At development, having sensors placed at all critical locations in the mould, allows for the reliable optimisation of the process at real conditions by changing several process parameters such as pressure, temperature, injection gates etc. In this way it is possible to achieve a better insight of the process instead of waiting to investigate the product at the end of the cycle, trying to guess how things happened inside the cavity.

Having real information about the viscosity and the cure at real conditions provides a powerful tool for real process optimisation ending-up with an optimal and robust process. Furthermore, it provides with all the information to decide about control actions in order to deal with unexpected situations to reduce scrap. Optimising the temperature vs. injection time can be done straightforward without the need of a viscometer (figure below). This is particularly useful for the new fast curing resins which are particularly difficult to handle at lab conditions.

Furthermore, the gel-time and the end of cure are easily distinguished with varying temperature so it is very easy to tune the cure cycle in an optimal way based on the real process conditions.