METE 460

ENGINEERING WITH POLYMERS

TERM PROJECT

Kürşad YILMAZOĞLU
1296599
DATE:31/05/2009
TOPIC: Examining three polymer goods or components from the following
aspects;
-selection of the polymeric material for production
-selection of the processing method
-comparing the above issues for the ones in which metals are utilized
-cost, safety , future applications etc.

The first appliance to be examined is the electric iron that we use to

straighten our clothes in everyday life. An iron heats the cloth to a certain
temperature to loose the bonds of the material fibers while straightening
them at the same time by its own weightor by the force applied on it . So
to make them withstand the high temperatures they had been produced of
iron or steel prior to the introduction of polymers. At this point one need to
analyse the body and the base of the iron seperately.Becauseit is the base
which is subjected to very high temperatures while the body must be rigid
and strong.

1_IRON CASING
The loads on an iron body is shown below:

SELECTED POLYMER: ACRYLONITRILE-BUTADIANE-STYRENE

(ABS)
There are some kind of polymers used to produce the casing of a steam-
iron however the most popular one is the Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene
currently. Acrylonitrile-Butadiene –Styrene (ABS) is a hard & tough
thermoplastic copolymer.Itsusage as the housings of electrical appliances
is relatively new. On the other hand ABS is considered to be one of the
best examples of engineering copolymers that unite toughness ,strength,
chemical resistance etc.

Its advantages;

-ABS has a density of about 1,1 g/cc which is rather low with respect to
thatof the metals; weighing one third of the same part were to been
produced from aliminum.

-Since it is not a conducting material there is not the danger of electric

shock due to any accident.
-It is corrosion resistant which is desirable for todays steam-irons working
in high vapour condition.

Disadvantages;

-after all ABS is not as a hard material as any other metal, it has an UTS of
about 30 MPa,

POLYMER PRODUCTION METHOD: INJECTION MOLDING

The injection molding of the iron casing is carried out as follows;

-granules of ABS are added to the hopper,

-ABS is mixed by the shearing action of the screw as well as by external

heating; besides the temperature is raised around 140 C,

- as the gate of the mold is opened the molten polymer fills the cavity,

-following the cooling, the product is removed from the mold ready for
assembly.

If the part were processed from a metal; then a similar procedure would be
used. However for this time:

-it would be necessary to heat the metal to a much higher degree to melt
it down.

-in accordance with the above condition cooling time would be much
longer ; therefore slowing down the overall production rate,

-there is almost no need for secondary processing for the injection molding
of ABS unlike for the metals.In other words complexity is virtually
unlimited.

Naturally there are some points about which special care must be paid
during the processing of ABS ;

-the possibility of chemical degradation or oxidation must be accounted for

while ABS is heated to high temperatures within the injector,

-much larger forces must be supplied to the mold by the injector since ABS
has a rather high viscosity similar to other thernoplastics.

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS
-From the aesthetical point of view ABS has a perfect and pleasing surface
that is desirable since manual force is exerted on the steam-iron while
ironing.

-ABS is a non-toxic polymer so it does not have any harmful effect on

human health recorded.
-The recycling of ABS is not carried out so often -at its development stage
today- though it is possible. Due to the oxidation brought about by the
presence of styrene as a result of long years of usage, the mechanical
properties of recycled parts would be slightly inferior to that of the virgin
materials.

-It is used in a wide range of industry from “button production to

aerospace applications”.

-About 350 different grades or blends of ABS has been licensed by

different companies demonstarting the current level of research-
development on it.

2_ IRON BASE
The base of an iron is exposed to very high temperatures;sometimes even
reaching 200 C. So the polymeric material to be selected for this
application must have a quite high heat resistance. As anticipated
thermosets do fit exactly to this task. Another necessity is making the
surface of the base such that it never sticks and have a low friction
coefficient.

SELECTED POLYMER: POLYTETRAFLUOROETHYLENE (PTFE)

Among thermosets “Polytetrafluoroethylene” (PTFE) also known as “teflon”
enjoys a wide range of high temperature applications.It is able to
withstand temperatures up to 270 C that is well beyond usual level during
ironing. Its superiorities to the metals are stated below:

- As pointed before PTFE has a non-sticking surface as none of us would

like to have our shirt stick to the iron and then burn up,

-Related to the same argument the coefficient of friction of PTFE is quite

low which is desirable for the ease of ironing,

-PTFE has a density about 2.1 g/cc which is lower with respect to metals,

-it is essentially an insulator,

-the non-corrosive nature of PTFE makes it prefersble from the oxidation

point of view.

Disadvantages;

-Low strength and stiffness with respect to metals,

-though PTFE can withstand to temperatures as high as 270 C it is not

comparable with that of the metals, as an example aliminum melts at 660
C. In case of an accidental steady temperature rise this condition may lead
to trouble.
POLYMER PRODUCTION METHOD: FLUIDIZED BED COATING
Actually there is an irony between the fact that “teflon is a non-sticking
material” and “how to join it to the body of the good produced”. Since the
melting point of PTFE is too high molding is not practical. There are various
tecniques such as “the utilization of polyamide-imide adhesives” or
“sintering the teflon powder under compression to the required shape”
and so on. However the most suitable application of teflon to the iron base
is the teflon coating which is the usual procedure as well.The coating can
be applied to any kind of material from metals to ceramics.

Coating is carried out in the following manner;

- The item to be coated was first heated to temperatures above 340 C

degrees,
-the parts to be coated are immersed in a “fluidized bed"—a layer of teflon
powder that was rinsed with a stream of air until it behaved like a liquid,
-then dipped in the fluidized bed,
-if needed this order can be repeated several times to get a sufficiently
thick film of teflon.
The coating with teflon has some advantages over the molding of the iron
base using any kind of metal:
- The nature of the process -that’s to say coating itself -can be carried our
by more ease with respect to molding or machining processes with metals
that would otherwise had to been utilized.
-Since the thickness of the coating is on the order of microns ;it would not
interfere with the fit of the coated part,
-The thickness of the coating can be controlled by either repetition or the
adjustment of the air flow-rate,
-the process essentially has no volatile emissions
The disadvantages to be considered;
-Whether a disadvantage or not is a question mark; PTFE can not be melt
processed.
-If the coating to be applied is too thin then there may ocur peelimg on the
surface of the layer.

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS
- Unfortunately PTFE as being a copolymer can not be obtained by simple
polymerization techniques which makes the cost somewhat high.
-From the first development of PTFE the possible health effects have
always been taken seriously by the company Du Pont holding its license.
So the steps had been taken seriously towards the use of teflon for home
appliances. However so far any kind of health harm had not been reported
about teflons despite the strong resistance put forward by some
environmentalists.Nowadays most of the cooking pans are also coated by
teflon.
-There is a very wide range for PTFE grades. In other words by changing
the amounts of its components its properties can be changed
-Powder coatings have a major advantage in that the overspray can be
recycled.

3_ WASHING MACHINE AGITATOR

The so-called agitator can actually be observed for the top-loader type
washers. For these ones the motor drives the spinning tub and the agitator
during washing. Mechanical energy is transferred to the clothes by the
rotation of the agitator .The loadings on the part are shown below;
SELECTED POLYMER: POLYPROPYLENE (PP)
Actually there are a number of engineering thermoplastic that are
currently used for the production of the part including ABS, HIPS etc.
besides metals of course. However the use of polypropylene for the
agitators are becoming more popular nowadays. Polypropylene is more
eligible then the metals from some points that are stated below;

-As common with all other polymers their density which ranges between
0.9-1.4 g/cc is much lower than the metals rendering their products much
lighter.

-It has a high fatigue resistance that’s expected for this application.
Although not a superiority over the metals; it is important from the design
point of view since agitators are prone to fatigue type of failure.

-As a lacking of them the resistance of polyproplyenes to oxidation is not

that high as the other engineering polymers especially at high
temperatures. But it is anyhow better than the metals.

POLYMER PRODUCTION METHOD:SOLID-PHASE FORMING

This process in reality is a sub method within the framework of
thermoforming processes. The main difference for this one is that the
molds are preheated before the introduction of the polymer sheet to much
lower temperature levels with respect to the temperature of the polymer
used. Then the polymer sheet is blown into the mold and finally sintering
is applied.

advantages;

-as anticipated the temperature levels to melt down the polymer is

incomparably lower with respect to that of the metals,

-the preheating of the molds before the molding reduces the corrosive
tendency of the material; which can be a major problem for the metals,

disadvantages;

-parts used by solid phase forming generally do not have high strentghs.
-a simple vacuum may not be insufficient for the material to fill the cavity
exactly, so a certain prestretching force must be applied on it prior to the
blowing.

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS
-Initiated by the European automative industry; the recycling of
polypropylenes are applied in a large scale. In order to use recycled
polypropylenes ;regranulation are generally performed.Moreover due to
the versatility of polypropylene, recycled material can be used for the
production of another product instead of the original one.

-From the safety aspect; care must be taken not to expose the personel
working in a plant using polypropylene as material. If it can reach to the
lungs via inhaling somehow; some disorders may emerge in the pulmonary
system.

-Although polyproplylene wastes do not threaten the nature seriously ;

their degradation takes rather long times.

-Polyproplylenes can indeed be regarded as a transition material between

ordinary LDPE, PE etc. and the engineering thermoplastics.Currently they
areused extensively in automotive, appliances & packaging industry.
Construction sectors and medicine are also the some of the areas
polypropylene is welcomed to some extent. Since it has been used for a
long time for now; there is a considerable database about their
usages.There are debating opinions about the future of polypropylenes.
Some claim that engineering materials wipe them out from engineering
applications while some others find polypropylenes having more
compromising features. It seems that future applications for
polyproplylene can be promising mostly, if their blends with some other
engineering thermoplastics are researched & developed intensely as also
being the current progress .