Method for producing three-dimensional designs in film insert molding

Plastic is an important material in product design because it easily transforms, is very light, and has multifarious structural characteristics. Nevertheless, it gives the customer the impression of a cheap product. Therefore, decorative techniques are often applied to plastic products. Decorative techniques can improve the appearance of a plastic product while making use of its beneficial characteristics. At present, film insert molding method is predominantly used in decorating plastic products. In general, a designer creates a three-dimensional design but the film insert molding method uses a two-dimensional pattern. Thus, it is difficult to reproduce a three-dimensional design with a two-dimensional film; no study has been conducted on the reproduction of three-dimensional design using film insert molding method to-date. The objective of this study is to develop a design generation method to reproduce a three-dimensional design with a twodimensional film pattern. The effectiveness of the proposed method is experimentally validated.