Morphology and mechanical properties of micro-injection molded polymer products
WANG Shiwei (1), LI Qian (1)*, HU Guo-Hua (2)
(1) Zhengzhou University - Henan - China, (2) CNRS - University of Lorraine - Lorraine - France
Novel multi layer and stripe morphology of a micro-injection molded isotactic polypropylene gear are investigated. The gear tooth is treated thermally at different temperatures and periods of time to control its morphology. The effects of the mold temperature of the micro-injection molding on the microstructures and mechanical properties of the gear are studied. The micro-injection molded gear presents a skin-core type of morphology. The core layer is much thicker than the core and shear layers. Nanoindentation tests show that the modulus decreases along the flow direction and increases with increasing mold temperature. The highly oriented shear layer has the highest nanoindentation modulus compared with the skin and core layers.