Morphology and mechanical properties of injection‐molded specimens of two‐phase polymer blends

Abstract

Abstract An experimental study was carried out to investigate the moldability of polymer blends which form two phases in the molten state and the effect of mixing on the morphology and mechanical porperties of molded specimens. Blends of polystyrene with polypropylene and blends of polystyrene with high‐density polyethylene were used for this study. A plunger‐type injection molding machine (Van Dorn) was employed for molding specimens. To improve the mixing performance of the plunger machine, a Static Mixer (Kenics Corp., Super Nozzle) was installed between the heating cylinder and the sprue. A number of different molding conditions (injection pressure, temperature, injection time, cooling time) were varied, and molded specimens were collected under each molding condition. The specimens were used for studying the degree of dispersion in the blends and for determining the mechanical properties. A differential thermal analysis (DTA) experiment was also carried out to determine the degree of dispersion of the blends in molded specimens. It was found that a linear correlation exists between the blend composition and thermal spectra area of the blends tested.