Effects of SCF content, injection speed, and CF content on the morphology and tensile properties of microcellular injection‐molded CF/PP composites

Carbon fiber/polypropylene composite foams were prepared by microcellular injection molding using nitrogen as a foaming agent. The effects of nitrogen content, injection speed, and CF content on the morphology and tensile properties of the composite foams were investigated. A three‐layer structure w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPolymer engineering and science Vol. 59; no. 7; pp. 1371 - 1380
Main Authors Nobe, Rie, Qiu, Jianhui, Kudo, Makoto, Ito, Kazushi, Kaneko, Masaki
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2019
Society of Plastics Engineers, Inc
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects
Carbon fiber reinforced plastics
Carbon fibers
Cellular structure
Foaming agents
Injection molding
Microcellular foams
Modulus of elasticity
Morphology
Nitrogen
Plastic foam
Polymer matrix composites
Polymers
Polypropylene
Properties
Skin
Supercritical fluids
Tensile properties
Japan
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Summary:Carbon fiber/polypropylene composite foams were prepared by microcellular injection molding using nitrogen as a foaming agent. The effects of nitrogen content, injection speed, and CF content on the morphology and tensile properties of the composite foams were investigated. A three‐layer structure was formed in the microcellular foams: the skin layer was solid, the intermediate layer contained stretched cells parallel to the flow direction, and the core layer consisted of spherical cells. The average cell diameter of the machine direction decreased from 41 to 34 μm as the nitrogen content increased from 0.5 to 1 wt%, increased from 34 to 43 μm as the injection speed increased from 50 to 150 mm/s, and decreased from 34 to 25 μm as the CF content increased from 10 to 30 wt%. Thus, the microcellular structure was improved by increasing the nitrogen and CF content and by decreasing the injection speed. Furthermore, when the CF content increased from 10 to 30 wt%, the Young's modulus of the solids and foams increased by 78% and 113%, respectively. Thus, the Young's modulus of the foams improved by 35% due to the improvement in the cellular structure. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:1371–1380 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers
ISSN:0032-3888
1548-2634
DOI:10.1002/pen.25120