Title: INVESTIGATION OF INTERNAL CAVITY PRESSURE FOR INJECTION-MOLDED POLYCARBONATES.

The internal cavity pressure of an injection mold was evaluated as a controlling variable for the thickness of typical polycarbonate moldings. Mold temperature, melt temperature, and mold-fill mode were evaluated for their effects on molding thickness and thickness runout, designated as the total indicator reading. (TIR). (auth)

The growth of grain boundary cavities under applied stress and internal gas pressure was investigated. Methane gas filled cavities were produced by the C + 4H reversible CH4 reaction in the grain boundaries of type 270 nickel by hydrogen charging in an autoclave at 500/sup 0/C with a hydrogen pressure of either 3.4 or 14.5 MPa. Intergranular fracture of nickel was achieved at a charging temperature of 300/sup 0/C and 10.3 MPa hydrogen pressure. Cavities on the grain boundaries were observed in the scanning electron microscope after fracture. Photomicrographs of the cavities were produced in stereo pairs which were analyzedmore » so as to correct for perspective distortion and also to determine the orientational dependence of cavity growth under an applied tensile stress.« less

Solid solutions of lead-based perovskites are the backbone materials of the piezoelectric components for transducer, actuator, and resonator applications. These components, typically small in size, are fabricated from large sintered ceramic slugs using grinding and lapping processes. These operations increase manufacturing costs and produce a large hazardous waste stream, especially when component size decreases. To reduce costs and hazardous wastes associated with the production of these components, an injection molding technique is being investigated to replace the machining processes. The first step in the new technique is to compound an organic carrier with a ceramic powder. The organic carrier ismore » a thermoplastic based system composed of a main carrier, a binder, and a surfactant. Understanding the rheology of the compounded material is necessary to minimize the creation of defects such as voids or cavities during the injection-molding process. An experiment was performed to model the effects of changes in the composition and processing of the material on the rheological behavior. Factors studied included: the surfactant of the organic carrier system, the solid loading of the compounded material, and compounding time. The effects of these factors on the viscosity of the material were investigated.« less

This report describes the status of the current process modeling approaches to predict the behavior and flow of fiber-filled thermoplastics under injection molding conditions. Previously, models have been developed to simulate the injection molding of short-fiber thermoplastics, and an as-formed composite part or component can then be predicted that contains a microstructure resulting from the constituents’ material properties and characteristics as well as the processing parameters. Our objective is to assess these models in order to determine their capabilities and limitations, and the developments needed for long-fiber injection-molded thermoplastics (LFTs). First, the concentration regimes are summarized to facilitate the understandingmore » of different types of fiber-fiber interaction that can occur for a given fiber volume fraction. After the formulation of the fiber suspension flow problem and the simplification leading to the Hele-Shaw approach, the interaction mechanisms are discussed. Next, the establishment of the rheological constitutive equation is presented that reflects the coupled flow/orientation nature. The decoupled flow/orientation approach is also discussed which constitutes a good simplification for many applications involving flows in thin cavities. Finally, before outlining the necessary developments for LFTs, some applications of the current orientation model and the so-called modified Folgar-Tucker model are illustrated through the fiber orientation predictions for selected LFT samples.« less