Evolution of iPP/HDPE Morphology under Different Mold Temperatures via Multiflow Vibration Injection Molding: Thermal Field Simulation and Oriented Structures

• Published in: Industrial & engineering chemistry research 2020-04, Vol.59 (14), p.6741-6750
• Main Authors: Gu, Xuanbo, Hong, Rui, Leng, Jie, Hu, Menglong, Fu, Qiang, Zhang, Jie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0888-5885; 1520-5045
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.0c00097

To date, many advanced polymer processing technologies have been developed to tune the morphology of semicrystalline polymers, such as multiflow vibration injection molding (MFVIM). By adjusting the processing fields, i.e., shear and thermal fields, the material can be imparted with great mechanical properties, good electrical/thermal conductivity, or biomimic structure, by manipulating chain’s orientation, crystal’s arrangement, or hierarchical structure distribution. Despite the era of intelligent manufacturing approaching, there is rarely any report on the computer simulation of these advanced processing technologies. In this work, the processing fields of the MFVIM isotactic polypropylene/high-density polyethylene (iPP/HDPE) part are successfully simulated using Moldflow by designing a special model. Different thermal gradients can be realized in the plate part by setting different mold temperatures. The experimental results correlate well with the simulation results, and both of them illustrate that the mold temperature plays an important role in the morphology of dispersed PE phase resulting in different physical properties.