DETERMINATION OF EFFECT ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF POLYPROPYLENE PRODUCT OF MOLDING MATERIALS USING TAGUCHI METHOD

Abstract

The mechanical properties of the plastic products can be also affected through mold materials in addition to polymer materials properties. In this study, the effect of injection parameters such as melt temperature, packing pressure, cooling time and injection pressure with mold materials on the mechanical properties of Polypropylene (PP) moldings was searched. Mold materials having two different thermal conductivities, aluminum 2000 series and AISI 1020 were selected to use in experimental studies. Taguchi's L9(34) orthogonal array design was employed for the experimental plan. Mechanical properties of PP specimens such as elasticity module, tensile strength at yield, flexural strength and izod impact strength (notched) were measured by using some test methods. Signal to noise ratio for mechanical properties of PP using the Taguchi method was calculated and effect of the parameters on mechanical properties was determined using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). It was observed that there were effects of different mold materials and injection parameters on the mechanical properties of plastic products according to S/N and ANOVA results.