AbstractThe reduction in fiber length during extrusion and injection molding of two commercial glass fiber‐reinforced polypropylene products containing 30 percent by weight of glass fibers was studied. The first product had very small fibers of average length around 0.5 mm and also contained a coupling agent. The second product contained relatively longer glass fibers of 9 mm length and no coupling agent. In both cases, fiber attrition occurs predominantly at the solid‐melt interface in the meiting zone of the extruder. However, in the short fiber granules, the maximum of the length distribution, which for the initial sample is around 0.5 mm, moved to shorter fiber lengths along the screw channels further from the hopper. In the long fiber granules, a bimodal length distribution was obtained in the intermediate channels; the first maximum was around the original length of 9 mm and the second centered around 0.5 mm. Thus, the forces at the solid‐melt interface result in fiber breakage to lengths which are predominantly around 0.5 mm. The fiber attrition was observed to be more severe in injection molding apparently because of higher shear rates and also because the fibers had to pass through narrow channels. The measured distributions of fiber length along the screw channels for the two products are presented, and the possible mechanisms of fiber breakage are discussed. The mechanical properties of samples containing different fiber length distributions and the effects of fiber length and interfacial adhesion on properties are presented and discussed in Pa
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