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Numerical simulation on crystallization-induced warpage of injection-molded PP/EPDM part

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Abstract

Prediction on crystallization-induced warpage in injection-molded semi-crystalline polymers is important in satisfying the required specifications of molded products. In this study, we chose a polypropylene (PP)/ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) blend as the model system, and use Autodesk’s Moldflow Insight to simulate the crystallization behavior and the influence on the warpage of the injection-molded box-shaped PP/EPDM sample. The required crystallization parameters of the PP/EPDM were taken from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and experimentally estimated on a similar PP in the Moldflow material library. The FWO, Jeziorny, and Coats-Redfern methods were applied to describe the crystallization kinetics and estimate the required crystallization parameters. The simulation on warpage was then conducted with and without the crystallization. When the crystallization is considered, the warpage of the box-shaped PP/EPDM increased more significantly than that for the PP, which can be attributed to the more uneven crystallization resulting from slower crystallization kinetics of the PP/EPDM. With a 10 °C increase in the coolant temperature, which reduced temperature gradient in the sample, a spatially more homogeneous crystallization can be achieved. Consequently, the side edge warpage of the injection-molded box-shaped PP/EPDM decreased considerably.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51603122).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Material Science and Technology, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China

    Xiaoyan Li, Qian Wei, Jun Li, Jian Yang, Jiaxin Guan, Biwei Qiu & Xia Wang

  2. Department Processing and Properties, DSM Materials Science Center, Urmonderbaan 22, 6167, Geleen, RD, Netherlands

    Jianjun Xu

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  1. Xiaoyan Li
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  2. Qian Wei
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  3. Jun Li
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  4. Jian Yang
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  5. Jiaxin Guan
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  7. Jianjun Xu
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  8. Xia Wang
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Contributions

Xiaoyan Li and Jianjun Xu designed the experiments, whereas Qian Wei conducted the experiments and computation. Meanwhile, Jun Li, Jian Yang, Jiaxin Guan and Biwei Qiu assisted in the experimentation. Jianjun Xu and Xia Wang revised the manuscript. All the authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xiaoyan Li or Jianjun Xu.

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Li, X., Wei, Q., Li, J. et al. Numerical simulation on crystallization-induced warpage of injection-molded PP/EPDM part. J Polym Res 26, 228 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-019-1869-3

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