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Laser sintering kinetics and part reliability are critically dependent on the melt viscosity of materials, including polyamide 12 (PA‐12). The purpose of this paper is to characterise the viscosity of PA‐12 powders using alternative scientific methods: constrained boundary flows (capillary rheometry) and rotational rheometry.

Various PA‐12 powders were selected and characterised by both techniques. Measurement of molecular weight was also carried out to interpret the viscosity data.

Results demonstrate conventional pseudoplastic flow in all PA‐12 materials. Zero‐shear viscosity has been quantified by rotational rheometry; a notable observation is the striking difference between virgin/used PA‐12. This is interpreted in terms of molecular weight and chain structure modifications, arising from polycondensation of PA‐12 held at the bed temperature during laser sintering.

Accurate zero‐shear viscosity data provide scope for use in predictive computational models for laser sintering processes. Careful sample preparation and equipment operation are critical prerequisites for accurate rheological characterisation of PA‐12 powders.

Differences in flow behaviour and molecular structure allow prediction and deeper understanding of process‐property relationships in laser sintering, giving potential for further optimisation of material specification and in‐process machine parameter control.

This is believed to be the first time that techniques other than melt flow rate (MFR) have been reported to measure the viscosity of PA‐12 in a laser sintering context, noting the effects of pre‐drying and molecular weight, then predicting differences between virgin/used powders in practical sintering behaviour.

Oil film thickness measurements made in the front main bearing of an operating 3.8 L, V‐6 engine were compared with rheological measurements made on a series of commercial and experimental oil blends. High‐temperature, high‐shear‐rate viscosity measurements correlated with the film thickness of all single‐grade and many multigrade oils. However, the film thickness provided by some multigrade oils were larger than could be accounted for by their high‐temperature, high‐shear‐rate viscosities alone. Although the pressure/viscosity coefficients of some of the oils were significantly different from those of the majority of oils tested, they were not oils which produced unusual film thicknesses. As a consequence, correcting oil viscosities for the esimated pressures acting within the bearing was unsuccessful in improving the correlations. The correlations were improved, however, by accounting for the elastic properties of the multigrade oils. Measurements of oil relaxation times at high temperatures and shear rates showed large differences in elastic properties among the test oils. A good correlation (R2 = 0.73) was obtained from a multiple linear regression of film thickness as a function of both high‐temperature, high‐shear‐rate viscosities and relaxation times.

A brief review of the conditions to which a crankcase oil is subjected during engine operation is given prior to a consideration of the relevance of the current SAE J300 viscosity classification to the needs of today's engines. Regarding the high‐temperature part, it is concluded that the current classification based on the low‐shear‐rate kinematic viscosity at 100°C provides a useful guide to oil consumption and a convenient means of evaluating used oils; it is, however, unsatisfactory as a guide to the fuel consumption and journal‐bearing performance of polymer‐containing oils. Whilst modification of J300 to include high‐shear‐rate viscosity limits could provide a classification relevant to the fuel consumption of such oils, knowledge of the complicated effects of both elasticity and viscosity on load‐bearing capacity, although increasing, is currently incomplete and it will be some years yet before J300 could be usefully modified to provide a guide to the rheological performance of oils in automotive journal bearings.

This paper aims to prepare good waterborne light-diffusion dip-coatings (WLDDC) for the glass lampshade inner walls of LED lamp tubes, the effects of viscosities and viscous flow activation energies on these dip-coatings were investigated.

The WLDDC were prepared using white pigments, light-diffusion agents, additives and an acrylic emulsion. The dip-coatings were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and a digital rotational viscometer, respectively. The effects of shear rates, temperatures and solids contents on the viscosities of the dip-coatings were studied. The viscous flow activation energies of these dip-coatings and the emulsion were calculated, compared and studied, respectively.

The results showed that the non-Newtonian behaviors of these dip-coatings were more prominent than that of the acrylic emulsion. When the temperature was maintained to be a constant and the shear rate was increased, the viscosity decreased and the shear stress increased. When the shear rate was maintained to be a constant, the viscosity decreased with increasing temperatures. The viscous flow activation energies of these dip-coatings decreased with the increasing shear rates. The higher solid contents of WLDDC were, the more its viscosity would decrease with the increasing shear rates, the more prominent its non-Newtonian behaviors would show.

A sample of good WLDDC with balanced properties was illustrated.

This investigation benefits to investigate waterborne environment-friendly dip-coatings for the inner glass walls of lamp tubes. This research provides an approach to optimize the viscosity parameters of light-diffusion dip-coatings.

Refers to how the mechanical properties of polymer‐based composite objects produced via rapid layered fabrication methods can be improved significantly using short discontinuous fibres as reinforcements. Notes in this context, that the viscosity of the uncured fibre‐photopolymer composite liquids affects the raw‐material handling, the layer formation and the draining operations. Assesses the effects of aspect ratio, surface coating and volume fraction of short glass fibres on the viscosity of the fibre‐photopolymer composite liquids. Based on extensive experimentation and analysis, concludes that the shear viscosity of the composite liquids increases with increasing fibre‐volume fraction, showing that this effect is more pronounced at low shear rates than at high shear rates. Reveals, similarly, that the aspect ratio of the dispersed fibres has a stronger effect on the increase of viscosity at low shear rates and that the surface coating of the dispersed fibres also affects the viscosity of the composite liquids.

The purpose of the paper is to develop a methodology to characterize the rheological behaviour of macroscopic non-Brownian suspensions, like solder paste, based on microstructural evolution.

A structure-based kinetics model, whose parameters are derived analytically based on assumptions valid for any macroscopic suspension, is developed to describe the rheological behaviour of a given fluid. The values of the parameters are then determined based on experiments conducted at a constant shear rate. The parameter values, obtained from the model, are then adjusted using an optimization algorithm using the mean deviation from experiments as the cost function to replicate the measured rheology. A commercially available solder paste is used as the test fluid for the proposed method.

The initial parameter values obtained through the analytical model indicates a structural breakdown that is much slower than observations. But optimizing the parameter values, especially the ones associated with the structural breakdown, replicates the thixotropic behaviour of the solder paste reasonably well, but it fails to capture the structure build-up during the three interval thixotropy test.

The structural kinetics model tends to under-predict the structure build-up rate.

This study details a more realistic prediction of the rheological behaviour of macroscopic suspensions like solder paste, thermal interface materials and other functional materials. The proposed model can be used to characterize different solder pastes and other functional fluids based on the structure build-up and breakdown rates. The model can also be used as the viscosity definitions in numerical simulations instead of simpler models like Carreau–Yasuda and cross-viscosity models.

The rheological description of the solder paste is critical in determining its validity for a given application. The methodology described in the paper provides a better description of thixotropy without relying on the existing rheological measurements or the behaviour predicted by a standard power-law model. The proposed model can also provide transient viscosity predictions when shear rates vary in time.

This study considers both a single and multi‐mode viscoelastic analysis for wire‐coating flows. The numerical simulations utilise a finite element time‐stepping technique, a Taylor‐Petrov‐Galerkin/pressure‐correction scheme employing both coupled and decoupled procedures between stress and kinematic fields. An exponential Phan‐Thein/Tanner model is used to predict pressure‐drop and residual stress for this process. Rheometrical data fitting is performed for steady shear and pure extensional flows, considering both high and low density polyethylene melts. Simulations are conducted to match experimental pressure‐drop/flowrate data for a contraction flow. Then, for a complex industrial wire‐coating flow, stress and pressure drop are predicted numerically and quantified. The benefits are extolled of the use of a multi‐mode model that can incorporate a wide‐range discrete relaxation spectrum to represent flow response in complex settings. Contrast is made between LDPE and HDPE polymers, and dependency on individual relaxation modes is identified in its contribution to overall flow behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to present the establishment of a computational fluid dynamics model for investigating different non-Newtonian rheological models of solder pastes by simulating solder paste viscosity measurement. A combined material model was established which can follow the measured, apparent viscosity values with lower error.

The model included a parallel plate arrangement of rheometers. The diameter of the plate was 50 mm, whereas the gap between the plates was 0.5 mm. Only one quarter of the plate was modelled to enable using fine enough mesh, while keeping the calculation time low. Non-Newtonian properties were set using user defined function in Ansys, based on the Cross and Carreau–Yasuda material models. The viscosity values predicted by the mathematical models were compared to measured viscosity values of different types of solder pastes.

It was found that the Cross model predicts the apparent viscosity with a relatively high error (even approximately 50 per cent) at lower shear rates, whereas the Carerau–Yasuda model has higher errors at higher shear rates. The application of the proposed, combined model can result in a much lower error in the apparent viscosity between the calculated and measured viscosity values.

The error of Cross and Carreau–Yasuda material models has not been investigated yet in details. The proposed, combined material model can be applied for subsequent simulations via the described UDF, e.g. in the numerical modelling of the stencil printing. This can result in a more accurate modelling of the stencil printing process, which is inevitable considering the printing of solder paste for today fine-pitch, small size components.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel unstructured simulation approach for injection molding processes described by the Hele‐Shaw model.

The scheme involves dual dynamic meshes with active and inactive cells determined from an initial background pointset. The quasi‐static pressure solution in each timestep for this evolving unstructured mesh system is approximated using a control volume finite element method formulation coupled to a corresponding modified volume of fluid method. The flow is considered to be isothermal and non‐Newtonian.

Supporting numerical tests and performance studies for polystyrene described by Carreau, Cross, Ellis and Power‐law fluid models are conducted. Results for the present method are shown to be comparable to those from other methods for both Newtonian fluid and polystyrene fluid injected in different mold geometries.

With respect to the methodology, the background pointset infers a mesh that is dynamically reconstructed here, and there are a number of efficiency issues and improvements that would be relevant to industrial applications. For instance, one can use the pointset to construct special bases and invoke a so‐called “meshless” scheme using the basis. This would require some interesting strategies to deal with the dynamic point enrichment of the moving front that could benefit from the present front treatment strategy. There are also issues related to mass conservation and fill‐time errors that might be addressed by introducing suitable projections. The general question of “rate of convergence” of these schemes requires analysis. Numerical results here suggest first‐order accuracy and are consistent with the approximations made, but theoretical results are not available yet for these methods.

This novel unstructured simulation approach involves dual meshes with active and inactive cells determined from an initial background pointset: local active dual patches are constructed “on‐the‐fly” for each “active point” to form a dynamic virtual mesh of active elements that evolves with the moving interface.

Paints (surface coatings), primarily used to protect various substrates from the corroding action of acidic and alkaline substances, largely contain polymers as coating formulations. Examples of generally used polymers are: butadiene based (space), epoxy resins and silicone fluids (concrete vinyl polymers and polyurethanes (optical fibres) alkyds and acrylics (electronics) and polyester resins (wood, metal and fibre‐glass reinforcements). The binder‐pigment interaction controls important properties like hardness, flexibility, permeability, adhesion, gloss, and mechanical properties and contributes finally to the success or otherwise of the paint as a protective surface‐coating. Excellence of pigment dispersion and paint performance are thus intimately related.