Optical monitoring of polyesters injection molding

An optical fiber sensor similar to the one developed by Thomas and Bur(1) was constructed for the monitoring of the crystallization of three polyesters during the injection molding process. The polyesters Studied were: polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). With this optical system it was possible to obtain, in real time, some essential parameters of the polyester crystallization kinetics at different processing conditions. Thus a study of the influence of injection molding variables on the noniso-thermal crystallization kinetics of these polyesters was done. The processing variables were: mold wall and injection temperatures, T-w and T-i, respectively; flow rate, Q; and holding pressure, P-h The experiments were done following a first order central composite design statistical analysis. The morphology of the samples was analyzed by polarized light optical microscopy, PLOM. The signal of the laser beam during the filling and the crystallization stages of the injection molding of these materials was found to be reproducible. The measurements showed that this system was sensitive to variations of the crystallization of different types of polymers under different processing conditions. The system was not able, however, to monitor the crystallization process when the crystallinity degree developed by the sample was very low, as in the PET resin. It was also observed that T-w and Ti were the most influential variables on the crystallization kinetics of PBT and PTT. Due to its slower crystallization kinetics, PTT was found to be more sensitive to changes in these parameters than the PBT. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.