Optimizing thermoplastic pultrusion parameters for quality long fiber thermoplastic pellets in glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene

Abstract

A long fiber thermoplastic pellet (LFTP) is a pellet that contains discontinuous fibers reinforced in thermoplastic. In this experiment, LFTPs were produced using the thermoplastic pultrusion process. The thermoplastic pultrusion process is uncomplicated in terms of the machine device, and it can improve the impregnation quality of LFTP. Glass fiber was used as the reinforced fiber, and PP fiber was used as the matrix. This experiment studied the effect of molding temperature and pulling speed on impregnation. The die system contained six heating zones. In the first step, zones 3 and 4 (melting zone) were varied at 200, 210, 220, and 230°C. The melting zone that exhibited good results was selected for the next step. In the second step, zones 5 and 6 (heat reduction zone) were varied at 160°C–190°C and 150°C–180°C, respectively. After determining the optimal molding temperature, the pulling speed was studied, with speeds varied at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 cm/min. The impregnated quality of the LFTP was investigated through microstructure analysis. A data logger was used to record the temperature profile in the pultrusion die. Furthermore, the impregnation quality and microstructure of LFTP from thermoplastic pultrusion were compared to commercial LFTP. The results showed that un-impregnation decreased with an increase in the melting zone temperature. In the heat reduction zone, un-impregnation decreased with a decrease in temperature. For the pulling speed, un-impregnation decreased with a decrease in speed. The optimal die system had a melting zone temperature of 230°C and a heat reduction zone temperature of 160 and 150°C. The optimal pulling speed was 10 cm/min, resulting in an un-impregnation rate of 8.06%. Additionally, commercial LFTP had an un-impregnation rate of 13.73%.