Plastic Injection Molding and various 3D printing processes involve heating polymeric materials to a flowable state above their glass transition temperature. This process requires tight temperature control to ensure optimal quality of the produced part. The thermodynamic processes involved in this operation are extremely complex and highly dependent on the materials used, environmental conditions, deposition/flow rates, etc. As such, optimization for these processes can be challenging and a thorough understanding of the thermophysical properties of the system and feedstock are therefore crucial. In particular, thermal conductivity (k) plays a key role in terms of modeling the thermal management of these processes and the related cooling kinetics, which can affect the quality of the formed part.
Plastic Injection Molding
There are a wide variety of materials that can be used in these processes, each of which have their own unique thermal properties. To add to this, each material can behave differently at elevated temperatures, most notably close to their respective melting points. Some of the most common materials used in these processes have melting points of 200+ ºC+. It is therefore critical to have representative thermal data under these conditions. Traditional methods for thermal conductivity characterization may be suitable for the lower temperature range while the material is in its solid form, however, many of these techniques do not translate well for higher temperatures. Even methods geared towards high temperature applications (i.e., laser flash) are not ideal for this class of material due to the setup and measurement process involved.
C-Therm’s New TLS-HT-300 Sensor
For testing of polymer melts, C-Therm recommends the use of the Transient Line Source (TLS) needle probe. During this webinar, we will discuss the use of a variety of transient methods for thermal characterization and the applicability of each depending on intended use. We will also highlight the use of C-Therm’s new TLS-HT-300 sensor, capable of testing up to 300 °C. The robust design makes it unequivocally the best solution for testing sticky/tacky melts, as well as more traditional uses such as viscous liquids and various geological materials in accordance with both ASTM D5930 and D5334.
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