A study on skin/core optimization in co-injection molding of biopolyester blends

Date

2014-01-15

Authors

Zaverl, Matthew

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Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

University of Guelph

Abstract

This research investigates the effectiveness of blending and co-injection molding as solutions for providing performance rounded polymers with increased biocontent. The polymer industry relies heavily on petroleum for the production of its products which in coming years is expected to rise in price and demand for. In an effort to sustain the increasing demands for polymers in the future, effective and viable polymers produced from renewable feed-stocks must be used as a replacement. Currently the opportunity to use bio-based polymers is limited as they often fail to match the properties of their petroleum based counterparts. Introducing bio-based content into industrial productions can be achieved by blending poly(trimethylene terephthalate) containing 37% bio-content with 100% petroleum based poly(butylenes terephthalate). The first part of this study focused on optimizing the processing parameters for injection molding of the PBT/PTT blend through the statistical Taguchi analysis on the mechanical properties. The second part of this study focused on improving the brittleness of the PBT/PTT blend. Co-injection molding technique was used to encase the PBT/PTT blend in a tough outer coating of biodegradable poly(butylenes succinate) and poly(butylenes adiapate terepthalate). Examination of skin and core blends under both mechanical and imaging analysis show adequate compatibility for future development. These techniques led to the successful increment of bio-content into conventional applications without affecting the cost or performance of pure petroleum based polymers.

Description

Keywords

Co-Injection, biopolymers, polyesters, polymer processing

Citation