pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: S04 - Injection Molding and Molds
Oral Presentation
 
 

INFLUENCE OF POLYPROPYLENE SURFACE MORPHOLOGY IN THE ADHESION OF INJECTION MOLDED PARTS

Gomes Marta (1)*, Pontes António (1), Viana Júlio (1)

(1) IPC - Institute for Polymers and Composites, University of Minho - Guimarães - Portugal

Injection overmoulding is a well-established process to manufacture multi-component plastic products. The interaction between the different materials to be moulded strongly depends on the type of materials and on the functional groups present. Obviously, adhesion plays a relevant role in multi-component parts. Processing conditions play also a relevant role in adhesion as they constrain the development of the interphase morphology. It is also expected that flow conditions should have an influence on the interphase morphology and therefore in the adhesion. Furthermore, the manipulation of interface/interphase morphology during processing is also important. In this work, we investigate the development of the microstructure of an injection moulding polypropylene under the local thermomechanical environment imposed during processing, and its effect in the contact angle and, hence, on adhesion. The morphology of the semi-crystalline polypropylene has been found to have an influence on the contact angle, and thus on adhesion. In order to investigate the structural hierarchy variations in the thickness direction, samples from skin to core were used. The molecular orientation and degree of crystallinity were hence determined within the depth of half the thickness of an injection molded isotactic polypropylene, as well as the water contact angle. Calorimetric studies were performed in order to assess the variations of the degree of crystallinity along the thickness of these samples. The degree of preferred orientation was accessed by means of birefringence measurements and the adhesion assessment was probed through water contact angles measured with deionized water by sessile drop (needle in) method at room temperature, to determine the wettability of the samples. Results suggest that water contact angle vary with material morphology, as it increases with the degree of crystallinity and decreases with orientation.