Injection moulding of the samples from composites with a polymer matrix and metal powder
Lech Paszkowski, Dionizy Biało, Waldemar Wiśniewski
Quarterly No. 1, 2010 pages 35-40
DOI:
keywords: functional polymer composites, injection moulding, powders, homogeneity of the sample
abstract Functional composites are materials consisting of at least two components. In the case of polymer composites it matrix is made of thermoplastic or thermosetting polymers. Functional phase gives defined mechanical, thermal, electrical, magnetic or other properties required by the designer. This phase is usually in the form of fibers or powders with different particle shape. The presented work concerns a selected group of functional composites called of dielectromagnets or bonded magnets. Thermoplastic polymer - polystyrene as the matrix material and alloy Nd-Fe-B powder with hard magnetic properties as the functional phase uniformly distributed in the matrix were used. Powder had a flaky or spherical shape. Composite material consisted of 48% powder by volume. As a method of sample forming, injection on injection molding machine, traditionally using for plastics, was applied. The sample was manufactured in the form of rectangular bars with dimensions of 10×4×40 mm and a cylinder with dimensions of φ 10×4 mm. The primary purpose of the study was investigating of the course of sample formation during form cavity filling by composite material. For the analysis stepwise method was used. Series of samples were injected with increasing doses of the composite material in the following steps. In this way the obtained samples showing the successive stages of the forming. Trials were conducted at fixed injection parameters: Tw = 200°C and pw = 110 MPa. It was shown that the way of sample shaping during injection molding from composites containing large quantities of metal powder is different in relation to the formation of polymer samples that not contain functional phase. This difference is due to a much higher viscosity of composite than the polymer. During injection of the polymer a front of the material is formed and is moving in the direction of injection. During the injection of the composite, material flow into the form chamber in the form of rod with cross-section similar to the cross-section of the channel gate. Obtained samples were tested in metallographic way. Microstructures of the samples obtained in successive phases of injection molding and finished samples were prepared. Structure of the samples were determined using the computer image analysis based on a specialized computer program MetIlo 9.0b. The results of the analysis were presented in the form of images of metallographic structures and so-called structural maps. Structural maps represent the local concentration of the powders on separated small parts of the surface sections of the samples. It was shown that, during injection molding and in the finished sample particles are arranged as evenly and the flakes take random directions. Thus, it is possible to manufacture by injection parts with isotropic properties.