Assessment of Injection Moulded Parts of PP/Nanoclay Produced with Hybrid Moulds

Abstract:

The concept of hybrid mould combines the conventional techniques of mould manufacturing and Rapid Prototyping and Rapid Tooling, resorting to non-conventional materials for producing moulding blocks, e. g., epoxy resin composites. Composites based on an epoxy system with 15% weight fraction of short steel fibres (SSF) were considered adequate for improving the performance of moulding blocks. The epoxy/short steel fibre composite moulding blocks were produced by vacuum casting in silicone moulds. Polypropylene (PP) was mixed with a commercial PP masterbatch with 50% of nanoclay and injected in a hybrid mould under various processing conditions. These were chosen from a central composite design with 15 experiments. The moulding microstructure was assessed by polarized light microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The skin-core morphology was observed and suggested that the low thermal conductivity of the epoxy composite produces a thinner skin when compared to all-steel moulds. The nanoclay concentration was the variable with the most significant effect on skin thickness and crystallinity. The addition of 1 wt% nanoclay under certain processing conditions favours the formation of β-form spherulites and the increase of crystallinity.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 730-732)
• Pages: 963-968
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.730-732.963
• Online since: November 2012
• Authors: Alessandra F. Neves, Gean V. Salmoria, Carlos H. Ahrens, António Sergio Pouzada, Mariana A. Silva
• Keywords: Hybrid Mould, Morpholoy, Nanoclay, Polypropylene (PP)

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