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
Innovative Use of Thermoplastic Film Adhesives in Automotive Airbags
HansJoachim Studt, September 2006
Side curtain airbags or headbags are a recent development in the automotive airbag industry. They aim to reduce injuries as a result of roll over accidents. A side curtain airbag has to stay inflated for a minimum of six seconds and to reach this goal silicone layers of 90g/m² and more have to be used. This technique has several draw backs. TRW Occupant Restraint Systems one of the worlds largest airbag-suppliers developed together with adhesive company Collano a multi layered thermoplastic composite film to substitute silicone by a much thinner coating with excellent friction and air proof properties. Author will demonstrate how this development was accomplished and which properties have been achieved.
Application of Fibre Assemblies as Damping Elements in Automotive Industry
Elaheh Ghassemieh, September 2006
This investigation aims to characterise the damping properties of the nonwoven materials with potential applications in automotive and aerospace industry. Nonwovens are a popular choice for many applications due to their relatively low manufacturing cost and unique properties. It is known that nonwovens are efficient energy dispersers for certain applications such as acoustic damping and ballistic impact. It is anticipated that these energy absorption properties could eventually be used to provide damping for mechanical vibrations. However the behaviour of nonwovens under dynamic load and vibration has not been investigated before. Therefore we intend to highlight these aspects of the behaviour of the nonwovens through this research. In order to obtain an insight to the energy absorption properties of the nonwoven fabrics a range of tests has been performed. Forced vibration of the cantilever beam is used to explore damping over a range of resonance modes and input amplitudes. The tests are conducted on aramid glass fibre and polyester fabrics with a range of area densities and various coatings. The tests clarified the general dynamic behaviour of the fabrics tested and the possible response in more real application condition as well. The energy absorption in both thickness and plane of the fabric is tested. The effects of the area density on the results are identified. The main absorption mechanism is known to be the friction. The frictional properties are improved by using a smaller fibre denier and increasing fibre length this is a result of increasing contact surface between fibres. It is expected the increased friction result in improving damping. The results indicate different mechanism of damping for fiber glass fabrics compared to the aramid fabrics. The frequency of maximum efficiency of damping is identified for the fabrics tested. These can be used to recommend potential applications.
New Textile Composites with Thermo-Regulating Properties for Automotive Interior Applications
Barbara Pause, September 2006
Energy can be saved and the thermal comfort inside the passenger compartment can be enhanced by the application of textile composites with thermo-regulating properties. The thermo-regulating properties are provided by the application of phase change material (PCM) ± a highly productive thermal storage means. In order to create the textile composites with thermo-regulating properties the PCM is contained in a polymeric film that is laminated to a textile carrier. A study has indicated that the application of the developed composites is especially beneficial in car seats headliners and instrument panels. In the paper specific solutions for the application of the textile composites in car seats headliners and instrument panels will be introduced and test results received in rigorous field tests will be discussed.
Mechanical Recycling of Injection-Molded Wood-Thermoplastic Composites
Maja Rujni?-Sokele, Mladen Šercer, Gordana Bari?, May 2006
Wood-thermoplastic composites are usually processed by extrusion, and therefore an attempt has been made to study their suitability for injection molding. The experiments were made to study the behavior of the wood flour-polypropylene composite during injection molding, and to what extent the mechanical properties deteriorate after several processing cycles, i.e. mechanical recycling.
Using Vent Temperature to Sense Mold Cavity Melt Flow
Frederick Buja, May 2006
A temperature sensor was placed in the vent of a single cavity mold. It sensed the closing and injected melt front that forced the gases out of the cavity. Than the temperature change from mold close melt time to mold opening. The molding cycle vent temperature profiles will be presented.
Kinematics Model of Solids Conveying of LDPE with a Grooved Barrel
Stephen J. Derezinski, May 2006
The kinematics model and solids conveying angle approach are used to analyze and calculate the solids conveying flow of LDPE with a grooved barrel. The result is an excellent prediction of solids conveying flow versus pressure for a grooved barrel extruder that does not require knowledge of friction factors.
Scratch Behavior of Polymer Coatings
R.L. Browning, G.-T. Lim, H. Jiang, A. Moyse, H.-J. Sue, H. Chen, J. Earls, J. White, May 2006
A recent standardized scratch test methodology was applied to investigate the performance of a set of experimental acrylic coatings. Coating ductility and coating thickness were varied to study how the affect coating cohesive strength, adhesive strength and chipping resistance. The usefulness of the new ASTM scratch test for polymer coatings is discussed.
Characterization of Amorphous and Crystalline Orientation in Polyethylene Films
Rajen Patel, Theresa Hermel-Davidock, Rajesh Paradkar, Brian Landes, Lizhi Liu, Mehmet Demirors, Ken Anderson, May 2006
Molecular orientation in amorphous and crystalline phases affects tear and dart properties of polyethylene films. This paper will describe FTIR, X-ray, shrinkage and shrink tension methods for measuring orientation. Orientation and properties of the films will be correlated to molecular structure.
Understanding Why Adhesion in Extrusion Coating Decreases with Diminishing Coating Thickness, Part II: Non-Porous Substrates
Barry A. Morris, May 2006
It is well known that in the extrusion coating process, adhesion to aluminum foil and other non-porous substrates decreases with decreasing coating thickness. Several hypotheses are proposed for the source of this decrease, including a reduction in time in the air gap, faster cooling in the air gap, more rapid quenching in the nip and stress imposed during drawing. Modeling and experimental results show that cooling in the nip and stress have the greatest impact.
Using Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) Techniques for Mold Cores and Cavities
Walter Michaeli, Michael Schoenfeld, Carlos Ahrens, May 2006
Opportunities and limitations using SFF-techniques to design mold inserts are presented in this paper. With the aid of SFF it is possible to generate almost any cooling channel layout in mold cores. Therefore, a better targeted, faster heat removal and simultaneously better temperature homogeneity are feasible. Especially in localized Hot-Spot areas SFF techniques are able to improve the heat exchange. However, specific characteristics (pressure drop, thermal homogeneity, mechanical behavior) have to be considered.
The Long Term Behavior of Organotins in PVC Pipe
Richard W. Johnson, Michael B. Clark, May 2006
Organotin stabilizers have been used in PVC pipe for many years. These pipes are tested when made to insure that the level of organotin leaching from the pipe does not exceed a specific maximum value. This paper examines the fate of the organotins after prolonged use in PVC pipe.
Lubrication Mechanism in Poly(Vinyl Chloride) Compounds: Understanding Three Distinct Roles of Lubricants
James W. Summers, May 2006
Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) compounds require metal lubrication and polymer to polymer lubrication for good processing performance. This paper helps understand the lubrication mechanisms and roles. The lubricants’ roles are defined in terms of 1) metal release, 2) PVC primary particle to PVC primary particle flow unit lubrication, and 3) synergistic slip in a layer working with the first two functions of the lubricants. The optimization of these lubricant functions requires a combination of lubricants (surfactants) of various structures.
A Solution for Rupture of Polymeric Sheet in Plug-Assist Thermoforming
Hosseini Hossein, Berdyshev Boris Vasilivich, May 2006
Rupture of polymeric sheets is one of the practical problems during plug-assist thermoforming. This defect may occur both in the stage of mechanical stretching with plug, and in vacuum or pressure thermoforming. The results shown in our work not only leads to the understanding of the cause of this problem, but also enables us to formulate calculation of parameters that affect rupture of polymeric sheets during plug-assist thermoforming for production of axisymmetric polymeric articles.
Effect of Injection Molding Process Parameters on the Morphology and Quality of Microcellular Foams
Jingyi Xu, May 2006
The effects of injection process parameters for microcellular foams are investigated by two stages: plasticizing to make single-phase solution, and molding to make microcellular foam. The quality of the foam is evaluated by the morphology. It is obvious that the parameters from these two stages have different effects on the quality of the foam. The quantity analyses of molding and plasticizing parameters result in some new injection processing guidelines for the quality of microcellular foams.
Effects of Gas Content and Pressure Drop Rate on Foaming
Siu N. Leung, Chul B. Park, May 2006
Computer simulations of polystyrene (PS) /carbon dioxide (CO2) batch foaming processes were conducted to elucidate the effects of gas content and pressure drop rate on cell-nucleating and growth phenomena. The simulation results were carefully compared with in-situ visualization data obtained experimentally. The results indicate that increases in both dissolved gas content and pressure drop rate will augment the final cell density, reduce the average cell sizes, and improve the bubble size uniformity.
Accelerated Quality Assurance Tests for PE Pipe Grades
Gerald Pinter, Markus Haager, Reinhold W. Lang, May 2006
Three different lots of two PE 100 materials were investigated with fracture mechanics procedures under cyclic and impact loads. Lot-to-lot variations in the materials crack resistance were found and a correlation to crystallization kinetics (stepwise isothermal segregation), melt flow rate and density measurements could be established. The used characterization techniques are quick and inexpensive tests and have the potential to be included in quality assurance procedures.
Organoclay Networking in Polypropylene-Clay Nanocomposites
Mark A. Treece, James P. Oberhauser, May 2006
This report discusses the networking of organoclays and its influence on the rheology of polymer-clay nanocomposites. Small amplitude (SAOS) and steady state rheological experiments are systematically performed to study the effect of flow and thermal history on solid-like formation dynamics in a 3wt% polypropylene-clay sample. Results indicate that the kinetics of network formation increase with temperature, while the application of a sufficiently large deformation will irreversibly weaken the clay network.
Effect of Artificial Defects on the Fatigue Behavior of RTM Laminates
Gerald Pinter, Elisabeth Ladstätter, Reinhold W. Lang, May 2006
The effect of artificial defects (delaminations, notches) on the tensile fatigue behavior of RTM laminates was evaluated based on the comparison of cycles to failure at different stress levels, the stiffness decrease during the tests and isocyclic stress-strain curves. A reduction of cycles to failure could be found. Moreover the deformation contributions caused by visco-elastic effects and by cumulated damage during the fatigue tests could be assessed and compared.
Multiphase PP Blends for Automotive Interior: Composition Effects on Surface Structure and Scratch Resistance
Doris Machl, Christelle Grein, Klaus Bernreitner, May 2006
This paper will outline surface properties like scratch and gloss performance in PP/EPR blends consisting of a PP matrix and a dispersed EPR phase with crystalline PE core particles. A brief overview of the influence of intrinsic polymer parameters and processing conditions will be given.
How to Handle Being Restructured
Roger F. Jones, May 2006
Many professionals at some point in their careers find themselves at a dead end or restructured out of a job. This is the time in life to think about new directions, maybe to become a musician or painter, but more likely to go in business for yourself. Whether such a move would involve building your own manufacturing company or offering professional services as a consultant will depend on an individual’s personality traits, professional training, experience, and accomplishments. This paper describes ways to make a successful transition from professional employee to professional entrepreneur.
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