Thermoplastic Processing

When heated thermoplastics soften and become fluid when additional heat is applied.
Due to no chemical bonding takes place in a thermoplastic material, the curing process is
completely reversible and it also allows thermoplastic to be remolded and recycled to form
other thermoplastic material without negatively affecting the material’s physical properties.

There are a lot of process that can be used to form a specific product but in
thermoplastic processing the common methods used are extrusion, injection modeling, blow
molding, and thermoforming.

A. Extrusion

The continuous process named extrusion is the method that is used to produce films,
sheet, profiles, tubes and pipes. The mechanism for the said process is:

1. The polymer material that will be formed into a different type of product for a specific used
will be loaded into the hopper.

2. The Material will then be fed into a long heated chamber that is moved due to the action of
the continuously revolving screw. The plastic will be melted by the mechanical work of the
screw that can be either single or a dual revolving screw depending on the design, and the
heat of the extruder wall.

4. At the end of the extruder, the molten polymer will be forced out through a small opening
called a die to form the shape of the finished product.

5. The polymer that is extruded from the chamber will either undergo a different process or it
will be fed into a conveyor belt or unto a rollers or by immersion to cool the formed polymer.

Examples of extruded products include lawn edging, pipe, film, coated paper,
insulation on electrical wires, gutter and down spouting, plastic lumber, and window trim.
B. Injection Molding

Injection Modeling is a discontinuous process that produces intricate three-

dimensional parts of high quality and great reproducibility product. This type of method is
usually used for thermoplastics but it can also be used in some thermoset if necessary
conditions will be met. The mechanism of the said process is:

1. The plastic material either in the form of pellet or powder will be fed into the hopper.

2. An extruder screw pushes the plastic through the heating chamber in where the material
will be melted so that it will be formed to a different type of product.

3. At the end of extruder, the molten plastic will be feed in to a mold at high pressure, high
pressure is needed to be sure the mold is completely filled.

4. Once the product is cooled to a solid, the mold will open and the finish product will be
injected.
Injection Modeling process is usually to make items such as butter tubes, yogurt containers,
bottle caps, toys, fittings, and lawn chairs.

C. Blow Molding

Blow molding is a process used extensively for the production of bottles and other hollow
plastic items with thin walls. This process is used in conjunction with extrusion or injection
molding. Blow-molded objects may range in size from less than 1 Oz to a few hundred gallons.
The extrusion forms a continuous semi-molten tube of the thermoplastic material. Then a
chilled mold is clamped around the tube and compressed air with a pressure of usually about
100psi is blown into the tube to form the desired product. The formed product will be cooled
until the plastic become solid then the clamp will be remove to get the blow molded product.
On the other hand, in an injection blow molding, the injection molding will pre-form a polymer
then it will be heated until it softened so that it can be molded again to form the desired
product, the compressed air will be blown into the heated polymer then it will be cooled. This
process is commonly used to manufacture hollow plastic products and its principal advantage
is its ability to produce hollow shapes without having to join two or more separately injection
molded parts.
D. Thermoforming

Thermoforming is a process for forming moderately complex shaped parts that cannot
be injection molded because the part is either very large or too expensive or has very thin
walls. It consists essentially of two stages: elevation of the temperature of a thermoplastic
sheet material until it is soft and pliable and forming the material into the desired shape using
one of several techniques.
Thermoforming techniques may be grouped into three broad categories: vacuum,
mechanical, and air blowing processes.

Vacuum Thermoforming

The plastic sheet is clamped in place mechanically and heated. A vacuum is then
placed beneath the hot elastic sheet, and this makes atmospheric pressure push the sheet
down onto the contours of the cold mold. The plastic material cools down, and after an
appropriate time the cooled part is removed.
Mechanical Thermoforming

In this type of thermoforming the plastic sheet will be heated until its softened enough
to be molded into different type of products. In this process there will be no pressure or air
that will be used. In this Thermoforming the heated sheet will be clamped into the female or
draped over a male mold then the two will be close together and cooled until the product
solidifies. The resulting part has excellent dimensional accuracy and good reproduction of the
mold detail, including any lettering and grained surfaces.

Air Thermoforming

In this type of thermoforming

compressed air and vacuum pressure is
used to form the sheet. First a plastic
sheet is heated and sealed across the
female cavity. Air at controlled pressure is
introduced into the mold cavity. This
blows the sheet upward into an evenly
stretched bubble. A plug which fits roughly
into the mold cavity descends on the
sheet. When the plug reaches its lowest
possible position, a vacuum or, in some
cases, air under pressure is used to
complete part formation.
Thermoset Processing

Thermoset polymers are polymers that when heated will degrade before it reaches its
you melting point hence in processing it the monomer will be polymerized while you form your
desired product. This is done by the addition of resins or catalyst at high temperature to speed
up the reaction and the polymer will be formed. There are two common processes used in
thermoset processing namely compression molding and transfer molding.

A. Compression Molding

Compression molding is a forming process that is like the mechanical thermoforming

used in thermoplastic sheet the only difference is that the raw materials in this type of process
is an unpolymerized material. The unpolymerized material will be put in the heated mold then
a catalyst or a resin will be put in the unpolymerized material to initiate the polymerization
and then the mold will be closed, the thermoset polymerized product will take the shape of
the mold.

B. Transfer Molding

The mold interior surfaces may be gel-coated. If desired the mold is first pre-loaded
with a reinforcing fiber matrix or perform. Fiber content of a transfer molded composite can
be as high as 60% by volume. The fill material may be a preheated solid or a liquid. It is loaded
into a chamber known as the pot. A ram or plunger forces material from the pot into the heated
mold cavity. If feed-stock is initially solid, the forcing pressure and mold temperature melt it.
Standard mold features such as sprue channels, a flow gate and ejector pins may be used.
The heated mold ensures that the flow remains liquid for complete filling. Once filled the mold
can be cooled at a controlled rate for optimal thermoset curing.

Homopolymer and Copolymer

Polymers are large molecules, with repeating structural units of monomers. These
monomers are bonded to each other with covalent bonds to form the polymer. They have a
high molecular weight and consist over 10,000 atoms. In the synthesis process, which is
known as polymerization, longer polymer chains are obtained. It can be either homopolymers
or copolymers depending on the composition. Polymers composed of only one repeating unit
in the polymer molecules are known as homopolymers. Scientist have developed ways to form
polymers with different type of monomers to increase the properties of the polymer that will
be produced. Polymers composed of two different repeating units in the polymer molecule
are defined as copolymers. An example is the copolymer formed when styrene and acrylonitrile
are polymerized in the same reactor. There are 4 different ways that copolymer can be
arranged in order to form the polymer needed namely random, alternating, block and graft
copolymer.

A. Random Copolymer

In a random copolymer there is no specific order of the monomer in the polymer. If we

will represent the monomer as A and B, then it will look like this:

B. Alternating Copolymer

In an alternating copolymer there Is a specific alternating arrangement of the monomer

in the polymer.
C. Block Polymer

The copolymer is consisting of relatively long sequences (blocks) of each repeating unit
chemically bound together:

D. Graft Polymer

Sequences of one monomer (repeating unit) are “grafted” onto a backbone of the another
monomer type: