Weldline strength in injection molded glass fiber‐reinforced polypropylene

Abstract

Abstract Weldlines are inescapable byproducts of the injection molding process. They represent potentially fatal flaws particularly in multiphase materials. In this work weldlines in injection molded glass fiber‐reinforced polypropylene (0 to 40wt%) were studied as a function of the cavity shapes and depths. It was found that the weldline is a zone between 2 and 8 mm wide extending throughout the thickness in which the fibers are oriented almost perfectly in a plane parallel to the weldline. While the strength of moldings without weldlines depends on the mold shape and on the fiber concentration, the weldline strength is a function of fiber content only. A simple model based on the assumption of complete debonding of the fiber‐matrix interface when failure occurs can be used to predict the strength loss in the weldline.