Physical Properties of Modified Polyphenylene Oxide as a Composite Material for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Stack Enclosure Suitable for Injection Molding

Abstract

There is an increasing need for securing development technology for suitable materials to obtain more productive and lightweight automobile parts, including hydrogen fuel cell stack enclosures. Due to the poor moldability of Poly-Phenylene Oxide (PPO), which excels in terms of mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, studies are being actively conducted to commercialize modified-PPO (mPPO). However, there is a lack of studies regarding injection molding analysis for pre-verification of the suitability of injection molding in the process of developing engineering plastic resins. Thus, this study utilized the following procedure: (1) it measured the physical properties of mPPO, (2) it selected sample candidates, (3) it applied the Design Of Experiments (DOE) to conduct an injection molding analysis, and finally, (4) it proposed an enclosure-dedicated mPPO due to its suitability for injection molding. The results of this study demonstrated the excellent moldability of mPPO with a mixing ratio of PPO 50%/Poly-Amide66(PA66) 50% among 16 samples by investigating the fill time, deflection, time to reach ejection temperature, void phenomenon and cycle time. Therefore, mPPO with a mixing ratio of PPO 50%/PA66 50% will exhibit the best moldability and increased productivity in manufacturing enclosures.