Mechanical properties of the weld line defect in micro injection molding for various nano filled polypropylene composites

The nano filled functional polymer materials have been widely processed with micro injection molding technology for micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication. As the unfavorable defect in micro injection molding parts, weld line brings reduced mechanical and physical properties, especially for nano filled composites. In this study, polypropylene (PP) was compounded respectively with carbon nano fibers (CNFs) and TiO₂ nano particles at various weight fractions (10, 20, 30, 35 wt%) through co-screws internal mixing. The morphological, thermal and rheological properties of nano composites were characterized by wider angle X-ray diffraction (WXRD), different scanning calorimeter (DSC) and high pressure capillary rheometer. Additionally, under the constant setting of injection molding process parameters in injection molding machine, micro tensile samples with weld lines for each nano filled PP composite were produced. The tensile tests were served as the characterizing method for weld line mechanical properties. The results show that when the CNFs is filled higher than 10 wt%, the tensile strength of samples with weld lines made of nano composites become lower than neat PP. While the raising CNFs content contributes to the improved E modulus of micro injection molded weld lines. Additionally, with the increasing fraction of CNFs in PP, the weld line area's elongation percent is decreased. Whereas for case of TiO₂, the 10 wt% is the threshold for micro injection molded weld line tensile strength turning from decrease trend to increase. The same as CNFs, elongation of micro weld line samples were in general lower than neat PP as well, due to the addition of TiO₂ nano particles.