UROP Project

Experimental determination of the pvT behaviour of polyamide (PA) for the validation of a mould cavity pressure control system

Natural fluctuations occur in every process. In particular, the increasing use of recycled materials for resource conservation and sustainability in production of plastic parts increase the occurrence of these fluctuations in the process. Control strategies are used to avoid these instabilities and still ensure constant, reproducible part quality. The control of the process is intended to compensate for these fluctuations. Defined process fluctuations can be simulated and provoked by material changes between plastic types of different viscosities in order to validate new control strategies. Different PA types will be used to investigate the behaviour of the process with materials of different viscosities. It will be your task to maesure the material behaviour of different PA types and thus build up the necessary knowledge. The knowledge is essential to analyse and interpret the measured data of the machine and process parameters during the validation of the process control.

Task

Your work schedule: - Selection of two different PA types of similar viscosity based on a short research - Determination of the pvT behaviour on the injection moulding machine and a pvT measuring cell - Evaluation of your experiments as well as preparation of the results for provision in the control software - Documentation of your work What you learn from us - Operating an injection moulding machine and measuring technology - Structured evaluation of the determined data - Understanding of material behaviour and the injection moulding process - Scientific work and writing of scientific texts as good preparation for more extensive student research projects

Requirements

Basic knowledge in plastics processing, especially injection moulding beneficial, but not mandatory. Motivation and enjoying practical work are required.