| Abstract: | The effect of melt temperature, ultrasonic oscillations, and induced ultrasonic oscillations modes on weld line strength of polystyrene (PS) and polystyrene/polyethylene (PS/HDPE) (90/10) blend was investigated. The results show that the increase of melt temperature is beneficial to the increase of weld line strength of PS and PS/HDPE blend. Compared with PS, the increase of melt temperature can greatly enhance the strength of PS/HDPE blends. For PS, the presence of ultrasonic oscillations can enhance the weld line strength of PS at different melt temperatures. But for PS/HDPE blends, the presence of ultrasonic oscillations can improve the weld line strength when the melt temperature is 230°C, but when the melt temperature is 195°C, the induced ultrasonic oscillations hardly enhance the weld line strength. Compared with Mode I (ultrasonic oscillations were induced into the mold at the whole process of injection molding), the induced ultrasonic oscillations as Mode II (ultrasonic oscillations were induced into the mold after injection mold filling) is more effective at increasing the weld line strength of PS and PS/HDPE blends. The mechanism for ultrasonic improvement of weld line strength was also studied. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 45:1666–1672, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers |
