Integrating the Taguchi Method and Response Surface Methodology for Process Parameter Optimization of the Injection Molding

The outer coating of an optical fiber cable protects the optical fiber, and the contraction rate of the outer coating can affect the communication capacity and distance, so the contraction rate is often regarded as the key factor in defining the quality of an optical fiber cable. For this reason, using the example of the circular single-pin optical fiber cable manufacturing process of the largest optical communication manufacturer in the world, the Taguchi Method (TM) is used to screen the variables that have significant effects on the contraction rate of the outer coating. Furthermore, the optimization engineering of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is utilized for the empirical research to acquire a prediction model that can be used to optimize the optical fiber outer coating injection molding process. The research results show that the contraction rate predicted by the integration of the Taguchi Method and RSM is 2.28%. The empirical results reveal that the contraction rate of the outer coating indeed decreased from the original 3.83% down to 2.16%, indicating that the integration of the Taguchi Method and RSM could effectively improve the quality.