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

Effect of screw designs on fiber breakage and dispersion of GFRTP in injection molding plasticization

Inoue Akira (1)*, Shimokusuzono So (1), Nomoto Masayoshi (1), Tanaka Tatsuya (1), Arao Yoshihiko (1)

(1) Doshisha University - Kyoto - Japan

Long Fiber Reinforced Thermo Plastics (LFRTP) is a composite material with high specific strength and light weight. An injection molding of LFRTP is a well-established method in the automotive industry to produce high quality structural parts in mass production. In the injection molding plasticization of FRTP, fibers tend to be broken, and causing a negative effect on the mechanical properties of molded parts. One of the solutions is to lower the shear stress in the plasticizing process to prevent the fiber breakage. However, the reduction of shear stress decreases the mixing performance of the screw, and low mixing performance tends to leave fiber agglomerates. Reducing the fiber breakage and improving the fiber dispersion are an adverse relationship, and difficult to improve both properties at the same time. The purpose of this paper is to suggest the effective screw geometry for improving both of fiber dispersion and residual fiber length. Five kinds of screws were evaluated by investigating the molded specimen. It was found that screw geometry at the compression zone of the screw has a dominate effect of the residual fiber length. Choosing proper screw geometry for melting process and mixing process is the most important concept for improving both of fiber dispersion and residual fiber length. Flow analysis was performed to interpret the experimental results. Furthermore, we discussed the optimization of screw geometry for the plasticizing of GFRTP.