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The residual fiber length in a molded part is one of the most important microstructural properties of discontinuous fiber‐reinforced composites. While there have been several research studies characterizing the process‐induced fiber length reduction, the measurement procedures vary substantially, calling into question the comparability of reported results. This article introduces a newly developed measurement procedure that aims to provide accurate, repeatable, robust, and time efficient fiber length analyses. A comprehensive study of measurement techniques was performed comparing commercially available systems and the conventional approach of measuring the fiber length manually. The results emphasize the need for a standardized procedure to characterize the fiber length distribution and the risk of generating inadequate results through improper sample preparation. The developed measurement technique was tested and compared for an experimental study of fiber breakage in injection molding. For a simple plaque geometry, the residual fiber length along the flow path was obtained for a long glass fiber‐reinforced polypropylene at 30 and 40%wt for varying process conditions. The new measurement technique showed accurate and repeatable results. The results of the injection molding study showed that screw speed and back pressure are important factors that drive fiber breakage. An increase in back pressure from 13 to 50 bar and screw speed from 27 to 35 rpm reduces the weight‐average fiber length by 37.5%.
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Experimental Study on Fiber Attrition of Long Glass Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastics under Controlled Conditions in a Couette Flow
Fiber attrition of long glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene in a Couette Flow was studied to obtain a fundamental understanding of the physics in fiber breakage. The developed experimental setup of the Couette rheometer in combination with the developed fiber length measurement technique is able to provide repeatable, accurate and robust data sets to quantify the fiber length reduction during the processing of fiber-filled materials. This article summarizes the first results of an ongoing experimental study on fiber breakage at the Polymer Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. The impact of fiber concentration, initial fiber length, residence time, melt temperature and processing speed was quantified and studied. The proposed procedure aims to isolate the effect of process variables on fiber breakage. Even for the gentlest processing conditions, the results indicate that the residual fiber length after processing is less than 50% of the initial fiber length. For the most severe processing conditions, the results suggest a reduction to less than 10% of the initial fiber length, which highlights the challenges that fiber breakage poses for processing of long glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastics.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1633967
- PAR ID:
- 10063467
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Annual technical conference and exhibition - Society of Plastics Engineers
- ISSN:
- 0733-4192
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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