Advisory Committee Chair
Uday Vaidya
Advisory Committee Members
Burton Patterson
Derrick Dean
Selvum Brian Pillay
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2008
Degree Name by School
Master of Science in Materials Engineering (MSMtE) School of Engineering
Abstract
This work focuses on experimental studies and process modeling pertaining to pultrusion of glass reinforced thermoplastic composites. The experimental work focuses on optimizing the process and investigating process variables which are relevant to the processing of commingled glass polypropylene (PP) fibers. Several parameters affecting the quality of the pultruded parts were identified. A laboratory scale thermoplastic pultrusion machine was set up and glass/PP pultruded composite profiles were fabricated using commingled yarns for different processing variables. The pultrusion process includes tows of commingled fibers, preheater, heating die, chiller and a pulling mechanism. The work describes the process conditions that govern the pultrusion of PP reinforced glass fibers and their behavior on the final properties. The process variables investigated were the number of tows, die temperature, pulling force and pulling speed. Optical microscopy and mechanical testing including flexural strength and modulus have been conducted to evaluate the structure-process-property relationships. Finite element modeling (FEM) study showed that the temperature of the composite in the pultrusion process correlated well with the experiment, hence validating the process.
Recommended Citation
Kamble, Vishal D., "Optimization Of Thermoplastic Pultrusion Process Using Commingled Fibers" (2008). All ETDs from UAB. 3598.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/3598