherein
• a lead angle of the flight of the screw corresponding to the feeding zone is set smaller than a lead angle of the flight of the screw corresponding to the starvation zone,
• number of pieces of the flight of the screw corresponding to the feeding zone is set smaller than number of a plurality of pieces of the flight of the screw corresponding to the starvation zone,
• the molded foam manufacturing apparatus is an injection molding apparatus in which the screw is installed inside the cylinder so as to be freely movable forward and backward in an axial direction, and
• the flight corresponding to the feeding zone and the flight corresponding to the starvation zone are the flights arranged to correspond to the feeding zone and the flights arranged to correspond to the starvation zone, respectively, in a state in which the screw has advanced to a downstream side to a maximum extent within the cylinder.

A screw used in a molded foam manufacturing apparatus comprising:

• a cylinder in which a plasticization zone where a thermoplastic resin is plasticized and melted into a molten resin, a starvation zone where the molten resin is put into a starvation state and an injected physical foaming agent is dissolved in the molten resin, and a feeding zone where the molten resin in which the physical foaming agent is dissolved is compressed and metered are provided in this order from an upstream side;
• and
• a screw that is installed inside the cylinder so as to be freely rotatable around an axis of the cylinder and has flights formed in a spiral shape on an outer circumference of a shaft, wherein
• a lead angle of the flight of the screw corresponding to the feeding zone is set smaller than a lead angle of the flight of the screw corresponding to the starvation zone,
• number of pieces of the flight of the screw corresponding to the feeding zone is set smaller than number of a plurality of pieces of the flight of the screw corresponding to the starvation zone,
• a gradual change zone is provided between the starvation zone and the feeding zone, and
• a lead angle of the flights that are continuously formed from the starvation zone to the feeding zone is gradually changed in the gradual change zone from the lead angle of the flight corresponding to the starvation zone to the lead angle of the flight corresponding to the feeding zone.