Polymer Processing—An Introduction

This article discusses technologies focused on processing plastic materials or producing direct tools used in plastics processing. The article focuses on extrusion and injection molding, covering applications, materials and their properties, equipment, processing details, part design guidelines, and special processes. It also covers the functions of the extruder, webline handling, mixing and compounding operations, and process troubleshooting. Thermoforming and mold design are covered. Various other technologies for polymer processing covered in this article are blow molding, rotational molding, compression molding, transfer molding, hand lay-up process, casting, and additive manufacturing.

Impact of ohmic heating on energy transport in double diffusive Oldroyd-B nanofluid flow induced by stretchable cylindrical surface

The most important and significant research topic in mechanical and industrial engineering is the fluid flow with heat transport by a stretched surface because of the numerous applications. The impact of heat transport on product quality can be noticed in the field of chemical engineering, polymer processing, glass fiber production, hot rolling, metal extrusion, production of paper, and drawing of plastic films and wires. In light of such foregoing applications, an attempt is made to model the thermal and solutal diffusion phenomena in Oldroyd-B nanofluid flow over a stretching cylinder by using Buongiorno's model and Cattaneo-Cristov theory. To explore the heat flow mechanism in the flow, the effects of heat source/sink with ohmic heating are also considered. Additionally, the influence of chemical reactions is used to investigate the solutal transport process in nanofluid flow. The mathematical formulation section of the manuscript depicts the mathematical modeling of momentum, heat, and mass diffusion equations. The effect of dimensionless physical constraints on the flow, temperature, and concentration distributions of Oldroyd-B nanofluid flow are investigated using the homotopy analysis method (HAM) in Wolfram Mathematica. In the results and discussion section, graphical findings are displayed and physically justified. A section of concluding remarks is added at the end of the text to emphasize the study's major findings.

Mechanochemical Applications of Reactive Extrusion from Organic Synthesis to Catalytic and Active Materials

In the past, the use of mechanochemical methods in organic synthesis was reported as somewhat of a curiosity. However, perceptions have changed over the last two decades, and this technology is now being appreciated as a greener and more efficient synthetic method. The qualified “offer” of ball mills that make use of different set-ups, materials, and dimensions has allowed this technology to mature. Nevertheless, the intrinsic batch nature of mechanochemical methods hinders industrial scale-ups. New studies have found, in reactive extrusion, a powerful technique with which to activate chemical reactions with mechanical forces in a continuous flow. This new environmentally friendly mechanochemical synthetic method may be able to miniaturize production plants with outstanding process intensifications by removing organic solvents and working in a flow mode. Compared to conventional processes, reactive extrusions display high simplicity, safety, and cleanliness, which can be exploited in a variety of applications. This paper presents perspective examples in the better-known areas of reactive extrusions, including oxidation reactions, polymer processing, and biomass conversion. This work should stimulate further developments, as it highlights the versatility of reactive extrusion and the huge potential of solid-phase flow chemistry.

Optimization of Polymer Processing: A Review (Part I—Extrusion)

Given the global economic and societal importance of the polymer industry, the continuous search for improvements in the various processing techniques is of practical primordial importance. This review evaluates the application of optimization methodologies to the main polymer processing operations. The most important characteristics related to the usage of optimization techniques, such as the nature of the objective function, the type of optimization algorithm, the modelling approach used to evaluate the solutions, and the parameters to optimize, are discussed. The aim is to identify the most important features of an optimization system for polymer processing problems and define the best procedure for each particular practical situation. For this purpose, the state of the art of the optimization methodologies usually employed is first presented, followed by an extensive review of the literature dealing with the major processing techniques, the discussion being completed by considering both the characteristics identified and the available optimization methodologies. This first part of the review focuses on extrusion, namely single and twin-screw extruders, extrusion dies, and calibrators. It is concluded that there is a set of methodologies that can be confidently applied in polymer processing with a very good performance and without the need of demanding computation requirements.

3D Printing under High Ambient Pressures and Improvement of Mechanical Properties of Printed Parts

Contrary to other polymer processing methods, additive manufacturing processes do not require any pressure during the consolidation of layers. This study investigates the effect of high ambient pressure on the consolidation of layers during the FDM process and their analysis of mechanical properties. An experimental setup was arranged, consisting of a 3D printer integrated into a customized Autoclave, to achieve high strength properties for 3D printed parts as like injection-molded specimens. The autoclave can maintain 135 bar of pressure and a maximum temperature of 185 °C. 3D printing with PLA was carried out at 0 bar, 5 bar, and 10 bar. Tensile, flexural, and Charpy tests were conducted on printed specimens, and the effect of pressure and temperature on 3D-printed samples were analyzed. It could be shown that autoclave preheating before printing and autoclave pressure during printing improves the consolidation of layers immensely. The pressure inside the autoclave provokes a more intimate contact between the layer surfaces and results in higher mechanical properties such as yield strength, Young’s modulus, and impact strength. The properties could be raised 100%.

Development of a Reliable Vibration Based Health Indicator for Monitoring the Lubricating Condition of the Toggle Clamping System of a Plastic Injection Molding Machine

Plastic injection molding has become one of the most widely used polymer processing methods due to its ability to viably produce large volumes of complex parts in a short time frame. Most of the plastic injection molding machines currently used in industry possess a toggle clamping mechanism that undergoes a repeated clamping and unclamping cycle during operation. This toggle must therefore be properly lubricated to avoid catastrophic failure and eventual machine downtime. To overcome this limitation, the industry currently relies on the experience of a skilled operator, paired with a fixed empirical value, to determine the timing for re-lubrication. This method often leads to the machine operator either wasting lubricant by over-lubricating the toggle, or damaging the toggle by failing to re-lubricate when needed. Herein, we explore the use of vibration analysis to perform real-time condition monitoring of the lubrication condition of the toggle clamping system. In this study, our novel structural response analysis out performed both traditional time domain and frequency domain analyses in isolating the vibrational signatures indicative of lubricant degradation. Additionally, this study confirms that the vibration generated during the unclamping period of the toggle, proved to contain more valuable information relevant to the instantaneous lubricant quality than provided by its corresponding clamping period.

Towards Real-Time In-Situ Mid-Infrared Spectroscopic Ellipsometry in Polymer Processing

Recent developments in mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopic ellipsometry enabled by quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have resulted in a drastic improvement in signal-to-noise ratio compared to conventional thermal emitter based instrumentation. Thus, it was possible to reduce the acquisition time for high-resolution broadband ellipsometric spectra from multiple hours to less than 1 s. This opens up new possibilities for real-time in-situ ellipsometry in polymer processing. To highlight these evolving capabilities, we demonstrate the benefits of a QCL based MIR ellipsometer by investigating single and multilayered polymer films. The molecular structure and reorientation of a 2.5 µm thin biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate film is monitored during a stretching process lasting 24.5 s to illustrate the perspective of ellipsometric measurements in dynamic processes. In addition, a polyethylene/ethylene vinyl alcohol/polyethylene multilayer film is investigated at a continuously varying angle of incidence (0∘– 50∘) in 17.2 s, highlighting an unprecedented sample throughput for the technique of varying angle spectroscopic ellipsometry in the MIR spectral range. The obtained results underline the superior spectral and temporal resolution of QCL ellipsometry and qualify this technique as a suitable method for advanced in-situ monitoring in polymer processing.

Preparation of Ultrathin and Degradable Polymeric Films by Electropolymerization of 3-Amino-L-Tyrosine

The resource intensive and environmentally unfriendly synthesis, recycling and disposal of today’s plastics has sparked interest in greener polymer processing. Bioderived polymers are one of many current areas of research that show promise for a sustainable future. One bioderived polymer that has been in the spotlight for the past decade due to its unique properties is polydopamine (PDA). Its ability to adhere to virtually any surface showing high stability in a wide pH range from 2-10 and in several organic solvents makes it a suitable candidate for several applications ranging from medical devices, coatings to biosensing applications. However, its strong and broad light absorption limits many applications that rely on transparent material, moreover fluorescence applications are limited by the high quenching efficiency of PDA. Therefore, new bioderived polymers that share similar features as PDA without fluorescent quenching are highly desirable. In this study, the electropolymerization of a bioderived analogue of dopamine, 3-amino-L-tyrosine (ALT) is demonstrated. The properties of the resultant polymer, poly-amino-L-tyrosine (p-ALT), exhibit several characteristics complementary to or even exceeding those of PDA and of its analog, poly-norepinephrine (p-NorEp), rendering p-ALT attractive for the development of sensors and photoactive devices. Cyclic voltammetry, spectroelectrochemistry and electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance have been applied to study the electrodeposition of this material and the resulting polymeric films have been compared to PDA and p-NorEp. Impedance spectroscopy revealed increased ions permeability of p-ALT with respect PDA and p-NorEp. Moreover reduced fluorescence quenching of p-ALT film was achieved supporting its application as coating for biosensors, organic semiconductors and new nanocomposite materials.