SPE Library
The SPE Library contains thousands of papers, presentations, journal briefs and recorded webinars from the best minds in the Plastics Industry. Spanning almost two decades, this collection of published research and development work in polymer science and plastics technology is a wealth of knowledge and information for anyone involved in plastics.
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Conference Proceedings
LASER TRANSMISSION WELDING OF CF-PA 6.6 USING ADAPTED PYROMETRIC PROCESS CONTROL
Peter Jaeschke, Cesar Chamorro Velasco, Fabian Fischer, Uwe Stute, Heinz Haferkamp, May 2011
A significant barrier for wide-spread use of continuous carbon fiber reinforced plastics based on thermoplastic matrix materials (TPC) is the lack of economic, quick and reliable component manufacture processes, especially joining steps. In this paper, the laser transmission welding technique is analyzed with respect to the weldability of TPC to unreinforced and glass fiber reinforced polyamide 6.6. A closed loop control based on pyrometric techniques is developed in order to adapt the laser power to the orientation of the rovings and the local concentration of the matrix material for homogenizing the weld seam within the inhomogeneous, anisotropic composite material.
ELECTROMAGNETIC PROCESSING OF COMMINGLED PLASTICS FOR RECYCLING APPLICATIONS
Fabian Rios, Michael Silverstein, May 2011
In order to evaluate an economical alternative for the recycling of commingled plastics, pellets of Polyethylene (PE) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), two incompatible widely used polymers, were compression-molded using radio-frequency (RF) heating and conventional conductive heating (CH). The main advantage of the RF system over the CH system is the shorter processing time. However, the fast heating in the RF process caused PVC degradation and reduction of the mechanical properties of the molded products. To solve this problem Chlorinated Polyethylene (CPE) was placed, as a process-specific additive, at the interface between the PVC and PE, using a solvent coating technique.
LESSONS FOR NEW MANAGERS: PREPARING THE NEXT GENERATION OF CORPORATE LEADERS
Norman Fowler, May 2011
A declining economic climate has resulted in reductions in force, layoffs and early retirements have left a management and leadership voids in many corporations. These personnel voids can create opportunities. Many good candidates have been pushed into leadership positions without the training, skills development and/or experiences that their predecessors have had in the past. This article is intended to summarize a series of lessons learned from my management experiences during my twentyƒ??seven year tenure at Xerox Corporation in hopes it may help them accelerate their learning and open new career opportunities to them.
LONG FIBER COMPOSITE REINFORCEMENT USING THERMOPLASTIC POLYMER DISPERSIONS
Gary Parsons, Richard Fox, Lisa Wujkowski, Gerry Billovits, Allan James, May 2011
Long glass fiber (LGF) reinforcement of polypropylene is used to improve mechanical properties in molded articles across a wide range of application areas. Fibers are typically incorporated into thermoplastic resin within a continuous pultrusion process, whereby a group of glass fibers are drawn through molten polymer using a die configured at the end of an extruder. An alternative technique for binding glass fibers in highly concentrated rovings based on simple immersion processes within aqueous elastomeric polymer dispersions is described. The resulting LGF concentrates, exceeding 90 weight percent, are suitable for injection molding using existing process equipment.
THERMOFORMABILITY OF RADIATION CROSS LINKED POLYAMIDE 12
Dietmar Drummer, Andreas Seefried, May 2011
Most semi crystalline thermoplastics have a smaller processing range for thermoforming compared to amorphous thermoplastics, due to their narrow temperature window for the transition from viscoelastic to viscous material behavior. Otherwise they offer superior properties for applications like ductility or chemical resistance. Within this article modification of semi crystalline polyamide 12 by radiation cross linking with respect to its suitability for vacuum thermoforming is shown. Experimental thermoforming processing studies, thermo-mechanical and elongational rheometry were performed in order to point out the potential of cross linked semi crystalline thermoplastics for thermoforming.
ITACONIC ACID AND AMINO ALCOHOL FUNCTIONALIZED POLYETHYLENE AS COMPATIBILIZERS FOR POLYETHYLENE NANOCOMPOSITES
Saul Sanchez, Juan Mendez, Eduardo, Luis Ramos, Juan Martinez, Cristina Ibarra, May 2011
The compatibilization effects provided by Itaconic Acid (IA) and 2-[2-(dimethylamine)-ethoxy]ethanol (DMAE) functionalized polyethylenes for forming PE-based nanocomposites were studied. Nanocomposites were prepared by melt processing using a twin screw extruder by blending PE and these compatibilizers, with two modified montmorillonite clays (30B and 20A). FTIR characterization confirmed the formation of these compatibilizers and the reaction between PPgIA and the amino alcohol. All the compatibilized nanocomposites had better clay exfoliation compared to the uncompatibilized PE nanocomposites. Results showed that the PEgDMAE with C20A formed better exfoliated-intercalated nanocomposites. Samples with C30B did not showed any dispersion improvement.
EFFECT OF MICRO-VISCOSITY AND WALL SLIP ON POLYMER MELT RHEOLOGY INSIDE MICRO-CHANNEL
Wei Cao, Yaqiang Shen, Chunqian Li, Qian Li, Changyu Shen, May 2011
The rheological model for polymer melt flow in micro-channels is vital for the accurate simulation of micro-injection molding. In this study, the governing equations for mlet flow in micro-channel were in terms of viscous, incompressible 1D flow. The simulated rheological difference between macro model and micro model becomes significant when the micro channel is smaller than 100?¬m, and increases with the diameter decrease. The simulated results indicate the combined micro-viscosity and wall slip model can improve the simulating precision.
STRUCTURAL BONDING ALTERNATIVES FOR PLASTICS
Rachel Nashett, May 2011
Plastics have become an integral part of everyday life. It would be difficult to identify a manufacturing process which does not use plastics in one from or another. Plastics have achieved widespread acceptance due to the virtually limitless combinations of plastic types, fillers, and additives which can be compounded at relatively low costs and processed by a wide variety of methods. When designing assemblies made from or including plastics, it is often critical to structurally hold assemblies together with a reliable mechanism. Plastics can be reliably fastened to a wide variety of substrates using an engineered adhesive solution.
RESEARCH ON ELECTROMAGNETIC SHIELDING PERFORMANCE OF SISAL FIBER / CARBON BLACK /PP COMPOSITES
Hezhi He, Yuetong Liu, Biao Yang, May 2011
A novel conducting filler was introduced to prepare Sisal Fiber /Carbon Black/PP composites. NaOH and Silane were adopted to treat natural sisal fiber (SF) in order to help SF adsorb carbon black as SF/CB conducting filler, and then SF/CB/PP composites with varied compositions were prepared by extrusion mixing and hot compression mold technique. The effects of fiber length and SF/CB content on electrical conductivity and shielding effectiveness(SE) have been investigated in frequency range 100MHz-1GHz. The experimental results showed that at the same content of CB, the SE of SF/CB/PP composites were remarkably improved when compared with those of CB/PP composites.
POLY(ARYLENE ETHER)-POLYSILOXANE MULTIBLOCK COPOLYMERS
Rajesh Chowdhury, Gautam Chatterjee, Satish Mahanth, Rima Dey, Scott Fisher, Hua Guo, May 2011
This study focuses on the evaluation of novel, linear, poly(arylene ether)-polysiloxane (PPE-Siloxane) multiblock copolymers prepared by the reaction of a hydroxyl terminated oligomeric bifunctional poly(arylene ether), a hydroxyl terminated telechelic bifunctional polysiloxane, and an aromatic diacid chloride. The resulting copolymer chains had multi (greater than or equal to 2) siloxane blocks and multi arylene-ether blocks. The overall siloxane incorporations were varied and at high levels (>60 wt %) yielding flexible compositions with improved flow, ductility, flame retardancy and low smoke generation during burn.
EVALUATION OF FOAMING OF PHARMACEUTICAL POLYMERS BY CO2 and N2 TO ENABLE DRUG PRODUCTS
Chad Brown, Niloufar Faridi, Craig McKelvey, John Suwardie, Linjie Zhu, Ming-Wan Young, Peng Wang, Costas Gogos, May 2011
Gas mediated foaming of extrudate is of interest to the pharmaceutical industry as a method to improve milling performance, to increase surface area for dissolution of molded parts, and to increase the processing window of thermally labile active ingredients via gas-assist extrusion. Pharmaceutical polymers were characterized via rheology and gas solubility measurements for their ability to support a foamed architecture. Finally, batch foaming studies were conducted and the materials characterized for density and cell size.
A NEW SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY TO DETERMINE DRUG'S SOLUBILITY IN POLYMER
Min Yang, Peng Wang, Costas Gogos, May 2011
The solubility of a drug in a polymeric excipient dictates the process window of hot-melt extrusion (HME) and product stability during storage. In this study, a new systematic methodology has been developed to experimentally measure the solubility of a model drug in a pharmaceutical grade polymer at different temperatures. A phase diagram was constructed and could be explored to design the HME process. Flory-Huggins interaction parameter was calculated by Tdissolution depression method based on the phase diagram and was used for thermodynamic solubility calculation.
EFFECTS OF PROCESSING PARAMETERS ON COLOUR DURINGCOMPOUNDING
Jamal AlSadi, Musharaf Rabbani, Shahid Ahmed, Ghaus Rizvi, Rick Clarke, Daniel Ross, May 2011
Producing a specific coloured plastic using extrusion compounding requires proper operating conditions. Changes in the operating conditions will affect colour. In present study, the operating conditions were varied in controlled manner to analyze their effect on colour for two different grade plastics. Three process parameters temperature, RPM, and feed rate were varied individually to five different levels while keeping all other parameters constant. Strong interactions were observed between operating conditions and the colour.
THERMAL & FIRE RETARDANCY STUDIES OF RICE HUSK FILLED AMINOPOLYMER
Sarat Das, Mamata Panda, Asit Parija, May 2011
Rice husk (RH), a naturally occurring biomass consists mainly of ligno celluloses and silica. With different weight percentage of 10, 30 and 50, this was reinforced into thio urea formaldehyde polymer matrix. FTIR and X-ray diffraction studies of these biopolymer composites showed the presence of silica. Due to high silica content in RH, their addition to synthetic polymer has a marked effect on the fire retardancy of the resultant composites. The thermo gravimetric analysis shows that the biocomposites undergo three stages of decomposition and the composite with 50% biomass was found to be more thermally stable than other composites.
PLASTIC SURFACE MODIFICATION: CLEANING, ADHESION AND FUNCTIONALIZATION
Rory Wolf, May 2011
It is well-documented that plastics surface modification techniques can improve the acceptance of a wide variety of paints, coatings, adhesives and inks for improved decoration, painting and adhesive assembly. By increasing the hydrophilic characteristics and surface-free energy of plastics, bond strengths can be improved dramatically. This paper examines the surface modification mechanisms that promote adhesion on plastics and shares experimental data which reveal correlations between specific surface modification effects and adhesions of paints, inks, coatings and adhesives. The latest application-specific protocols will also be shared with regard to the use of atmospheric plasma technologies to promote surface adhesion to plastics.
MORPHOLOGY, MECHANICAL, AND RHEOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR OF MICROCELLULAR INJECTION MOLDED EVA-CLAY NANOCOMPOSITES
Shyh-Shin Hwang, Ching-Hsin Hu, Jui-ping Yang, May 2011
Ethylene Vinylacetate (EVA)/montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposites diluted from master batch (50 wt%) with EVA and EVAgMA was used in this study. The organoclay EVA nanocomposites were then injection molded by conventional and microcellular methods. Nitrogen was used as the blowing agent. The effect of organoclay content and high/low MA grafted EVA on the mechanical, rheological properties of the EVA-clay nanocomposites was investigated. The results showed that the mechanical properties (tensile and impact) increased as the clay content increased. The high MA grafted EVA nanocomposites had better mechanical properties than that of low MA grafted EVA nanocomposites.
GATE LOCATION OPTIMIZATION IN INJECTION MOLDING BASED ON FEASIBLE SPACE
Ming Zhai, May 2011
A methodology is presented in this paper to find the optimum gate location to achieve balanced flow so that a good quality part can be produced. The objective function is expressed in terms of injection pressure from the point of view of energy consumption. The coordinates of the gate location are chosen as design variables. A method is also proposed to determine the possible feasible space for gate location. The resulting optimization is solved by iterative search in the constrained space based on sequential linear programming algorithm. Examples are given to demonstrate the effect of the proposed method.
UV CURABLE COATINGS FOR CONTAINERS AND CLOSURES
Meaghan Farley, May 2011
The containers and closures market utilizes numerous decorating techniques on a variety of plastic and glass substrates. These decorating methods need to be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. UV curable coatings can offer value to this market by providing high performance decorative coatings that are cost effective, easy to process and environmentally friendly. This paper will discuss the benefits of using UV curable coatings as an alternative to other ways of decorating containers, some challenges encountered in formulating coatings to meet all specifications of the containers and closures market, and typical performance and processing requirements.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS CRACKING RESISTANCE OF POLY-CARBONATE AS AN RESULT OF PROCESSING CONDITIONS AND INNER PROPERTIES
Christian Hopmann, Walter Michaeli, Andre Potthoff, May 2011
Environmental stress cracking is the most common failure reason of plastic parts. The influence of the processing conditions e.g. of the injection molding process on the environmental stress cracking resistance has not been investigated yet. Therefore several tests are carried out at the IKV. Test specimens are injection molded with different parameters for melt temperature, mold temperature and injection rate. These parameter variations cause variable inner properties of the molded parts. The environmental stress cracking resistance of specimens with different inner properties differs in a wide range. The results are discussed in detail.
BONDING POLYOLEFINS: WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?
Alex Matassa, May 2011
Since the first industrial production of polyethylene in the 1930's, polyolefin based plastics have become inescapable in our daily lives and indispensable to the production of modern industrial products. Although polyolefin based plastics such as Polyethylene and Polypropylene have proven useful in innumerable applications they have also proven difficult to bond to with adhesives. Advances in the field of bonding to polyolefin plastics have been made by the introduction of various surface pre-treatment methods and adhesives based on polyolefins themselves. Today we have new developments in the field of polyolefin bonding without the need for these cumbersome pre-treatment procedures.
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