Volume 31, Issue 1

In this study, Cloisite 20A, an organically modified Montmorillonite (Mnt), has been incorporated into Fluoroelastomer (FKM) through melt intercalation technique. Since the nanocomposite preparation method and conditions, and consequently, the resulting morphology play a critical role in the final properties, the effect of different process conditions such as time, temperature, and shear rate on the vulcanization, thermal and mechanical properties have been investigated. The morphology of nanocomposites, prepared at different melt-mixing conditions, was studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Rheological, thermal and mechanical behaviors were investigated by moving die rheometer (MDR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and tensile strength test respectively. Also, the crosslinking density has been measured for the nanocomposites. The best mechanical performance of clay/FKM nanocomposites was attained by optimization of the melt-mixing conditions. We achieved the following enhancements for FKM by clay incorporation: enhancement of tensile strength up to 70 %; elongation up to 94 %; and modulus up to 405 %. Process temperature was found to have a critical role in the final properties of the nanocomposites, while mixing residual time and shear rate had a moderate effect. The most desirable properties and curing behaviors, including highest maximum torques, cure rates, crosslinking densities, fast crosslinking kinetics, high intercalation and best improved tensile strengths, resulted with specific combination of melt-mixing parameters.

Nanocomposites of polyamide six (PA6) reinforced with organoclay were prepared in this study through melt mixing. The blended montmorillonite clay was organically modified with octadecylamine. The loadings of the clay were 1 wt%, 5 wt%, and 9 wt%. The obtained nanocomposites exhibited exfoliation (1 wt%) and intercalation (other compositions) structures. By contrast, if they were mixed with unmodified clay, the PA6 molecules could not enter the silicate interlayer. For polypropylene (PP), forming nanocomposites with organoclay was difficult but made feasible by incorporating the maleated PP. The results of dynamic rheological tests demonstrated that an end-tethered storage modulus was observed for the PA6/organoclay nanocomposites. However, the PP/organoclay exhibited terminal-zone behavior. In addition, the shear creep recovery was conducted on the molten polymer composites. The results indicated that the molten PA6/organoclay nanocomposite exhibited a higher creep-recovery ratio, a measure of the elastic property, than that of pristine PA6. The time constant in the Voigt-Kelvin constitutive model for the PA6/organoclay melts was lower than that of the pristine PA6 due to the superior elastic moduli, because it is defined as the ratio of viscosity to the modulus. However, the recovery ratios for most of the PP nanocomposites were found to be less than that for the pristine PP, indicating the fair reinforcing effect of the organoclay.

Short fibres are often used as reinforcing materials with thermoplastic polymers to improve the dielectric properties of the composites. In this work, the effects of oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB)-fibre loading on polycaprolactone (PCL) polymer were extensively studied. The synthesis of OPEFB-PCL composites were prepared via melt blend method. Theoretical and experimental analysis of electromagnetic (EMI) propagation, absorption and shielding effectiveness (SE) properties of the composite were also studied. The magnitudes of S-parameters for OPEFB fiber-reinforced PCL composites with different percentages of filler were measured by a rectangular waveguide connected with a microwave vector network analyzer (VNA) at (8 – 12) GHz frequency. Whilst the dielectric properties were studied using an open ended coaxial probe. The morphological characterization of the OPEFB-PCL composite was carried out using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). This work showed that XRD profile patterns slightly changed duo to the filler loading increment which result a reduction in both dielectric constant and loss factor. However, the relative permittivity of pure oil palm fibre and PCL was measured as (1.8-j*0.08) and (2.929-j*0.3242) respectively. In addition, the composition of 12.5 wt% filler gave the highest dielectric constant and loss factor values. However, the reflection loss increases to filler content increments at the maximum frequency of 12 GHz. The excellent behavior of these polymer composites makes them superior nominees for microwave low absorption materials.

A core-back polypropylene foaming injection process using chemical blowing agents (CBA) has been studied. First, injection tests were carried out with two different CBAs and the different morphologies of the obtained samples have been analyzed. Structural parameters such as cell density and average radius size were calculated. Then, a bubble growth model was developed to predict the foaming development during the process, controlled by the depressurization of the mold cavity during the short core-back opening coupled with the evolution of the temperature during core-back and subsequent cooling. A good agreement is found between theoretical predictions and experimental results.

In the polymer composite the benefits of utilizing the excellent wear resisting properties in terms of light weight structural design are immediately apparent. Hence, the focus of this study is to propose new sets of unfilled and particulate filled treated jute epoxy composites. Therefore, initially five different weight percentages of alkali treated jute epoxy composites are fabricated (10, 20, 30 40 and 50 wt.%) and studied their slurry erosive wear in experimentally at different operating conditions such as by varying impact velocity and impingement angle by keeping all other factors constant. The steady state erosion results for jute epoxy composites shows better wear resistant behavior for 40 wt.% jute fiber loading. Hence, for further fabrication of series of hybrid composite 40 wt.% jute fiber is kept constant and granite powder is varied in three different (8, 16 and 24 wt.%) weight percentages. The granite filler content in the jute epoxy composite played a major contribution for slurry erosion resistance. Finally, the obtained experimental results are compared with simulated model results by using a computational fluid dynamics tool. The eroded samples are observed through scanning electron microscope to study the wear mechanism.

The rheological modeling of a polymer melt in the course of its extrusion through a circular cylindrical channel inside a shaping die equipped with a rotating mandrel and a rotating or stationary nozzle is investigated. This paper attempts to provide a detailed rheological description of the physical processes of a polymer melt based on Leonov model inside the channel of an extruder under its kinematic deformation upon two-dimensional shear flow. Based on the obtained rheological equations of state, the flow process can be described in a form of dependencies reflecting kinematics of complex polymer deformation in the die channel. These expressions allow estimation of the velocity distribution for the flow elements within the channel as well as of the flow-pressure characteristics of the process. A quantitative relation between flow characteristics, rheological properties of polymer, and technical parameters of the channel of an extruder was determined. Comparison of this theoretical model with experimental results validates the suggested model.

The curing stress and deformation of epoxy resin and aramid fiber/epoxy composites was measured using Digital Gradient Sensing (DGS) technique. First, the working principle of the DGS method was explained, and the governing equations were derived based on angular deflections of light rays. Then the angle deflection of light rays due to curing stress of epoxy resin was measured, and the effect of the fiber bundle and aramid fiber fabric on the stress distribution during formation was analyzed. The experimental results show that angular deflections of light rays can be related to nonuniform distribution of curing stress in epoxy. The fiber bundles and fabric style have important effects on the curing stress distribution. These results play an important role for predicting curing stress and deformation of fiber reinforced composites.

Prediction of shrinkage and warpage of injection molded plastic parts is a key issue of injection molding simulation. In the present work a U-shaped part is investigated experimentally and by means of state of the art injection molding simulation software. The part has thick walls in the corner where inner defects such as voids and porous zones may appear. Experiments and simulations were performed with POM and glass fiber reinforced polyamide. Measurements of pressure in the cavities and temperature profiles around the cavities were used to validate the numerical model. In case of POM it was found that warpage predictions are way off when the void volume is high and in good agreement when the void volume is minimized. No such correlation was observed in case of fiber reinforced materials. Here, shrinkage and warpage are dominated by the fiber orientation state with minor influence of the processing conditions. Predicted warpage was found to be extremely dependent on the used closure approximation.

A composite computer model has been proposed for starve fed/flood fed mixing single screw extruders. The model for starve fed extrusion has been developed by combining a new FEM based melt conveying model with recently developed melting models. Mixing screw equipped with distributive toothed disc mixing element has been considered as an example for modeling. An extensive fully three-dimensional non-Newtonian FEM computations have been carried-out to simulate the melt flow in mixing elements. Screw pumping characteristics have been developed for the elements at various power law indices, and these have been implemented into the composite model of the process. Simulations have been performed for low density polyethylene (LDPE) at various operating conditions, both for starve fed and flood fed extrusion. Fill factor, pressure, temperature and melting profiles have been computed and verified experimentally.

Polymer composites with polyethylene (PE), microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), and coupling agent (PE-g-MA) were melt blended using a single screw extruder (SSE), twin screw extruder (TSE), and a combination of SSE and extensional flow mixer (EFM) and masterbatch method (MB). The rheological behavior, mechanical, thermal, and morphological properties were investigated to compare material behavior of the MCC-filled PE composites and to evaluate the dispersive mixing efficiency. The composite samples prepared using a single pass method in SSE had relatively larger storage moduli (G′) while those from the TSE and SSE + EFM were smaller. The complex viscosities (η*) of composites with processed using EFM was higher than that of neat PE, indicating better dispersion of the MCC.MCC-filled PE composites processed with EFM showed higher tan delta compared to those of composites. In general, MCC-filled PE composites from the EFM process showed higher viscosity compared to all other composites at all shear rates. The EFM method improved flexural properties more than the other processing methods. The effect of EFM on impact strength of the composites was improved with coupling agent. Addition of MCC, couple agent, and different mixing methods did not significantly affect the thermal properties of the MCC-filled PE composites.

In this study, the feasibility of obtaining superhydrophobic polyethylene parts by rotational molding has been confirmed. The superhydrophobicity is obtained through the surface modification of the thermoplastic by using a microrough aluminium mold. The treatment used to create the microroughness of the mold was an electrochemical process followed by heating at 180 °C. Once the superhydrophobic aluminium mold has been prepared, several rotomolding cycles were carried out. The mold was then used for obtaining rotomolded test cube parts using a conventional polyethylene grade. The behavior of the parts under a water jet show a superhydrophobic behavior of the surface, fact confirmed by the measurement of contact angles above 145°.

A kind of discontinuous baffle, which had the same length as the non-baffle zone distance, was inserted in the unwound channel of a single screw extruder to enhance mixing in the screw channel. The periodic unit of the flow channel was modeled as a dynamic system of complex duct flow. The finite volume method was used to solve the three-dimensional flow of purely viscous non-Newtonian fluid. Fluid particle tracking was performed by a fourth-order Runge–Kutta scheme. The effect of the baffle height on the mixing kinematics was investigated numerically. Poincaré sections were applied to reveal the different patterns and sizes of the KAM tubes. Distributive mixing was then visualized by the evolution of passive tracers initially located at different positions. The variance index and residence time distribution (RTD) were used to evaluate the statistical results. Among the four test cases, the results showed that the case with the baffle height equal to the screw depth had the largest chaotic mixing region, but the shortest mean residence time and the narrowest broadening of RTD under the same pressure gradient.