Injection moulding of thermoplastics: Freezing of variable-viscosity fluids.

The injection moulding of thermoplastics involves, during mould filling, flows of hot polymer melts into mould networks, the walls of which are so cold that frozen layers form on them. An analytical study of such flows is presented here for the case when the Graetz and Nahme numbers are large and the Pearson number is small. Thus the flows are developing and temperature differences due to heat generation by viscous dissipation are sufficiently large to cause significant variations in viscosity (but the difference between the entry temperature of the polymer to a specific part of the mould network and the melting temperature of the polymer is not). Br Brinkman number - Gz Graetz number - h half-height of channel or disc - h ^* half-height of polymer melt region in channel or disc - L length of channel or pipe - m viscosity shear-rate exponent - Na Nahme number - p pressure - P pressure drop - Pe Péclet number - Pn Pearson number - Q volumetric flowrate - r radial coordinate in pipe or disc - R radius of pipe - Re Reynolds number - R _i inner radius of disc - R _o outer radius of disc - R ^* radius of polymer melt region in pipe - T temperature - T _ad adiabatic temperature rise - T _e entry polymer melt temperature - T _m melting temperature of polymer - T _max maximum temperature - T ₀ reference temperature - T _w wall temperature - flow-average temperature rise - u _r radial velocity in pipe or disc - u _x axial velocity in channel - u _y transverse velocity in channel or disc - u _z axial velocity in pipe - w width of channel - x axial coordinate in channel or modified radial coordinate in disc - y transverse coordinate in channel or disc - z axial coordinate in pipe - thermal conductivity of molten polymer - thermal conductivity of frozen polymer - scaled dimensionless axial coordinate in channel or pipe or radial coordinate in disc - ₀ undetermined integration constant - heat capacity of molten polymer - viscosity temperature exponent - dimensionless transverse coordinate in channel or disc - ^* dimensionless half-height of polymer melt region in channel or disc - H ^* scaled dimensionless half-height of polymer melt region in channel or disc or radius of polymer melt region in pipe - dimensionless temperature - ^* dimensionless wall temperature - scaled dimensionless temperature - numerical constant - µ viscosity of molten polymer - µ ₀ consistency of molten polymer - dimensionless pressure gradient - scaled dimensionless pressure gradient - density of molten polymer - dimensionless radial coordinate in pipe or disc - _i dimensionless inner radius of disc - ^* dimensionless radius of polymer melt region in pipe - dimensionless streamfunction - scaled dimensionless streamfunction - dummy variable - streamfunction - similarity variable - similarity variable     

Slip flow of non-plasticized PVC compounds

Measurements on seven rigid PVC compounds were carried out with a slit rheometer working in combination with an injection moulding machine. Plastication of the compounds occurred in the screw of the plastication unit, which also forced the melt through the die with a controlled forward velocity. The rectangular slit had a length of 90 mm and a widthB of 20 mm. The heightH could be varied between 0.8 and 3.3 mm. Pressures and temperatures were recorded at several positions in and before the die. Measurements were carried out at shear rates from 10 to 2000 s^–1.When the reduced volume output was plotted against the wall shear stress _W , only four compounds showed master curves independent ofH, which is indicative of wall adhesion. In the other cases this plot did not produce such a master curve, but the plot of the mean velocity against _W was independent ofH (slip curve). This indicated that slip flow prevailed with a slip velocityv _G When, in the case of wall slip, the smooth inner surfaces of the die were replaced by surfaces with grooves perpendicular to the direction of flow, slip flow was prevented and the flow curves were shifted to much higher values of _Wc Above a critical value of the wall shear stress ( _Wc ) at which slip flow began, the output became nearly independent of _W . From the measurements made below _Wc a vs. relation for the shear flow could be derived, which was used to calculate the superimposed shear flow . Exact values of the slip velocity were then given by . Wall slip only occurred for compounds with a high shear viscosity, which corresponds to a high molecular weight (K-value).Dedicated to Professor H. Janeschitz-Kriegl on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

Freezing-off in disc cavities

A semi-quantitative analysis is presented of freezing-off in a disc cavity during the injection moulding of thermoplastics. A criterion is obtained which enables the occurrence of freezing-off to be predicted, at least crudely. The form of the criterion is found to depend on the direction of flow (radially outward or inward) in the disc.     

Injection moulding of thermoplastics. I. Freezing-off at gates

The injection moulding of thermoplastics involves, during mould filling, flow of a hot molten polymer into a mould network, the walls of which are so cold that the polymer freezes on them. During the constant pressure drop part of the filling stage, but not during the preceding constant flow-rate part, freezing-off, that is premature blockage of the mould network by frozen polymer, is possible. A semi-quantitative analysis of such freezing-off at a gate is presented here. The length-scales and time-scales of all the relevant physical processes occurring during freezing-off are identified and a criterion is obtained which enables the occurrence of freezing-off to be predicted, at least crudely. a _j constant - b _jk constant - Br Brinkman number - Br ₀ initial Brinkman number - Gz Graetz number - Gz ₀ initial Graetz number - h _c half-height of flat cavity - h _g half-height of flat gate - h _g ^* half-height of polymer melt region in flat gate - L _c length of cavity - L _f filled length - L _g length of gate - m viscosity shear-rate exponent - P pressure drop - Q volumetric flow-rate - r radial coordinate in round gate and cavity - R _c radius of round cavity - R _g radius of round gate - R _g ^* radius of polymer melt region in round gate - Sf Stefan number - t time - t _f freeze-off time - T temperature - T _i inlet polymer melt temperature - T _m melting temperature of polymer - T _w gate wall temperature - u _r radial velocity in round gate - u _x axial velocity in flat gate - u _y transverse velocity in flat gate - u _z axial velocity in round gate - w _c width of flat channel - w _g width of flat gate - x axial coordinate in flat gate and cavity - y transverse coordinate in flat gate and cavity - z axial coordinate in round gate and cavity - thermal conductivity of molten polymer - thermal conductivity of frozen polymer - heat capacity of molten polymer - heat capacity of frozen polymer - _h ratio of half-height of flat gate to that of flat cavity - _R ratio of radius of round gate to that of round cavity - _w ratio of width of flat gate to that of flat cavity - dimensionless axial coordinate in round gate and cavity - dimensionless transverse coordinate in flat gate and cavity - ^* dimensionless half-height of polymer melt region in flat gate - dimensionless temperature - _i dimensionless inlet temperature - _j j-th term in power series expansion of dimensionless temperature - thermal diffusivity ratio - dimensionless filled length - latent heat of fusion of polymer - µ viscosity - µ ₀ unit shear-rate viscosity - v _j j-th eigenvalue - j-th zero of zeroth-order Bessel function of first kind - dimensionless axial coordinate in flat gate and cavity - _c dimensionless pressure drop in cavity - _g dimensionless pressure drop in gate - density of molten polymer - density of frozen polymer - dimensionless radial coordinate in round gate and cavity - ^* dimensionless radius of polymer melt region in round gate - dimensionless time - _f dimensionless freeze-off time - ₀ dimensionless time at start of final phase of freezing-off - rescaled dimensionless time - rescaled dimensionless freeze-off time - rescaled dimensionless time at start of final phase of freezing-off - dimensionless similarity variable - dummy variable - scaled dimensionless axial coordinate in gate     

In-line monitoring flow in an extruder die by rheo-optics

A new modular slit die with optical windows in two different positions and three pressure transducers flush-mounted along the wall was built and coupled to the exit of a twin-screw extruder. Thus, the birefringence and the pressure drop of polystyrene were monitored inline during extrusion. Two experimental procedures were tested: steady-state and cessation of extruder feeding. The latter proved to be very useful in the case of polystyrene since the ratio between the birefringence and the pressure drop can be quantified for a wide range of steady-state conditions with a single experiment. In fact, down to relatively lower values of pressure drop, the birefringence proved to be a function of shear stress at the wall only, depending neither on the initial feeding rate nor on the aspect ratio of the slit die, for W/h down to 5, at least.     

A new device for in-line colorimetric quantification of polypropylene degradation under multiple extrusions

An in-line colorimeter that is able to quantify color changes in real time during extrusion was developed and validated. It is composed of LEDs emitting at three different wavelengths and a photocell that measures the intensity of the light transmitted through the polymer melt flow. The colorimeter was validated at the bench by employing colored aqueous solutions and in-line during the extrusion of a colored polypropylene. Furthermore, it was used to in-line quantify the color changes in a polypropylene as generated over multiple extrusions due to thermo-mechanical degradation. The technique was proved to be fast and suitable to measure color changes in real time during extrusion.     

Optical coherence tomography based particle image velocimetry (OCT-PIV) of polymer flows

The measurement of spatially resolved velocity distributions is crucial for modelling flow and for understanding properties of materials produced in extrusion processes. Traditional methods for flow visualization such as particle image velocimetry (PIV) rely on optically transparent media and cannot be applied to turbid polymer melts. Here we present optical coherence tomography as an imaging technique for PIV data processing that allows for measuring a sequence of time resolved images even in turbid media. Time-resolved OCT images of a glass-fibre polymer compound were acquired during an extrusion process in a slit die. The images are post-processed by ensemble cross-correlation to calculate spatially resolved velocity vector fields. The results compared well with velocity data obtained by Doppler-OCT. Overall, this new technique (OCT-PIV) represents an important extension of PIV to turbid materials by the use of OCT.     

嵌段聚氨酯脲的形态与性能——软链段结构和分子量的影响

合成了不同软链段长度的聚醚型、聚酯型嵌段聚氨酯脲弹性体,以及聚醚-聚酯软链段聚氨酯脲弹性体(PUU)。借助SEM、DSC以及拉伸试验机分析其结构、形态对力学性能的影响。研究表明,相分离程度随软链段分子量的提高而提高。在软链段分子量相同时,聚醚为基础的PUU的相分离程度较聚酯为基础的PUU高。以聚醚-聚酯为软链段的PUU呈现了聚醚型和聚酯型PUU的各自形态,有较大的相区尺寸和较明显的相界面。力学性能数据证实了形态研究的结果。     

LSI用环氧塑封料研制与中试

本文叙述了ＬＳＩ用环氧塑封料研究与中试的主要成果、技术要点及成果应用。