Thesis (MScIng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

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Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 107 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-101).

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Thesis (MEng (Industrial Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / This thesis represents the results of a study for the use of conformal cooling in blow mould design. As a part of this, design case studies and comparative experiments were conducted to determine the difference in performance of blow moulds incorporating conventional cooling and those with conformal cooling. The cooling configurations are compared using simulation to identify the shortcomings of conventional cooling. In addition modern manufacturing methods able to manufacture complex conformal cooling designs, are evaluated. The relevant cooling principles are explained using mould designing handbooks as well as heat flow handbooks. The tie between them is made and the differences explained. The moulding cycles of injection as well as blow moulding process are explained and the applicable simulation software used in these fields is described.

The occurrence of deformation in plastic bottles is a common problem in the bottling industry where bottles are blow molded, hot filled at high temperatures and sealed. Plastics have unique properties that make it difficult to predict when and why such changes may occur. The root cause of such deformation is unknown by many bottle producers and recent attempts have been made to minimize the occurrence of such defects. The purpose of this research is to determine which variables involved in the bottle production process influence bottle shape. Earlier variables that were tested included both blow molding resin and total bottle sidewall thickness. The result of changing these variables did not create a decrease in defects. The use of an Ishikawa fishbone diagram identified hot filling temperature a major variable that influences final bottle shape. This research summarizes the results of a series of tests that were developed to observe the effect of hot filling temperature on final bottle shape. A positive correlation between sidewall deflection and liquid hot filling temperature was observed. A series of tensile tests were also developed to analyze the strength of various regions of a blow molded bottle. An early Pareto Analysis determined that the parting line is more susceptible to defects than any other region of the bottle. This weakness was confirmed after the tensile tests proved that there is a statistically significant difference between measurements on the sidewall and parting line (pvalue < .001). The results of this thesis highlight the consequences of arbitrarily choosing a filling temperature with little understanding of the bottle's strength at high temperatures. Plastic bottle producers and hot filling companies should unite to determine the appropriate hot filling temperature before bottles are molded and filled.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-167).

The growing negative impacts of non-biodegradable plastics derived from non-renewable materials have created increasing interest throughout the world for new materials that are both biodegradable and renewable, that can be combined with or replace traditional plastics. Plant-based thermoplastic starch (TPS), a promising alternative material to traditional petroleum based resin, is both biodegradable and renewable and has great potential for use in plastic manufacturing processes. Two major obstacles that prevent more widespread use of TPS include; TPS base material, which is typically manufactured in a flake or powder, is incompatible with standard plastics production equipment that require pelletized resin, the second reason is that TPS is difficult to mix with standard plastic materials such as High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). BiologiQ of Blackfoot Idaho through a unique manufacturing process has created a new type of TPS called EcoStarch™ Resin (ESR) that overcomes these two obstacles the material can be both pelletized and combined with various standard base plastics such as HDPE. This study evaluated and characterized the processability materials properties of ESR and HDPE blends in the Extrusion Blow Molding (EBM) by measuring wall thickness, tensile strength, tensile elongation, modulus of elongation and formability compared to 100% HDPE bottles. As the ESR content increased the uniformity of the wall thickness increased. The tensile strength increased from ESR content of 30% to 50% while the elongation decreased. Bottles were successfully extrusion blow molded with ESR content of 50%.

Le procédé d'injection soufflage est rendu accessible aux presses d'injection standard à travers le procédé d'injection soufflage cycle chaud, sans stockage puis réchauffe de la préforme. Le but étant de rendre accessible la production de petites séries de pièces creuses à des entreprises possédant un parc machine de presse à injecter. Les pièces sont réalisées en polypropylène et sont soufflées juste après avoir été injectées. Ce processus implique que la préforme se doit d'être suffisamment malléable pour être soufflée mais suffisamment visqueuse pour éviter de se rompre durant la phase de soufflage. Ces contraintes conduisent à une fenêtre de mise en oeuvre réduite, comprise entre la température de fusion du polymère et la température de cristallisation, soit le domaine ou le polypropylène est à l'état amorphe et suffisamment froid pour avoir une viscosité conséquente sans cristalliser. Ce procédé cycle chaud implique des gradients de température, de grands taux d'étirages et d'importantes cinétiques de refroidissement. Des mesures de rhéométrie à l'état fondu sont réalisées pour identifier le comportement de la matière dans la plage de température du procédé, de même que des tests de calorimétrie différentielle. L'observation du procédé et l'étude de la cristallisation du matériau permettent de supposer que ce dernier reste à l'état fondu durant la phase de soufflage. Un modèle rhéologique de Cross est utilisé, avec la dépendance thermique prise en compte par une loi d'Arrhénius. Le procédé est simulé à l'aide d'un logiciel de calcul par éléments finis dédié aux écoulements de fluides complexes (POLYFLOW) dans l'espace de travail ANSYS Workbench. La géométrie autorise une approche axisymétrique, facilitant ainsi la modélisation. Le calcul transitoire est lancé sous conditions anisothermes et l'auto-échauffement est considéré. Des études de sensibilité sont réalisées et révèlent l'influence de paramètres procédé tels que le comportement du matériau, la pression de soufflage et le champ de température initial. Des mesures d'épaisseurs sont réalisées en utilisant une méthode de traitement d'image permettant l'analyse des images numérisées de pièces découpées et des images issues de tomographie X des pièces. Les résultats simulés sont comparés aux mesures expérimentales. Le modèle présente les mêmes tendances que les mesures. L'existence de déformations élongationnelles, mais aussi par cisaillement lors du soufflage après contact avec le moule, est discutée. Une boucle d'optimisation est mise en place afin de déterminer numériquement la géométrie optimale de préforme. Des points de contrôle sont placés le long de la préforme et l'algorithme d'optimisation modifie les épaisseurs à ces points. / Single stage injection blow molding process, without preform storage and reheat, could be run on a standard injection molding machine, with the aim of producing short series of specific hollow parts. The polypropylene bottles are blown right after being injected. The preform has to remain sufficiently malleable to be blown while being viscous enough to avoid being pierced during the blow molding stage. These constraints lead to a small processing window, and so the process takes place between the melting temperature and the crystallization temperature, where the polypropylene is in his molten state but cool enough to enhance its viscosity without crystallizing. This single stage process introduces temperature gradients, molecular orientation, high stretch rate and high cooling rate. Melt rheometry tests were performed to characterize the polymer behavior in the temperature range of the process, as well as Differential Scanning Calorimetry. A viscous Cross model is used with the thermal dependence assumed by an Arrhenius law. The process is simulated through a finite element code (POLYFLOW) in the Ansys Workbench framework. The geometry allows an axisymmetric approach. The transient simulation is run under anisothermal conditions and viscous heating is taken into account. Thickness measurements using image analysis are done and the simulation results are compared to the experimental ones. The experimental measurements are done by analizing tomography datas. The simulation shows good agreements with the experimental results. The existence of elongational strain as well as shear strain during the blowing after contact with the mold is discussed. An optimization loop is run to determine an optimal initial thickness repartition by the use of a Predictor/Corrector method to minimize a given objective function. Design points are defined along the preform and the optimization modifies the thickness at these locations. This method is compared to the Downhill Simplex Method and shows better efficiency.