EXPERIMENTS IN HOT PLATE WELDING OF POLYPROPYLENE NANOCOMPOSITES

摘要

Clay-based nanocomposites have recently attracted attention in many industries due to their high specific strength, modulus and low permeability. A typical nanocomposite plastic has only about 3 to 6 percent by weight nanoclay, where after being purified and surface-treated they are mixed with pure resins to produce polymeric nanocomposites. As the usage of these nanocomposites increases in industry, knowledge of its weldability becomes important. The hot plate weldability of three specific Polypropylene nanocomposites with Owt%, 3wt% and 6wt% nanoclay was investigated. A three factors (heating temperature, welding time and welding pressure), two level design of experiments (DOE) was used to screen welding parameters and obtain near optimum welding conditions. The maximum joint strength was found to be 94%, 79% and 62% of the bulk strength for Owt%, 3wt% and 6wt% nanoclay samples, respectively. While increasing nanoclay levels in the composite improved the bulk material strength, it reduced the weld strength significantly.