Optimization of Injection Molding Process for Mechanical Properties of Short Glass Fiber and Polytetrafluoroethylene Reinforced Polycarbonate Composites: A Case Study

Abstract

This study analyzes the mechanical properties of polycarbonate (PC) reinforced with 20% short glass fiber (SGF) and 6% polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which is applied to the bottom cover of the reader body. The specimens were prepared under different injection molding conditions, by varying the filling time, melt temperature, mold temperature, and packing pressure using the gray relational analysis method. Plans of experiments via nine experimental runs are based on the orthogonal arrays to determine the optimum factor level condition. The mechanical properties of the Young’s module, ultimate stress, and strain variation are adopted as the quality targets. From the analysis of gray relational grade matrix, the most influential process factor and the most easily influenced mechanical property can be picked. The melt temperature is found to be the most influenced factor in the Young’s module, ultimate stress, and strain for the injection molding process in this study.

Keywords

optimization gray analysis injection molding mechanical properties

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Briscoe, B. J. (1998). Isolated Contacted Stress Deformations of Polymers, the Basis for Interpreting Polymer Tribology , Tribology International, 31(1-3): 121-126 .

Khurshudov, A. and Kato, K. (1997). Wear Mechanisms in Reciprocal Scratching of Polycarbonate, Studied by Atomic Force Microscopy , Wear, 205: 1-10 .

Stuart, B. H. (1997). Scratch Friction Studies of Polycarbonate , Polym Testing, 16: 517-522 .

Neves, N. M. , Isdell, G. , Pouzada, A. S. and Powell, P. C. (1998). On the Effect of the Fiber Orientation on the Flexural Stiffness of Injection Molded Short Fiber Reinforced Polycarbonate Plates , Polymer Composites, 19(5): 640-651 .

Manikandan, K. C. , Diwan, S. M. and Sabu, T. (1996). Tensile Properties of Short Sisal Fiber Reinforced Polystyrene Composites , J. of Applied Polymer Science, 60(9): 1483-1497 .

Ho, M. S. , Hwang, J. R. , Doong, J. L. and Fung, C. P. (1999). Impact Fatigue of a Polycarbonate/Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene Blend , Polymer Engineering and Science, 39(4): 708-720 .

Palabiyik, M. and Bahadur, S. (2000). Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Polyamide 6 and High Density Polyethylene Polyblends with and Without Compatibilizer , Wear, 246: 149-158 .

Fung, C. P. , Hwang, J. R. and Hsu, C. C. (2003). The Effect of Injection Molding Process Parameters on the Tensile Properties of Short Glass Fiber-Reinforced PBT , Polym.-Plast. Technol Eng., 42: 45-63 .

Biswas, S. K. and Vijayan, K. (1992). Friction and Wear of PTFE-A Review , Wear, 158: 193-211 .

10.

Friedrich, K. , Reinicke, R. and Zhang, Z. (2002). Wear of Polymer Composites , Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part J, Journal of Engineering Tribology, 216(6): 415-426 .

11.

Bolvari, A. , Glenn, S. , Janssen, R. and Ellis, C. (1997). Wear and Friction of Aramid Fiber and Polytetrafluoroethylene Filled Composites , Wear, 203: 697-702 .

12.

Palabiyik, M. and Bahadur, S. (2002). Tribological Studies of Polyamide 6 and High-Density Polyethylene Blends Filled with PTFE and Copper Oxide and Reinforced with Short Glass Fibers , Wear, 253: 369-376 .

13.

Cheng, X. H. , Xue, Y. J. and Xie, C. Y. (2002). Friction and Wear of Rare-earth Modified Glass-fiber Filled PTFE Composites in Dry Reciprocating Sliding Motion with Impact Loads , Wear, 253: 869-877 .

14.

Xavier, S. F. , Tyagi, D. and Misra, A. (1982). Influence of Injection-molding Parameters on the Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Glass Fiber-reinforced Polypropylene Composites , Polymer Composites, 3(2): 88-96 .

15.

Delpy, U. and Fischer, G. (1985). Effect of Mold-filling Conditions on Fiber Distribution in Injection-molded Disks and on the Mechanical Properties of Such Disks , Advances in Polymer Technology, 5(1): 19-26 .

16.

Apichartpattanasiri, S. , Hay, J. N. and Kukureka, S. N. (2001). A Study of the Tribological Behaviour of Polyamide 66 with Varying Injection-Moulding Parameters , Wear, 251: 1557-1566 .

17.

Jeng, M. C. , Fung, C. P. and Li, T. C. (2002). The Study on Tribological Properties of Short Glass Fiber-reinforced PBT Composites for Various Injection Molding Process Parameters , Wear, 252: 934-945 .

18.

Deng, J. L. (1989). Introduction to Gray System Theory , The Journal of Gray System, 1: 1-24 .

19.

Chang, S. H. (1996). Frequency Synthesizer Product or/and Process Optimization using the Gray Relational Analysis , The Journal of Gray System, 8: 235-260 .

20.

Chang, S. H. , Hwang, J. R. and Doong, J. L. (1998). Optimizing the Injection Molding Process of Polyethylene Terephthalate using the Gray Relational Analysis , The Journal of Gray System, 10: 371-382 .

21.

Fung, C. P. , Huang, C. H. and Doong, J. L. (2003). The Study on the Optimization of Injection Molding Process Parameters with Gray Relational Analysis , J. of Reinforced Plastics & Composites, 22: 51-66 .

22.

Shen, Y. K. , Chien, H. W. and Lin, Y. (2004). Optimization of the Micro-injection Molding Process using Gray Relational Analysis and MoldFlow Analysis , J. of Reinforced Plastics & Composites, 23: 1799-1814 .

23.

Taguchi, G. (1991). Introduction to Quality Engineering: Designing Quality into Products and Processes, 2nd edn, Asian Productivity Organization, Japan .