Royal Military College of Canada
Materials Science & Engineering
Processing short fibre reinforced thermoplastics
By Dr. Philip J. Bates
Our work on the processing of short fibre reinforced thermoplastics involves the vibration welding of injection moulded parts. Vibration welding is a common technique for joining thermoplastic parts. It is used widely to manufacture automotive air intake manifolds, resonators and fluid reservoirs. It involves bringing two moulded parts together under a clamping pressure. One of the parts is then vibrated at a frequency of the order 200 Hz over amplitudes of the order 1 mm. The frictional and viscous shear energy melts polymer to create a molten zone between the two solid parts at the weld interface. The molten polymer is forced from the interface as flash when the two parts come together (meltdown). When a preset meltdown distance is reached, the vibration is stopped. The clamping pressure is then maintained for several seconds to allow the molten polymer in the weld to solidify.
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This work examines the effect of material, processing and part parameters on the strength of vibration welds. The material used primarily in our research is short glass reinforced nylon 66 supplied by DuPont Canada. The research is financed and performed at Queen's University's Centre for Automotive Materials and Manufacturing (CAMM). The CAMM website contains further useful informatin on this process.
Examples of vibration welded air intake manifolds
Our linear vibration welder located at CAMM
