Jean-Yves Charmeau

Injection Blow Moulding Single Stage Process – Approach of the Material Behaviour in Process Conditions and Numerical Simulation

Single stage injection blow moulding process, without preform storage and reheat, could be run on a standard injection moulding machine, with the aim of producing short series of specific hollow parts. In this process, the preform is being blow moulded after a short cooling time. Polypropylene (Random copolymer) is a suitable material for this type of process. The preform has to remain sufficiently melted to be blown. This single stage process introduces temperature gradients, molecular orientation, high stretch rates and high cooling rates. These constraints lead to a small processing window, and in practice, the process takes place between the melting temperature and the crystallization temperature. To investigates the mechanical behaviour in conditions as close to the process as possible, we ran a series of experiments: First, Dynamical Mechanical Analysis was performed starting from the solid state at room temperature and ending in the vicinity of the melting temperature. Conversely, oscillatory rheometry was also performed starting this time from the molten state at 200°C and decreasing the temperature down to the vicinity of the crystallization temperature. The influence of the shear rate and of the cooling kinetics on the enhancement of the mechanical properties when starting from the melt is discussed. This enhancement is attributed to the crystallization of the material. The question of the crystallization occurring at such high stretch rates and high cooling rates is open. A viscous Cross model has been proved to be relevant to the problem. Thermal dependence is assumed by an Arrhenius law. The process is simulated through a finite element code (POLYFLOW software) in the Ansys Workbench framework. Thickness measurements using image analysis are performed and comparison with the simulation results is satisfactory.

A simple model of throughput calculation for single screw

To be able to predict the throughput of a single‐screw extruder or the metering time of an injection moulding machine for a given screw geometry, set of processing conditions and polymeric material is important both for practical and designing purposes. Our simple model show that the screw geometry is the most important parameter, followed by polymer rheology and processing conditions. Melting properties and length seem to intervene to a lesser extent. The calculations hinges on the idea of viewing the entire screw as a pump, conveying a solid and a molten fraction. The evolution of the solid fraction is the essence of the plastication process, but under particular circumstances, its influence on the throughput is nil. This allows us to get a very good estimate on the throughput and pressure development along the screw. Our calculations are compared to different sets of experiments available from the literature. We have consistent agreement both in throughput and pressure with published data.

Monitoring of Polymer Plastication in the Injection Moulding Process

In injection moulding or in extrusion, plastication is the step during which polymer pellets are melted by the means of mechanical dissipation provided by a rotating screw and by thermal conduction coming from a heated metallic barrel. This step is crucial for melt thermal homogeneity, charge dispersion and fibre length preservation. Although there have been a large number of theoretical and experimental studies of plastication during the past decades, mostly on extrusion and mostly using the screw extraction technique, extremely few of them have dealt with trying to visualise plastication, let alone measuring the plastication profile in real-time. As a matter of fact, designing such an equipment is an arduous task. We designed an industry-sized metallic barrel, featuring 3 optical glass windows; each window possessing 3 plane faces itself to allow for visualisation and record by synchronised cameras and lightening by lasers. The images recorded can be further analysed by digital image processing. Preliminary results confirm the plastication theory and show a compacted solid bed and a melt pool side by side. The total plastication length is a direct function of screw rotation frequency as it is obvious from results on the melt pool width, which increases when the screw rotation frequency decreases. However, some evidence of solid bed breakage has been recorded, whereby the solid bed does not diminish continuously along the screw but is fractured in the compression zone.Copyright

Study of the Influence of Surface Mold Deposits on the Demolding Stage of the Injection Molding Process of Thermoplastics

Due to increasing expectings from the market, the aspect of molded parts has to be improved. Some of the defects observed such as scratches on these parts is related to the demolding stage. To limit this, we investigated the influence on demolding forces using various surface deposits on the mold surface, mainly PVD and PACVD deposits : Chromium nitrium (CrN), Titane nitrium (TiN), Diamond like Carbon (DLC), glassy deposit (SiOx), Chromium and polished steel on an cube-shaped insert in an instrumented mold (with force sensors). Injection campaign was led on three polymers which differ in terms of nature : an amorphous polymer (polycarbonate), a semi-crystalline one (polybutylene terephatalate) and one mix of copolymers (styrene acrylonitrile/ acrylonitrile butadiene styrene). We studied the evolution of these forces through the demolding stage. This allowed us to evaluate the work energy necessary to eject the part from the insert, and to correlate those data to shrinkage of the polymer part, adhesion between polymer and mold surface and friction coefficient between those surfaces during the demolding stage. We also measured the influence the surface temperature of the part just before the demolding stage thanks to an infrared camera to investigate the thermal influence of these deposits in the injection process. Our results show an influence of deposits on demolding forces which is strongly dependent on nature of the polymer (of course) but also on its chemical nature. They also have a slight influence on temperature of the part even if they are only a few microns thick. We therefore developped a method to evaluate surface deposits and their impact on demolding forces, in terms of adhesion polymer/treament and friction.Copyright

Modelling Processing of Unfilled and Long-Glass Fibre Reinforced Thermoplastics in a Screw-Barrel Unit

In injection moulding, long glass fibre reinforced thermoplastics (LGFT) are an attractive way to produce large parts at low cost. The strength of the part depends chiefly on the average fibre length, fibres which are subjected to considerable attrition during processing in conventional three stage screws. First of all, in this study we have coupled a melting analysis in a conventional screw to a model of fibre breakage whereby a fibre anchored at one end in the solid bed is submitted, at its other end, to the intense shear stress of the molten polymer flowing in the film close to the barrel. As the melting of the solid bed progresses, more fibres are unlayered and submitted to bending which intensity is depending on both the fibre length and orientation. When the bending is too high, the fibre breaks. Bimodal fibre length distribution are obtained and compared to existing data. The sensibility of the model to main processing parameters such as screw rotation, initial fibre length, viscosity, barrel temperature and screw geometry are also investigated. Next, we present a new analytical solution for flow of a viscous fluid in a single screw channel that takes into account the torsion and curvature of the channel. Contrary to common knowledge in polymer processing based on the Parallel Plate Model, we found that, in the case of cross-sections with large aspect ratio, torsion effects can be significant. The implication of the model on velocity field, residence time and mixing efficiency is investigated and compared to the predictions of the classical Parallel Plate Model, to finite elements calculations, and to 3D experimental measurements. Indeed, an innovating device has been developed in our laboratory to visualize the flow of a viscous fluid in the channel of a screw. It consists of a transparent barrel and of a rotating screw, pumping a transparent viscous fluid at room temperature. A particle plunged in the flow is constantly monitored by four video-cameras placed around the barrel and recording its position in a frame. The 3D path lines are then computed.Copyright