Volume 33, Issue 2

The combined effects of solidification and viscous dissipation on the hydrodynamic and thermal behavior of polymer melt flow during the injection process in a straight plane channel of constant cross section are numerically studied by considering the shear-rate and temperature-dependent viscosity and transient-phase change behavior. A numerical finite volume method, in conjunction with a modified form of the Cross constitutive equation to account for shear rate, temperature-dependent viscosity changes and a slightly modified form of the method proposed by Voller and Prakash to account for solidification of the liquid phase, is used and a validation with an analytical solution is presented for viscous heating effects. The hydrodynamic and solidified layers growth under the influence of a transient phase-change process and viscous dissipation, are analyzed for a commercial polymer melt flow, polypropylene (PP) for different parametric conditions namely, inflow velocity, polymer injection (inflow) temperature, the channel wall temperature, and the channel height. The results demonstrate that the proposed numerical formulations, including conjugate effects of viscous heating and transient-solidification on the present thermal transport process, can provide an accurate and realistic representation of polymer melt flow behavior during the injection molding process in plane channels with less simplifying assumptions.

Polycaprolactone (PCL)-coated micro kaolin and nano-titania were prepared by high-speed hybrid mechanical coating. Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS)-coated inorganic particle composites were prepared by the melt-blending process. The influence of coated kaolin microparticles on the dynamic rheological behavior, non-isothermal crystallization behavior, micromorphology, and mechanical behavior were investigated. The effect of coated nano-titania on the mechanical properties of PBS-coated kaolin composites was also studied. A dynamic rheological property indicates that the complex viscosity of PBS-coated kaolin microcomposites is higher than neat PBS. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) implies that the micrometric size of kaolin particles restrains the crystallization of PBS. Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) reveals a well dispersed state of coated kaolin in the polymer matrix. The impact strength of PBS-coated kaolin microcomposites is improved, while the tensile strength and elongation at break is decreased, but still appreciable. The introduction of coated nano-titania improves the impact strength dramatically, and the elongation at break of composites is considerable.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the injection molding processability of polylactic acid (PLA) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) via a computational method. This study was conducted using injection molding simulation software Moldflow ® using an iPhone 4 case (I4C) to evaluate the filling and packing stages of PLA and HDPE. The fill time, velocity/pressure switch over (VPSO), frozen layer fraction, time to freeze, volumetric shrinkages and clamp force were analyzed. The results showed that PLA requires a slightly longer time to fill the cavity compared to HDPE. At the mean time, the VPSO of PLA was larger than HDPE, as a result of the higher viscosity characteristic of PLA. From the packing analysis, it was found that the extent of shrinkage for PLA and HDPE was 4.11% and 4.78%, respectively. This result shows that an I4C produced by either PLA or HDPE have very close dimensions. In other words, the redesign of mold to fulfill the different shrinkage extent for PLA and HDPE is unnecessary, which indicates a cost of production saving. Finally, the manufacturing of PLA required a higher tonnage injection molding machine compared to HDPE where the clamp tonnage of PLA is 2.5 times higher than HDPE.

Ternary elastomer nanocomposites based on acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR), polybutadiene rubber (BR) and two types of nanoclay (Cloisite 15A and Cloisite 30B) were prepared using a laboratory scale two-roll mill. The effects of nanoclay composition on the cure characteristics, mechanical properties and morphology of NBR/BR (50/50) nanocomposite samples containing 3, 5, 7 and 10 wt% nanoclay were investigated. According to the cure characteristics both types of nanoclay caused a reduction in the scorch time and optimum cure time of the nanocomposite compound. X-ray diffraction patterns of all samples suggested the intercalation of polymer chains into the silicate layers. This was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) was utilized to study the dispersion state of nanoclay within the elastomer blend matrix. The results showed the development of mechanical properties with the establishment of interactions between nanoclay and polymer chains. Antiknock and brake fluid uptake were also reduced with increasing the nanoclay content.

Glycerol/starch (G/S) solutions were prepared at different concentrations, with a weight ratio of G/S=0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5, and rheological properties were analyzed at 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70°C. Power law dependency of the apparent viscosity as a function of the shear rate is the most appropriate model for describing the rheological behavior of cassava starch solutions as a function of glycerol concentrations. All solutions showed a pseudoplastic behavior; the flow index ( n ) did not show significant changes as a function of temperature and glycerol concentration. However, the apparent viscosity ( μ a ) and the consistency coefficient ( K ) did show strong variations with temperature and glycerol content. The temperature variation of both μ a and K were better fitted to an exponential model type exp( E a / RT ), log μ a (K) vs. 1000/T. The activation energy of the K data for the solution without glycerol (G/S=0.0) was 13.64 KJ/mol, and it decreased with increasing the content of glycerol in the solutions, becoming 6.14 KJ/mol for G/S=0.5. On the contrary, the activation energy for the μ a data increased when increasing the glycerol concentration. The effect of glycerol concentration was also modeled using polynomial and exponential fittings.

In this work, the properties of electron-beam irradiated low density polyethylene (LDPE), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and blends were investigated. EVA addition had an enhancement effect on crosslinking of irradiated LDPE/EVA blends. The measured gel content increase of the blends and the improvement of thermal elongation, tensile strength, elongation at break, thermal aging and heat deformation, have confirmed the positive effects of electron-beam irradiation on the blend properties. The crystallinity of the blends decreased with irradiation. The gel content and hot set tests showed that the degree of crosslinking in the amorphous regions was dependent on the dose and blend composition. Increasing the EVA content resulted in tighter network structures. A significant improvement in the tensile strength of the neat EVA samples was obtained upon electron-beam irradiation up to 210 kGy. The irradiated LDPE/EVA blends showed improved tensile strength and elongation at break, when compared to LDPE. The enhanced irradiation crosslinking of the LDPE/EVA blends was proportional to the good compatibility and the increasing degree of the amorphous region’s content of the LDPE/EVA blends. The possible degradation mechanism of LDPE/EVA blends was discussed quantitatively with a novel method step analysis process of irradiated LDPE/EVA blends in the thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) technique. It was found, with measuring thermal conductivity (k) and specific heat capacity (Cp) of the blends, that the k values of the LDPE samples at a prescribed temperature range decreased with increasing irradiation. An increase in the crystallinity led to an increase in the k values and a decrease in the Cp values of the LDPE samples. Irradiation below 150 kGy decreased the Cp (at 40°C) and k in average values, whereas increasing the EVA made enhanced the Cp and k values of LDPE/EVA blends at each irradiation. The surface resistance and volume resistivity (VR) of the blends reached a maximum at a 170 kGy irradiation and 30 wt% of EVA. Increasing the amount of EVA contents resulted in enhancement of the dielectric loss factor for the irradiated blends.

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/graphene nanocomposites were prepared by solution blending and the dispersibility of graphene in the PLA matrix was examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The non-isothermal crystallization behaviors of pure PLA and PLA/graphene nanocomposites from the melt were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results showed that the graphene could play a role as a heterogeneous nucleating agent during the non-isothermal crystallizing process of PLA, and accelerate the crystallization rate. The non-isothermal crystallizing data were analyzed with the Avrami, Ozawa and Mo et al. models and the crystallization parameters of the samples were obtained. It is demonstrated that the combination of the Avrami and Ozawa models developed by Mo et al. was successful in describing the non-isothermal crystallization process for pure PLA and its nanocomposite. According to the Kissinger equation, the activation energies were found to be -154.3 and -179.5 kJ/mol for pure PLA and PLA/0.1 wt% graphene nanocomposite, respectively. Furthermore, the spherulite growth behavior was investigated by polarized optical microscopy (POM) and the results also supported the DSC data.

The study elucidated the relationship between the stacking sequence and physical properties, by investigating mechanical properties, fatigue life and the morphology, after fatigue fracture of carbon fiber/epoxy composites. The results show that the unidirectional carbon fiber laminate has the maximum tensile stress. Moreover, the laminate with ±45° plies can improve the tensile strain. The fatigue life of all specimens was shorter than 10 3 cycles under high cyclic stress level, and longer than 10 6 cycles under low cyclic stress level. Laminates with [90 8 ] s stacking sequence had the shortest fatigue life under high and low cyclic stress, while the unidirectional carbon fiber laminate had the highest fatigue life. A number of fatigue damage models, including delaminating, matrix cracking and fiber failure, have been identified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM micrographs showed that the morphology on the cross section, after fatigue fracture, was significantly correlated to the stacking sequence.

To evaluate the influence of crystalline structure on the mechanical behavior of polypropylene (PP), uniaxial tensile cyclic tests with a mixed program (oscillations between fixed maximum strains and the zero minimum stress) were performed on isotactic PP (iPP) manufactured by the Ziegler-Natta catalysis method, metallocene catalyzed PP (mPP), and annealed mPP. Although the stress-strain diagrams of iPP and mPP under tension are quite similar, their responses under unloading differ markedly. The residual strain (measured as the strain under retraction down to the zero stress) of iPP strongly exceeds that of non-annealed mPP, and annealing of mPP increases this difference. To rationalize these findings, constitutive equations are developed in cyclic viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity of semicrystalline polymers, and adjustable parameters in the stress-strain relations are found by fitting the observations. The ability of the model to describe the observed phenomenon and to predict the mechanical response in multi-cycle tensile tests, with various deformation programs, is demonstrated by numerical simulation.

No abstract available.