Overview

Polymer processing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn16JtE_vLc

J. Vlachopoulos and D. Strutt

After a brief introduction to the various types of polymers in use and the size and impact of the polymer processing
industry, this overview focuses on the most important processes for thermoplastic materials, namely extrusion and
injection moulding. Single and twin screw extruders are used for melting and pumping of polymers and for die
extrusion for the production of Ž lm, sheet, pipe, tubing, proŽ les and Ž bres. Injection moulding is the process used for
the production of numerous parts, small and large, by injecting a molten polymer into mould cavities. Various
problems associated with these processes are discussed. Other processes described include: calendering, compression
moulding, rotational moulding, powder injection moulding and thixomoulding. The overview concludes with a brief
discussion of current trends and future challenges faced by the polymer industry. MST/5866

Dr Vlachopoulos ([email protected]) is at the Centre for Advanced Polymer Processing and Design (CAPPA-D),
Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton ON L8S 4L7, Canada and Dr Strutt is with
Polydynamics, Inc., 1685 Main St. W., Suite 305, Hamilton, ON L8S 1G5, Canada. Manuscript received 8 November 2002;
accepted 10 January 2003.
# 2003 IoM Communications Ltd. Published by Maney for the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

The present overview is exclusively devoted to the pro-

Introduction cessing of thermoplastics. Commercial thermoplastics are
classiŽ ed according to their performance as ‘commodity’
Mankind has used natural polymeric materials such as wood, (low performance, such as PE, PP, PS and PVC), ‘Engineer-
leather and wool since the beginning of history, but synthetic ing’ (such as PC, nylon and PET) or ‘advanced’ (highest
polymers became possible only after the development of performance, such as liquid crystal polymers (LCPs),
rubber technology in the 1800s. The Ž rst synthetic polymer polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) and polyetheretherketone
material, celluloid, was invented by John Wesley Hyatt in (PEEK)). The anticipated explosive growth in engineering
1869, from cellulose nitrate and camphor. A major break- and advanced polymers did not materialise. The use of
through in synthetic polymers was the invention of Bakelite plastics has been continuously growing throughout the
by Leo Hendrik Baekeland in 1907. Hermann Staudinger’s past three decades, but mainly in the commodity category.
work in the 1920s clearly demonstrated the macromolecular Currently, commodity polymers amount to ~88% of the
nature of long chains of repeating units.1 The word volume produced,3 engineering plastics ~12% and advanced
‘polymer’ comes from Greek, and it means ‘many parts’. less than 1%. Although the prices of advanced polymers per
The rapid growth of the polymer industry started shortly kilogram are much higher than those for commodity poly-
before the Second World War, with the development of mers, their global value to the economy is still very small.
acrylic polymers, polystyrene, nylon, polyurethanes and the Commodity plastics have low strengths and stiffnesses
subsequent introduction of polyethylene, polyethylene tere- when compared with metals or ceramics, and they tend to
phthalate, polypropylene and other polymers in the 1940s exhibit creep under an applied force. They also have tem-
and 1950s. While only about 1 million tons were produced perature limitations in their use as solids (most melt in the
in 1945, the production of plastics in volume surpassed that range 100 – 250°C). The tensile moduli of commodity plas-
of steel in 1981, and the gap has been continuously growing tics are ~1 GPa (compared with 210 GPa for steel). Signi-
ever since. Ž cant improvement can be achieved by alignment of the
Pure polymers are seldom processed on their own. They are polymer chains. Actually, the carbon – carbon bonds are
compounded with other materials, typically by mechanical very strong, and single Ž lament polyethylenes have been
blending or melt state mixing to produce pellets, powders produced with modulus values exceeding that of steel. High
or  akes to be used in subsequent processing operations.2 orientation can be achieved by special processing techni-
Such compoundedproducts are referred to as ‘plastics’, which ques, for example extrusion and subsequent drawing at low
means ‘pliables’ in Greek. The compounds may involve Ž llers temperatures. At low temperatures the polymer chains have
(to reduce cost), reinforcements, other polymers, colourants, limited mobility, and the orientation remains after stretch-
 ame retardants, stabilisers (to prevent deterioration from ing. Recent discoveries and developments of single site,
light, heat or other environmental factors) and various pro- metallocene based catalysts have resulted in new grades of
cessing aids. commodity polymers having controlled molecular archi-
Synthetic polymers can be classiŽ ed in two categories. tecture with improved properties.
Thermoplastics (by far the largest volume) can be melted The world production of polymers increased3 from
by heating, solidiŽ ed by cooling and remelted repeatedly. 27 million tons in 1975 to ~200 million tons per year in
Major types are polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), poly- 2000 and is still growing. According to a recent report,4
styrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polycarbonate (PC), shipments of plastics products in the USA in 2000 amounted
polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polyethylene tereph- to $330 billion, and upstream supplying industries had sales
thalate (PET) and polyamide (PA, nylon). Thermosets are of $90 billion, bringing the annual total to $420 billion.
hardened by the application of heat and pressure, owing Total employment was estimated to be 2.4 million – about
to crosslinking, i.e. the creation of permanent three- 2% of the US workforce. The growth of the polymer indus-
dimensional networks. They cannot be softened by heating try is a result of the unique combination of properties of
for reprocessing. Bakelite, epoxies and most polyurethanes plastic products, which include easy shaping and fabrica-
are thermosets. tion, low densities, resistance to corrosion, electrical and

DOI 10.1179/026708303225004738 Materials Science and Technology September 2003 Vol. 19 1161
1162 Vlachopoulos and Strutt Polymer processing

melt  ow index (MFI, also called melt  ow rate or MFR).

This is an inverse measure of viscosity based on a rather
crude test involving the extrusion of a polymer through a
die of standard dimensions under the action of a prescribed
weight.8 The MFI is the number of grams of polymer col-
lected from the test apparatus in 10 min. Low MFI values
mean high viscosity and high molecular weight, and high
MFI values indicate the opposite. The following is the usual
MFI range for some processes: extrusion 0.01 – 10, injec-
tion moulding 1 – 100, blow moulding 0.01 – 1, rotational
moulding 1.5 – 20.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/single-screw-extruder
https://www.clextral.com/files/2018/04/3.-CLEXTRAL-Extrusion-Process.pdf
https://www.hanserpublications.com/SampleChapters/9781569904480_SAMPLE%20CHAPTE
R%20Campbell-Spalding.pdf

Screw extrusion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzdUoAi9SXk

Most polymeric materials are extruded at least twice in their

lifetime, Ž rst through a pelletising die after the reactor and
then for Ž nal shaping.8 In simplest terms, screw extruders
are polymer pumps with the capacity to melt the material
which they are fed. Screw extruders comprise one or two
Archimedean screws rotating in a heated barrel.
The single screw extruder (SSE) is the workhorse of the
plastics industry. Figure 1a shows a schematic diagram of
an SSE,9 and Fig. 1b shows the geometry dimensions of
a screw channel.8 Polymer resins in the form of pellets,
powders or  akes  ow from a hopper to the gap between a
rotating screw and a heated barrel. The depth of the con-
veying channel in the screw is contoured from large to small
in the  ow direction, to account for the density change from
the particulate solid feed to the molten polymer extrudate,
a schematic diagram 9; b screw channel geometry8 and for pressure development. The SSEs normally have
1 Single screw plasticating extruder diameters between 25 and 250 mm, and length/diameter
ratios between 20 and 36. Usual rotation speeds range from
20 to 150 rev min2 1 . A 60 mm diameter machine may
thermal insulation, and often favourable rigidity and tough- deliver up to 200 kg h2 1 , while a 150 mm diameter machine
ness per unit weight.2 can exceed 1000 kg h2 1 .
Thermoplastics are usually processed in the molten state. In the Ž rst, or solids conveying, zone of the extruder, the
Molten polymers have very high viscosity values and exhibit solid polymer particles are compacted together in the screw
shear thinning behaviour. As the rate of shearing increases, channel by the rotating action of the screw to form a solid
the viscosity decreases, owing to alignments and disentang- bed of material. At the start of the next extruder section, the
lements of the long molecular chains. The viscosity also plastication (melting) zone, barrel heaters cause a thin Ž lm
decreases with increasing temperature. In addition to the of molten polymer to form in the gap between the solid bed
viscous behaviour, molten polymers exhibit elasticity. Elasti- and the barrel wall. The melt Ž lm is subjected to intense
city is responsible for a number of unusual rheological phen- shearing in the thin gap, and because of the extremely high
omena.1 ,5 – 7 These include stress relaxation and normal stress viscosities of molten polymers, high rates of viscous dissi-
differences. Slow stress relaxation is responsible for frozen pation result. The generated heat melts the solid bed within
in stresses in injection moulded and extruded products. The a short distance of the start of melting. Figure 2 illustrates
normal stress differences are responsible for some  ow this process.1 0 In the last zone of the extruder, the metering
instabilities during processing and also extrudate swelling, section, the polymer melt  ow is stabilised in the shallow
i.e. the signiŽ cant increase in cross-sectional area when a screw channels, and Ž nally the material passes out through
molten material is extruded out of a die. the die at the end of the machine.
The most important polymer processing operations are Pressure buildup owing to frictional forces in the solids con-
extrusion and injection moulding. Extrusion is material veying section of the screw has been modelled by Darnell
intensive and injection moulding is labour intensive. Both and Mol1 1 ,1 2 (along with some more recent research1 3 ) on
these processes involve the following sequence of steps: (a) the basis of force and torque balances, which result in an
heating and melting the polymer, (b) pumping the polymer exponential expression. For forward motion of the solid
to the shaping unit, (c) forming the melt into the required bed, the friction coefŽ cient must be larger on the barrel than
shape and dimensions and (d) cooling and solidiŽ cation. on the screw. Screws have polished surfaces. The barrel
Other processing methods include calendering, blow mould- surfaces are sometimes intentionally roughened (as in
ing, thermoforming, compression moulding and rotational grooved barrels).
moulding. There are more than 30 000 grades of polymers Industrial experience shows that for good function of
processed by these methods. The suitability of a material for single screw extruders, the throughput should not be more
. . .
a particular process is usually decided on the basis of the than 1.5mD or less than 0.75mD , where mD is the drag  ow

2 Melting in screw channel10

Materials Science and Technology September 2003 Vol. 19

 Vlachopoulos and Strutt Polymer processing 1163

capacity of the metering section, given by8

m
_ D ~rm QD
1
~ rm p2 D2 Hm N sin w cos w : : : : : : : (1)
2

where QD is the volumetric  ow rate, rm is the melt density,

D is the screw outer diameter, Hm is the channel depth in the
metering section, N is the screw rotation rate and w is the
screw channel helix angle (frequently w~17.66°).
The power provided by the rotating action of the screw
goes to heating the polymer from room temperature to the
extrusion temperature, melting the polymer and pumping it
through the die.8 The barrel heaters usually provide less
than 25% of the power required to raise the temperature and
melt the polymer

Po~rm QCp (Tout {Tin )zrm QHf zDPQ : : : : (2)

where Po is the power, Cp is heat capacity, T is the tem-

perature, Q is the volume rate of  ow, DP is the pressure
change and Hf is the heat of fusion (zero for amorphous
polymers such as PS and PMMA and up to 300 kJ kg2 1 for
some high density PE grades). Extruders have poor pump-
ing efŽ ciency, with the pumping term DPQ accounting
usually for 10% of the total motor power supplied by the
rotating screw. With the help of equation (2), it is easy to
calculate that for extrusion of 400 kg h2 1 , a motor of
~120 kW would be required. In contrast with metals,
energy costs for polymer processing are relatively low. The
rule of thumb is that the plastics manufacturing cost is
roughly equal to the raw materials cost. Power requirements
contribute ~5% to the manufacturing cost of extrusion.
To improve the mixing capabilities of single screw extru-
ders, various types of mixing devices have been developed.
Most prominent among these is the Maddock (or Union
Carbide) mixer, in both straight and spiral variations. These
devices are normally located at the downstream end of a
screw, and improve melt quality by reducing temperature
non-homogeneities in the polymer stream and increasing
the dispersion and distribution of additives. Used increas-
ingly in the extrusion industry are barrier screws and
grooved barrels. Barrier screws have a secondary screw
 ight in the melting section of the screw, which serves to a corotating fully intermeshing; b counter rotating intermesh-
segregate the solid bed from the molten polymer. By ing; c counter rotating non-intermeshing
independently controlling the dimensions of the solids and 3 Twin screw conŽ gurations14
melt channels, the melting process can be accelerated and
made more stable, thereby increasing the extruder output
number of possible screw conŽ gurations. Kneading blocks
and melt quality. Grooved barrel extruders feature axial
comprise several discs staggered at an angle to one another,
grooves or slots in the part of the barrel immediately follow-
the motion of which causes intense shearing and has a
ing the feed throat. The grooved barrel can signiŽ cantly
chopping effect on the material stream. Most of the dis-
enhance feeding of resin pellets and  akes, and thereby
persive mixing (melt homogenisation and solids breakup)
sharply increase the output of the extruder above the drag
and melting that occurs within the extruder takes place in
 ow output of equation (1).
kneading blocks.
Twin screw extruders (TSEs) are extruders with two screws
Corotating intermeshing twin screw extruders are the
of the same diameter, which turn side by side within the
most common type of TSE. These machines have the fea-
extruder barrel at the same speed. In recent years, twin screw
ture that their screws are self-cleaning, owing to their special
extruders have come into increasingly wider use in applica-
design. This leads to narrower RTDs in these extruders than
tions such as mixing, blending, compounding of thermo-
in SSEs, making them particularly attractive for use with
plastic polymers with additives, devolatilisation and reactive
thermal and shear sensitive materials, as there are no dead
extrusion. The TSEs offer greater control over residence time
spots in which material can collect and degrade. Large twin
distribution (RTD) and mixing than that of single screw
screw extruders can rotate at more than 1200 rev min2 1
extruders, and have superior heat and mass transfer capa-
RPM with outputs of more than 10 tons/h.
bilities. The disadvantage of TSEs compared with SSEs is
their signiŽ cantly higher capital cost.
There are three major classes of twin screw extruders:
corotating intermeshing, counter rotating intermeshing and
counter rotating non-intermeshing. Figure 3 shows the Die extrusion
three TSE classes.1 4 The screws are made up of conveying,
kneading block and mixing sections. The screw design is Once a polymer has been melted, mixed and pressurised in
frequently modular, which allows for a nearly unlimited an extruder, it is pumped through an extrusion die for

Materials Science and Technology September 2003 Vol. 19

1164 Vlachopoulos and Strutt Polymer processing

5 Cast Ž lm process: CR chill roll8

simplest being the power law model for the shear viscosity5
)
g~m_cn{1
: : : : : : : : : : : : : (4)
txy ~g_c
.
where g is the viscosity, tx y is the shear stress, c is the shear
rate and m and n are model parameters (m decreases
exponentially with increasing temperature). The model pre-
dicts shear thinning of the  uid, with exponent n values
ranging from 0.2 to 0.8 for most polymers. To represent the
dual viscous and elastic behaviour of polymer melts, the
Maxwell viscoelastic model has been used1 7
l_tzt~m_c : : : : : : : : : : : : : (5)
4 Blown Ž lm process18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6V0w-ajtN8 where l is a relaxation time constant and m is the viscosity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSTp0JBobLY
To use this equation for  ow problems, it must be expressed
continuous forming (after cooling and solidiŽ cation) into a in a tensorially invariant frame of reference. Although
Ž nal product. The most common die types are  at, annular numerous viscoelastic constitutive equations have been
and proŽ le. Products made by extrusion include pipe, tub- developed,1 7 they have had little impact on polymer process
ing, coating of wire, plastic bottles, plastic Ž lms and sheets, technology. Equipment design and process analysis of indu-
plastic bags, coating for paper and foil, Ž bres, Ž laments, strial installations is virtually always based on the solution
yarns, tapes and a wide array of proŽ les (e.g. window of purely viscous shear thinning models.
frames and sealing systems).8 Blown Ž lm extrusion is the most important process for
Polymer extrusion through dies has certain similarities to the production of thin plastic Ž lms from polyethylenes. The
the hot extrusion of metals.1 5 However, there are also signi- molten polymer is extruded through an annular die (nor-
Ž cant differences. In metal extrusion the material is pushed mally of spiral mandrel construction) to form a thin walled
forward by a ram, while in polymer extrusion the material is tube which is simultaneously axially drawn and radially
continuously supplied by a rotating screw. In hot metal expanded. In most cases the blown Ž lm bubble is formed
extrusion the temperatures range from 340°C for magne- vertically upwards. The maximum bubble diameter is usually
sium to 1325°C for steel, and the corresponding pressures 1.2 – 4 times larger than the die diameter. The hot melt is
range from 35 to over 700 MPa.1 5 In polymer extrusion the cooled by annular streams of high speed air from external
temperatures seldom exceed 350°C, and pressures usually air rings, and occasionally also from internal air distribu-
do not go much above 50 MPa at the screw tip. Solid phase tors. The solidiŽ ed Ž lm passes through a frame which pin-
extrusion of polymers has been developed for the produc- ches the top of the bubble and is taken up by rollers.
tion of certain high strength products.1 6 At low tempera- Coextruded Ž lms with 3 – 8 layers (sometimes up to 11) are
tures, the molecular orientation imparted by the forcing of also produced by this process, for use in food packaging.8
the material through the shaping die remains in the extru- Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram of the blown Ž lm
date. Solid state polymer extrusion has certain similarities to process.1 8
the cold extrusion of metals. Cast Ž lm and sheet extrusion involves extruding a poly-
Polymer melts in extrusion dies undergo creeping  ow mer through a  at die with a wide opening (up to 10 m),
(characterised by very low Reynolds numbers, typically less onto a chilled steel roller or rollers which quench and soli-
than 102 4 ), owing to their extremely large viscosities. While dify the molten material. Film is generally deŽ ned as a pro-
the viscosity of molten metals is the same order of magni- duct thinner than 0.25 mm, while sheet is thicker than this.
tude as that of water, commercial polymers in the molten The cast Ž lm process is used for very tight tolerances of thin
state exhibit viscosities usually more than 106 times larger. Ž lm, or for low viscosity resins. Most  at dies are of T slot
The simpliŽ ed form of the Navier – Stokes momentum con- or coathanger designs, which contain a manifold to spread
servation equation used in modelling these  ows re ects the the  owing polymer across the width of the die, followed
balance of viscous stress and pressure forces as follows5 downstream by alternating narrow and open slits to create
the desired  ow distribution and pressure drop. Most cast
{=Pz= t~0 : : : : : : : : : : : : (3) Ž lm lines manufactured today are coextrusion lines, com-
bining layers from as many as seven extruders into the
where P is the pressure and t is the stress tensor. A large product through multimanifold dies, or single manifold dies
number of constitutive relationships have been formulated with the aid of feedblocks. Figure 5 shows a schematic
to relate the stress and strain rate Ž elds in polymer  ows, the diagram of the cast Ž lm process.8

Materials Science and Technology September 2003 Vol. 19

 Vlachopoulos and Strutt Polymer processing 1165

7 Calendering rolls producing plastic sheet26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7-CnoyWWNI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E5L_SsPxDE
6 Wire coating die21
Calendering

In Ž lm extrusion, the shear rates at the die lips are usually The calendering of thermoplastics is an operation used for
~103 s2 1 . When the wall shear stress exceeds a certain the production of continuous sheet or Ž lm of uniform thick-
value (usually 0.14 MPa in research papers, higher in indus- ness, by squeezing the molten material between a pair of
try with the help of additives), the extrudate surface loses its heated driven rolls.2 6 Figure 7 illustrates the calendering
gloss owing to the sharkskin melt fracture phenomenon.1 9 process. The molten material is fed to the calender rolls
Sharkskin can be described as a sequence of ridges visible to from a Banbury mixer and two roll mill system, or from a
the naked eye, perpendicular to the  ow direction. large extruder. The major plastic material to be calendered
Pipe and tubing extrusion involves pumping a molten is PVC. Products range from wall covering and uphols-
polymer through an annular die, following which the extruded tery fabrics to reservoir linings and agricultural mulching
product, while being pulled, passes through a vacuum sizer materials.
where it attains its Ž nal dimensions. This is followed by Owing to the large separating forces developed in the
spray or immersion cooling and cutting to Ž xed lengths. calender gap, the rolls tend to bend. This may result in unde-
Pipe of diameter up to 2 m or greater is made by this sirable thickness variations in the Ž nished product. Com-
process, and tubing with diameters from 10 mm down to pensations for roll de ections are provided by crowned rolls
below 1 mm. The annular dies are normally of spider or having a larger diameter in the middle than at the ends or by
spiral mandrel design.8 ,2 0 roll bending or roll skewing.2 7
In wire and cable coating processes, individual wires or Calender installations require large initial capital invest-
wire assemblies are pulled at very high speed through a ment. Film and sheet extrusion are competitive processes
crosshead die, at right angles to the extruder axis. In high because the capital investment for an extruder is only a
pressure extrusion, the polymer melt meets the wire or cable fraction of the cost of a calender. However, the high quality
before the die exit, for example insulating of individual and volume capabilities of calendering lines make them far
wires. In low pressure extrusion, the melt meets the cable superior for many products.
after the die exit, for example jacketing of assemblies of Calendering in principle is similar to the hot rolling of
insulated cables.1 4 Very high shear rates are frequently steel into sheets. It is interesting to note that strip casting
encountered in this process (up to 106 s2 1 ) and low viscosity of semisolid alloys can be modeled with the help of the
resins are used. Figure 6 shows a wire coating die.2 1 hydrodynamic lubrication approximation for a power law
ProŽ le extrusion is a manufacturing process used for viscosity model, as in plastics calendering.2 8 The process of
products of constant cross-section. These can range from calendering is also used extensively in the paper industry.
simple shapes to very complex proŽ les with multiple cham- https://www.essentracomponents.com/en-us/news/videos/how-does-the-injection-molding-pr
bers and Ž ngers. Examples range from picture frame mould- ocess-work
ings, to automotive trim, to edging for tabletops, to window
lineals. The extruded materials are classiŽ ed (roughly) as Injection moulding
rigid or  exible. The typical proŽ le extrusion line consists
of an extruder pumping a polymer through a proŽ le die, Injection moulding is a two step cyclical process: (a) melt
followed by a sizing tank or calibrator, additional cooling generation by a rotating screw, and (b) Ž lling of the mould
troughs, a puller and a cutoff device. The design of proŽ le with molten polymer by the forward ramming of the screw
dies requires considerable experience and patience.8 Output (called a reciprocating screw), followed by a very short pack-
limitations in proŽ le extrusion are encountered owing to ing stage necessary to pack more polymer in the mould to
either sharkskin (for thin products produced from high vis- offset the shrinkage after cooling and solidiŽ cation. The
cosity polymers) or the ability to cool thick walled products. material is held in the mould under high pressure until it has
Polymer pipe and proŽ le extrusion is similar to the hot solidiŽ ed sufŽ ciently to allow ejection.
extrusion of metals for the production of continuous hollow Polymer injection molding has certain similarities to the
shapes of barlike objects. However, the mathematical model- die casting process of metals,1 5 in which molten metal is
ling of these processes for metals is based mainly on elastic – forced under high pressure into a steel mould or die. The
plastic  ow hypotheses.2 2 metal, as the polymer, is pressed into all the crevices of the
In melt spinning, the molten polymer  ows through mould and the pressure is held while the metal freezes.
numerous capillaries in a spinneret (up to 1000). The poly- In polymer injection moulding, the melt path into the
mer is delivered under pressure by a gear pump for accurate mould starts with a sprue, and splits off into individual
metering, after passing through a Ž lter which follows the runners each feeding one of the multiplicity of mould cavi-
extruder. On exiting the capillaries, the Ž laments are atten- ties through a gate. Figure 8 shows schematically how these
uated to the desired diameter.2 3 ,2 4 For the production of mould components are connected. Moulds can contain over
very thin Ž bres, the melt blowing process2 5 is used. In this 100 cavities, each producing a part per injection cycle. Cycle
process the Ž bres are attenuated by the drag force exerted times range from a few seconds to over a minute. Numerous
by a high velocity air jet. products ranging from boat hulls, lawn chairs and appliance

Materials Science and Technology September 2003 Vol. 19

1166 Vlachopoulos and Strutt Polymer processing

9 Fountain  ow streamlines and  uid element deforma-

tion illustration29

software is used to design the part cavities, to balance

runners, to visualise the Ž lling process, and to predict
orientation, shrinkage, warpage and weld lines in the
product.3 2 ,3 3
Among the challenging problems faced in computer
8 Injection mould components: IM injection moulded simulation is the prediction of shrinkage and warpage.
Shrinkage is the difference in dimensions between the mould
housings to radio knobs and bottle caps are injection and the cooled moulded part. The main cause is the density
moulded. Very high shear rates arise in injection moulding increase which occurs as the melt freezes. Crystalline poly-
operations (usually up to 104 s2 1 ) and, to limit temperature mers such as polyamide (PA, nylon), high density PE, PET
increases from viscous heating and also to facilitate easy and PP give the worst problems,2 with shrinkages of 1 – 4%.
Ž lling, low viscosity thermoplastic polymer grades are used. Amorphous polymers such as PS, PMMA and PC have
Injection moulding machines are rated by the size of their fewer problems, shrinking only 0.3 – 0.7%. Warpage is
clamping systems, which are hydraulic, electrical or mech- caused by the density changes mentioned above, and orien-
anical toggle systems used to hold the mould closed with tation imparted to the part during cavity Ž lling and packing,
sufŽ cient force to resist the injection pressure. Machines decidedly in a non-uniform manner.
available usually range from 5 tons for a shot of ~10 g to Gas assist injection moulding involves the injection of
5000 tons for shots of more than 50 kg (shot is the total nitrogen with the plastic, which creates a hollow void in the
amount of material pumped into the mould in a cycle, moulded part.3 4 This allows large parts to be moulded with
including that in the sprue, runners and cavities). Some lower clamp tonnage and signiŽ cant material savings. This
bigger machines have also been built for the production of innovative process started in the 1980s and its use is rapidly
very large moulded products. Micromoulding, in which the growing.
shot size is below 1 g, is recently Ž nding increased use in The process of reaction injection moulding (RIM) involves
biomedical and nanotechnological applications. the injection of low viscosity liquids, which become reactive
Mould cavity Ž lling is characterised by the fountain effect, when mixed and polymerise within the mould.3 5 The advan-
in which elements of the molten polymeric  uid undergo tage of this process is that the pressures are low owing to the
complex shear and stretching motions as they catch up the low viscosities. A disadvantage is the requirement to handle
free  ow front and then move outwards to the cold walls. highly toxic substances. Although initial projections called
This phenomenon can impart considerable orientation to for signiŽ cant growth in RIM, this did not materialise. In
the resulting injection moulded part. While molecular orien- fact, some manufacturers of automotive parts by RIM have
tation is used in extrusion to improve the mechanical pro- switched to conventional injection moulding.
perties, in injection moulding orientation is generally a
nuisance.2 The orientation is further exacerbated during the
packing stage. The consequent frozen in stresses can cause Blow moulding
parts to become distorted, especially at elevated tempera-
tures. Figure 9 shows streamlines and  uid element defor- Blow moulding is the process by which articles are formed
mation in fountain  ow.2 9 Simulation of cavity Ž lling is by in ation of a molten resin to Ž ll a mould cavity having
generally carried out on the basis of the Hele – Shaw  ow the desired shape and dimensions. Bottles for soft drinks
approximation,3 0 ,3 1 which applies to viscous  ow between and other liquids are blow moulded. The two most impor-
two closely spaced plates. With this approximation, the two tant process variants are extrusion blow moulding and
components of the equation of conservation of momentum injection blow moulding.3 6 In extrusion blow moulding, an
are reduced into a single partial differential equation with extruder pumps the melt through an annular die to form a
pressure P as the unknown molten tube or parison with well deŽ ned and controlled
³ ´ ³ ´
ç ç P ç ç P dimensions. The parison is clamped between the two mould
S z S ~0 : : : : : : : (6) halves and is in ated by internal air pressure to take the
ç x ç x ç y ç y
„b shape of the mould cavity, which is usually cooled. Finally,
where S~ 0 z2 =g dz, and b is the gap between the plates the formed article solidiŽ es as a result of cooling and the
and g is the viscosity, which is a function of local shear rate. mould is opened to eject the article without damage.
Simulation software is used extensively in the design of Depending on the thermal stability of the material, the
injection moulds, because of the ability of the Hele – Shaw extrusion process can be continuous or intermittent. Inter-
 ow approximation to describe reasonably well the mould mittent systems can use reciprocating screws which operate
Ž lling process. More recently, however, three-dimensional as rams, in the same manner as in injection moulding.
models of  ow simulation have come into use. Economics Injection blow moulding is a two stage process. In the
also provide an incentive for the use of software, as moulds Ž rst stage, the plastic is injected into a cavity where the
can be extremely expensive to make, so minimising trial preform is moulded. The preform is then transferred to
and error procedures on the factory  oor is desirable. The the blow mould for in ation. Injection blow moulding

Materials Science and Technology September 2003 Vol. 19

 Vlachopoulos and Strutt Polymer processing 1167

a before application of vacuum; b after application of vacuum

10 Thermoforming by application of vacuum40

offers the advantages of accurate dimensional control, temperature which may induce strain recovery or shrinkage.
elimination of scrap and the moulding in of threads before Thermoforming of thermoplastics has certain similarities
blowing. Extrusion blow moulding is preferred for contain- to sheet metal forming.4 0 However, the strain rates involved
ers with high length/diameter ratios and for products with in polymer sheet forming are much larger than for metals.
handles.3 7 Figure 10 shows a vacuum thermoforming process.
Polyethylene terephthalate or PET is the polymer most https://www.bpf.co.uk/plastipedia/processes/rotational_moulding.aspx#:~:
text=The%20concept%20of%20rotational%20moulding,or%20fabricated%20from%20sheet%20
widely used in injection blow moulding, for carbonated steel.&text=The%20mould%20is%20then%20heated,the%20inside%20of%20the%20mould.
drinks and water bottles. Stretch blow moulding is used to
produce PET bottles of enhanced physical properties. In Rotational moulding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t2HFn42BRE

this process, stretching induces the formation of small lamel-

lar crystals. These crystals result in more transparent and In rotational moulding, a charge of plastic powder is placed in
tougher products than those produced without stretch blow- one half of a metal mould. The mould halves are then clamped
ing, which have spherulitic crystals. together and heated while the mould rotates biaxially. The
powder particles melt and coalesce to form a homogeneous
layer on the surface of the mould. The mould is then cooled
and the polymer layer densiŽ es and solidiŽ es.4 1,42 Rotational
Compression moulding moulding competes with blow moulding, thermoformingand
injection moulding for the production of hollow parts. The
Compression moulding is the oldest technique for the pro- main advantages of this process are the simplicity of the
duction of polymer products,3 0 and is mainly used for ther- moulds and the low capital investment requirement. Cycle
mosets. In this process the compound is pressed in the times are large, ~15 – 30 min. Rotational moulding is mainly
mould by the heated platens of a hydraulic press. This pro- used for large tanks (up to 85 m3 reported), toys and hollow
cess is to some extent analogous to sheet metal stamping. parts that require frequent design modiŽ cations.
Injection moulding of polymers has replaced compression The process of coalescence and subsequent densiŽ ca-
moulding for some polymers, because of the advantages tion4 3 ,4 4 is usually referred to as sintering by rotational
in materials handling and automation. However, compres- moulding practitioners. In powder metallurgy, however, the
sion moulding has an advantage in the processing of term sintering usually refers to compaction of powders
reinforced polymers.3 8 Owing to modest levels of deforma- below their melting point.
tion and stress involved in compression moulding, the
reinforcing Ž bres are not damaged. Very high Ž bre concen-
trations and longer Ž bres can be included in compression
moulded products. Powder injection moulding and
thixomoulding

Powder injection moulding (PIM) and thixomoulding are

Thermoforming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh-MXjMFxT4
two processes that use traditional polymer processing prin-
ciples for the production of metal parts.
Thermoforming techniques involve the softening of thermo- In PIM, Ž ne powders are blended into a ‘binder’ to hold
plastic sheets by heat, followed by forming by the appli- the particles together, and are mixed with additives to form
cation of vacuum, pressure, or a moving plug.3 9 The sheet the ‘feedstock’. The feedstock is then used in suitably modi-
may be stretched over a male mould (positive forming) or Ž ed, but otherwise conventional, polymer injection mould-
into a female mould (negative forming). On contact with the ing machines for injection into moulds. After debinding and
mould, heat is lost and the material regains stiffness as it heating, the metal welds together by a sintering process to
cools. Geometries of thermoformed products are usually form strong metal or ceramic parts. Various types of ferrous
simple (boxes, food trays, various containers, refrigerator alloys and oxide ceramics are suited to this process.4 5
liners, computer cases). Thermoforming competes with In thixomoulding, metal alloy granules are fed from a
blow moulding and injection moulding. The main advan- hopper into the gap between a barrel and a rotating screw,
tages of this process are the relatively low cost of thermo- and are heated by shearing to form a semisolid slurry. The
forming machines and the very low cost of the moulds, and material is then injected into a heated mould. By cooling,
the ease of forming large area, thin section parts. Disa- the material is solidiŽ ed, and then it is removed from the
dvantages are the limited product shapes possible, difŽ culties mould and trimmed. Magnesium, aluminium and zinc are
in obtaining the required thickness distribution, difŽ culty in suited to thixomoulding. Currently, magnesium is mostly
controlling molecular orientation and limitations in service used in this process.4 6

Materials Science and Technology September 2003 Vol. 19

1168 Vlachopoulos and Strutt Polymer processing

2. d. h. morton-jones: ‘Polymer processing’; 1989, London,

Current trends and future challenges Chapman and Hall.
3. h. u. schenck: AIM Mag.; (Special issue: ‘Polymers in Europe,
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grades are available from a single database4 7 ), the well known polymeric liquids’, Vol. 1, ‘Fluid Mechanics’, 2nd edn; 1977,
big chemical companies contributing most of the production New York, Wiley.
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