Feasibility Study Of Reprocessed Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) And Optimization Of Injection Moulding Parameters Via Taguchi Method

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Date
2011-07
Authors
Ng, Chin Fei
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Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
To date, plastic manufacturers all over the world are burdened with environmental and waste management issues revolving around the efficient disposal of the post-industrial plastic waste. Tremendous efforts are aimed at facilitating the plastic recycling to a greater extent in accordance to the strict regulation of ISO 14001. In this research, usability of reprocessed acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) as substitute for virgin ABS was investigated by evaluating the effect of blending compositions of recycled ABS and reprocessing on tensile, rheological and morphological properties. A good balance between properties and reprocess-ability of recycled plastic which ensures its reuse over long production runs is absolutely necessary. Optimization design of the injection moulding parameters for reprocessed ABS ring stopper via the integration of numerical simulation and Taguchi method is presented. Considering the functionality and application of the product, hoop tensile strength, elongation at break, and shrinkage are selected as the performance measure of the ring stopper. In this research, a preliminary simulation experiment was conducted with an L27 orthogonal array (OA) to screen the significant parameters and the optimal combination of the processing parameters is identified with the use of L9 OA, main effects analysis and ANOVA in the optimization experiment. As results showed the hoop tensile strength, elongation at break, and shrinkage of the reprocessed ABS ring stopper at optimal process conditions were improved up to the level close to that of virgin ABS. The experimental findings implied that an experimental design based on the integration of numerical simulation and Taguchi method is capable to enhance the performance of reprocessed plastics with a minimum number of experiment trials where shorter setup time and lower processing cost is needed.
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Keywords
Reprocessed acrylonitrile butadiene styrene , optimization of injection moulding parameters
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