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

Fiber Contents Effect on the Fiber Orientation in Injection Molded GF/PP Composite Plates

N.M. Neves, A.J. Pontes, A.S. Pouzada, May 2002

Short glass fiber reinforced polymer composites are common materials used to produce parts for structural applications. The attractiveness of these materials is a result of the combined advantages of the fiber reinforcing effect and the high production rates achievable by technologies such as injection molding.In fiber reinforced thermoplastic injection moldings, complex patterns of fiber orientation are obtained through-thickness. Most of the properties of the composite depend on the fiber orientation pattern. Thus, the prediction of the final properties of those composites requires either the prediction or the measurement of the fiber orientation field. The measurement of the fiber orientation field is a cumbersome and uneconomic task; thus the option has been to explore the capabilities offered by new computer modeling tools.An experimental programme was launched to systematically study the effect of fiber contents on the fiber orientation and final properties of injection molded short glass fiber reinforced polypropylene edge gated rectangular plates.

Fiber Orientation in Multilayer Tubes from a Conical Extruder

Alp Sarioglu, Per-Ola Hagstrand, Jan-Anders E. Månson, May 2002

A new extruder design has been developed for the coextrusion of bi-layer annular sections. The extruder consists of a conical stator-rotor-stator assembly, which performs extrusion from each side of the rotor. Flow within this assembly is fully three-dimensional, with helicoidal streamlines in the vicinity of the rotor and the die entry region. Fiber orientation is created in the circumferential direction by these helicoidal streamlines; close to the inner and outer surfaces of the tube, the fibers are parallel to the main extrusion direction, whereas in the mid-thickness, they are oriented in the circumferential direction. The degree of orientation depends on the die design and on the polymers used.

Filler Phase Distribution in Elastomer Blends

Andy H. Tsou, Guohua E. Zhang, Mary C. Boyce, May 2002

Carbon black (CB) filler phase distributions in filled BR/BIMS blends (poly(1,4-cis-butadiene)/brominated poly (isobutylene-co-paramethylstyrene)) were quantified by image processing their tapping phase AFM blend morphologies. Preferential CB filler partition into the BIMS phase was indicated where the preference is enhanced with an increase in BIMS content suggesting a kinetic controlled filler partition process in straight mixing. 3D finite element modeling based on randomly generated blend morphologies and experimentally determined filler phase distributions could accurately predict blend tensile properties. Preferential filler partition into the BIMS phase may account for the observed synergistic improvement in abrasion resistance of these blends.

Finite Element Analysis of Impact Durablity on Extruded Plastic-Wood Fiber Composite Lineals

Michael S. Arney, Runyuan Bai, Richard T. Hage, May 2002

The impact performance of hollow profile extruded plastic-wood fiber composites depends on the profile geometry, the material properties and the damping of the system. Finite Element Analysis was used to simulate the Rosenheim and Gardner impact tests for a number of profile designs tailored for a series of plastic-wood fiber composites known as Fibrex™. In general, the analysis investigates the influence of geometry and damping properties on the impact energy and stress for fixed material properties. This investigation presents a failure criterion based on the penetration of critical impact energy. The results provide valuable information for plastic-wood fiber profile extrusion designs.

Flammability and Mechanical Properties of Vinyl Ester/Clay Nanocomposites

Apoorva P. Shah, Rakesh K. Gupta, J. Clifford Jones, Carlos J. Hilado, May 2002

Flammability and mechanical properties of vinyl ester containing organically-treated montmorillonite were examined. Structure determination, done using transmission electron microscopy, revealed partial exfoliation of clay platelets. The tensile modulus was found to increase with clay content but without adversely affecting tensile strength. In small burner tests, the nanocomposites were not self-extinguishing, but vertical samples behaved quite differently from horizontal ones. Heat-release rates were also measured in a microcalorimeter at a temperature of 70°C, and these showed that clay could be effective in the enhancement of fire resistance.

Flexible and Transparent Blends Based on Ethylene/Styrene/Propylene Terpolymers

Wenbin Liang, Y. Wilson Cheung, Martin J. Guest, Seema Karande, Brian Walther, May 2002

Polymer blends are generally opaque due to lack of miscibility or to a refractive index mismatch between the components. Dependent upon comonomer composition, novel ethylene/styrene/propylene (ESP) terpolymers obtained with INSITE* technology offer flexibility in tailoring refractive index. Blends of these terpolymers with other polymers, such as polypropylene, ethylene/octene copolymer and poly(styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene) (SEBS) block copolymer, are shown to have interesting combinations of optical transparency, processability and mechanical properties. The morphologies of the blends have been studied using microscopic techniques, and the results corroborate the synergistic optical properties. Potential applications for the blend systems include label stocks, removable signage, protective drapery and injection molded products.

Flow Behavior of Core Material in Sandwich Injection Molding with Sequential and Simultaneous Injection

Daisuke Watanabe, Hiroyuki Hamada, Kiyotaka Tomari, May 2002

The sandwich injection molding technique can be used in wide ranges of engineering applications for recycle. In this study, flow behavior of core material in sandwich injection molding with sequential and simultaneous injection was investigated. Flow behavior of materials in sandwich injection moldings revealed to divided into four regions (Primary injection region, core advance region, core expansion region and break region). The flow length of core expansion region was increased with increasing of simultaneous injection time of skin and core material. And it is revealed that the core layer was formed as wide and thin structure with increasing of simultaneous injection time.

Foam Injection Molding (FIM) - A New Nozzle for Fluid Injection

Walter Michaeli, Sasan Habibi-Naini, May 2002

When processing physical blowing agents (PBA) like carbon dioxide or nitrogen in the FIM-process the treatment of the PBA/melt-system is of high importance. On the one hand it must be guaranteed that a sufficient quantity of blowing agent is solved in the polymer. On the other hand a materially and thermally homogeneous melt needs to be provided in order to achieve an even foam structure and surface in the molding.In this paper a new IKV-development for FIM with physical blowing agents using a special injection nozzle is introduced. Results of the investigations in this context will be presented.

The Formation and Properties of Plastic Electronic Devices

Yang Yang, May 2002

One of the advantages of conjugated polymers is the solution processing capability, which can significantly simplify the device fabrication process as well as the cost. Although conjugated polymer has often been considered as amorphous semiconductor, the bulk electronic and photonic characteristics are strongly influenced by the detail arrangement of polymer main chains and its side groups. In this presentation, various polymer thin film deposition techniques (such as spin-casting, inkjet printing, and continuous coating processes) will be discussed. It is realized that although polymer thin films can be processed by various coating techniques, the final polymer morphology plays an important role of determining the polymer electronic properties. We will report the physical properties of polymer thin films prepared by different deposition techniques, and corresponding characteristics of polymer light-emitting diodes.

Fracture Behavior of Weldline in Polystyrene Injection Moldings

Kohji Yamada, Kiyotaka Tomari, Toshihiko Harada, Hiroyuki Hamada, May 2002

Fracture behavior of weldline occurring behind an obstructive pin in injection-molded polystyrene plates was investigated using double torsion (DT) test. Alternate slow and rapid crack propagation was observed during the test. Ripple marks appeared on the fracture surface when crack propagated rapidly. It seemed that crack propagation was affected by the V-notch of the weldline surface. However, the marks could be observed where no V-notch existed on the surface. This indicated that a poor bonding area in the sub-layer of weldline, not V-notch, affected crack propagation. The fracture toughness of the weldline was also studied by varying the pre-notch length along the weldline. The fracture toughness of the weldline was affected by the flow behavior behind the pin and quite different between the upstream side and the downstream side of first collision point (FCP). This tendency is considered to be dependent on the relaxation behavior of molecular orientation.

Fracture of a Breast Tissue Expander

P.R. Lewis, May 2002

A silicone breast tissue expander failed suddenly after several infusions of saline solution, causing great distress to the patient. The device had fractured at the junction between the bag and the feed catheter. Examination of the dome attached to the catheter into which the saline is fed showed the number of infusions. The fracture surface when examined using ESEM showed a smooth crack path caused by growth of a single crack. The origin lay at the shoulder of the catheter where it met the bag, and numerous microcracks were found at all parts of the junction. Their presence suggested failure of the adhesive used to join the two parts, with slow crack growth under progressively increasing load leading to catastrophic rupture. Especial care is needed in the design of silicone implants to allow for all possible loading patterns.

Fracture Toughness Measurement of Ductile Polymeric Sheets and Films

Yiu-Wing Mai, Robert KY Li, May 2002

Many engineering polymers and their blends are tough and the conventional fracture parameters, such as the critical potential energy release rate Gc and critical stress intensity factor Kc, are inapplicable as they are only valid for linear elastic fractures. Post-yield J-integral or crack-tip opening displacement (CTOD) characterization is problematical due to certain experimental difficulties. To overcome these problems, a review is given on the now accepted essential work of fracture approach, which was developed at Sydney University, to determine valid fracture toughness under these circumstances. The theoretical concept will be presented and examples in support of the theory will be taken from data obtained from a range of ductile polymer sheets and their blends covering the effects of temperature and loading rates under mode I crack opening. We will also extend our fracture analysis and experiments to the out-of- plane tearing mode III that is more relevant for failure of thin films.

Full Field Stress and Velocity Measurements for Polymer Melts in Extrusion Dies

T. Gough, R. Spares, M.T. Martyn, P.D. Coates, May 2002

Flow induced birefringence has traditionally been used to determine the stresses in the polymer within extrusion dies. Normal and shear stress components are determined at the intersection of isochromatic and isoclinic fringes. The development of stress fields by this method is laborious and provides a limited number of data points. A modulated birefringence approach has been employed to provide a full field stress measurement, that may be more readily compared to numerical simulations. Comparisons between stress and velocity field simulations and experiments on both lab-scale and mini-recirculating flow cells using a variety of geometrical contractions (e.g. abrupt, hyperbolic) will be presented for one branched and one linear polymer melt.

Fuzzy Modeling for Injection Molded Part Quality Control

Yi Yang, Furong Gao, May 2002

The rapid growth of the injection molding applications places a continuously higher demand for reliability and precision in injection molding control systems. There lacks still a direct closed-loop control system for the quality of the injection-molded parts, due to the lacking of a reliable quality model. In this paper, a list of the part quality attributes are first selected to represent injection-molded products quality. This is followed by the development of a quality model, suitable for closed-loop control purposes, represented in a fuzzy-logic form established through the design of experiment methods.

Gas Barrier Mechanisms in Copolyesters

I.S. Dairanieh, May 2002

This paper summarizes the systematic study undertaken to gain an insight on the barrier limitations and potential of the isophthalate-modified PET copolymers. The major variables affecting the barrier performance of the copolyester were studied on the molecular and macroscopic levels. Dynamic Mechanical Analysis and gas permeability measurements were carried out to investigate the barrier properties on the macroscopic level whereas Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy was used to probe changes on the molecular level. Films made from copolymers and blends containing various levels of isophthalates were extruded. Some were thermally crystallized whereas others were stretched at different conditions. The stretching conditions included various stretching temperatures, stretching modes and stretching ratios. Molecular and macroscopic measurements were correlated.

Gas Permeation Properties of Soluble Aromatic Polyimides Based on 4,4-Diaminotriphenylmethane

S. Nazarenko, M E. Rezac, G.L. Sturgill, A. Loza-Orozco, D. Likhatchev, May 2002

Polyimides are promising polymers for gas separation due to their superior thermal and chemical stability, and excellent mechanical strength. High gas permeability and permeselectivity, however, are the key elements for membrane performance. An enhancement of gas permeability of the polyimide membranes can be achieved via inhibiting of interchain packing leading to higher free volume fractions (FVF). Polyimides based on 4,4'-diaminotriphenylmetahne (DA-TPM) are interesting systems potentially suitable for gas separation applications. These polimides contain high fraction of free volume, and they are also technologically attractive because of the simplicity of monomer synthesis, good processability of the resulting polymers, and possibility of their further modification.Organic soluble polyimides (PI-TPM) were prepared in the present study from DA-TPM and various aromatic dianhydrides using different synthesis methods, and their gas transport properties were studied. Gas permeability of PMDA-TPM membranes was higher than that for the conventional PMDA-ODA polyimide gas separation membranes. The permeselectivity values obtained for practically important gas pairs (H2/CH4, He/CH4, H2/N2, O2/N2, CO2/CH4) were at the same level as for polyimides specially designed for membrane applications. Replacement of PMDA moiety with more flexible binuclear dianhydrides resulted in further improvement of permeselectivity.

Gas-Assisted Non-Contact Hot Plate Welding of HDPE

Bovornchok Poopat, Avraham Benatar, May 2002

Non-contact hot plate welding offers considerable advantages especially in joining of high temperature polymers. Heating occurs due to a combination of radiation and natural convection. For large and complex samples, the natural convection results in non-uniform heating. In gas-assisted non-contact hot plate welding a heated gas is forced into the gap between the workpiece and the hot plate thereby achieving more uniform heating. In this work, a vertical hot plate was used with assisting and opposing gas flow relative to the direction of the natural convection. The effect of process parameters and the optimization of gas-assisted non-contact hot plate welding of HDPE were studied. In addition, finite element models for the process were developed and found to be in good agreement with experiments. As was shown in previous work with contact and non-contact hot plate welding, the reduced welding parameters of melt layer thickness, welding displacement, and weld displacement ratio offer simple means of optimizing this process.

Generation of Residual Styrene in Injection Molding of Hips

M.F. Dal Pizzol, V.G. Grassi, F. Angiolini, May 2002

High impact polystyrene is largely applied in the production of food packaging by means of thermoforming or injection molding. Modern processes of HIPS production originate very low levels of residual styrene monomer (SM), which are much lower than the ones permitted by the FDA. Nevertheless, even small amounts of residual SM could affect the taste and odor of the package contents. Therefore, any further increase in the amount of SM is a concern.The present work shows that the amount of styrene can be increased depending essentially on the temperature of injection molding and secondarily on the residence time. A mechanism of generation of that additional SM, based on the reversibility of the trans 1,2- diphenylcyclobutane (TDCB)- styrene reaction, is proposed. Original concentrations of TDCB and SM vary for resins made with different technologies and are directly related to the final content of residual SM.

Gloss Modeling of Injection Molded Rubber-Modified Styrenic Polymers

Kurt A. Koppi, Joseph M. Ceraso, Jack A. Cleven, Brent A. Salamon, May 2002

Gloss models were developed through statistical experimental design for several ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) and HIPS (high impact polystyrene) materials that span Dow's portfolio of rubber-modified styrenic polymers. The purpose of this work was to benchmark the gloss performance across the portfolio and quantify the influence of molding conditions on the gloss of injection molded parts. Six processing parameters were included in the experimental design: Tmelt, Tmold, tfill, thold, tcool, and Pcavity. A description of the experimental protocol employed for this statistically designed experiment will be given. For the purpose of this communication, the discussion of the results will focus on the observations obtain from three types of ABS materials: emulsion (E-ABS), mass (M-ABS), and a newly developed high gloss mass ABS (HGM-ABS).

Heat Flow Model for Laser Welding of Polymers

Y.C. Kennish, H.R. Shercliff, G.C. McGrath, May 2002

ClearWeld™ is an innovative laser welding process that creates strong joints in optically transparent polymers and synthetic fabrics. There is no visible joint line or surface damage using an IR absorbing ink. An analytical heat conduction model is developed to predict the process capabilities and weld characteristics. Experiments using single lap joints in amorphous transparent Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETG) are used to validate this model. Further analysis of failure modes in the joints as a function of processing parameters (power, speed, pressure, etc...) allows the development of process charts to aid in the optimisation of the welding process.