• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.191-214
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• 2008

Polypropylene/layered silicate nanocomposites containing maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene were prepared by melt compounding and their rheological behavior was investigated in shear flow. Transient and steady shear flows were simulated numerically by using the K-BKZ integral constitutive equation along with experimentally determined damping functions under dynamic oscillatory and step strain shear flows. Nonlinear shear responses were predicted with the K-BKZ constitutive equation using two different damping functions such as the Wagner and PSM models. It was observed that PP-g-MAH compatibilized PP/layered silicate nanocomposites have stronger and earlier shear thinning and higher steady shear viscosity than pure PP resin or uncompatibilized nanocomposites at low shear rate regions. Strong damping behavior of the PP/layered silicate nanocomposite was predicted under large step shear strain and considered as a result of the strain-induced orientation of the organoclay in the shear flow. Steady shear viscosity of the pure PP and uncompatibilized nanocomposite predicted by the K-BKZ model was in good agreement with the experimental results at all shear rate regions. However, the model was inadequate to predict the steady shear viscosity of PP-g-MAH compatibilized nanocomposites quantitatively because the K-BKZ model overestimates strain-softening damping behavior for PP/layered silicate nanocomposites.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.171-177
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• 2013

Vacuum-assisted thermoforming is one of the critical steps for successful application of film insert molding (FIM) to make parts of complex shape. If the thickness distribution of the formed film is non-uniform, then cracking, deformation, warpage, and wrinkling can easily occur at the injection molding stage. In this study, the simulation of thermoforming was performed to predict the film thickness distribution, and the results were compared with experiments. Uniaxial tensile tests with a constant crosshead speed for various high temperatures were conducted to investigate the stress-strain behavior. An instance of yielding occurred at the film temperature of $90^{\circ}C$, and the film stiffness increased with increasing crosshead speed. Two types of viscoelastic models, G'Sell model, K-BKZ model, were used to describe the measured stress-strain relationship. The predicted film thickness distributions were in good agreement with the experimental results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.957-958
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• 2013

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2022

Thermoforming is a plastic manufacturing process that applies a force to stretch a film of heated thermoplastic material over an engineered mold to create a 3-dimensional shape. After forming, the shaped part can then be trimmed and finished to specification to meet an end-user's requirements. The process and thermoplastic materials are extremely versatile and can be utilized to manufacture parts for a very wide range of applications. In this study, based on K-BKZ nonlinear viscoelastic model, thermoforming process analysis was performed for an interior room-lamp. The predicted thickness was minimum at the corner of a molded film, and maximum at the center of the bottom. By using the Taguchi method of design of experiments, the effects of process conditions on residual stresses were investigated. The dominant factors were the liner thickness and the film heating time. As the thickness of the liner increased, the residual stress decreased. And it was found that the residual stress decreased significantly when the film heating temperature was higher than the glass transition temperature. A thermoforming mold and a trimming mold were manufactured, and the spring back was investigated through experiments. The dominant factors were film heating time, liner thickness, and lower mold temperature. As the film heating time and liner thickness increased, the spring back decreased. In addition, it was found that the spring back decreased as the lower mold temperature increased.