An integrated experimental study of the injection molding behavior of some polyethylene resins

The present study reports on the results of an integrated experimental program to determine some of the important interactions between resin properties, moldability, and the microstructure and ultimate properties of molded articles. As part of the program, resins are characterized as to their rheological, thermal, and crystallization behavior. Then, the resins are injection molded in a laboratory machine employing simple, but highly instrumented molds in order to evaluate moldability and to produce moldings for testing and analysis. Microstructural analysis to determine morphology and orientation of the moldings is carried out utilizing polarized light microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Finally, shrinkage and tensile properties of the moldings are determined experimentally. To illustrate the utility of the proposed techniques, results are reported for two polyethylene resins' that exhibit superficially similar properties but, according to tests, show significant differences in moldability and product properties.