CA1241170A - Method of forming blanks for the solid-phase forming of thermoplastic articles - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract An improved, essentially scrap-free, solid-phase process for making thermoplastic articles directly from a resinous material powder. The process can be particularly advantageous in forming large parts by compressing the powder into briquettes, sintering the briquettes, repressing the briquettes when in a heated condition into blanks and then shaping the blanks into a preform which can then be thermoformed into a product such as a container, assuming the blank itself is not the desired end product.
Alternatively, sintering can take place after repressing with preheating of the briquette prior to the repressing step.

27,818-F -?-

Description

7~) IMPROVED METHOD OF FORMING BLANKS FOR lh~
SOLID-PHASE FORMING OF THERMOPLASTIC ARTICLE$

U.S. Patent No. 4,323,531 discloses the formation of thermoplastic articles from a polymeric resinous powder which is compr~ssed into a briguette, sintered and then forged and, if desired, formed into S an article. The process is essentially scrap-free, and the need to go through a melt-forming stage is avoided.
While the aforesaid process can readily form satis-factory products from most thermoplastic resinous powders, difficulties in doing so a~ acceptable production speeds with some resinous powders and for large parts can be experienced. The present invention improves the process so that forging of ~lanks (from bri~uettes~ into preforms which have essentially no voids, cracks or defects and have the prerequisite toughness can be accomplished with satisfactory rapidity even with large parts. Accordingly, the present invention resides in an improved essentially scrapless process in which the steps of the operation of forming are simplified. In the process of the 27, 818-F -1-/

invention, thermoplastic resinous powders are formed at production speeds directly into products of high quality even where th~ resinous powders are basically difficult to form.

More par-ticularly, the present invention comprises a process fox forming thermoplastic resinous powders directly into products at production speeds without reguiring processing through a complete melt stage. One particular advantage of the process of the invention is that large parts can be readily manufactured.
The steps of the process include the formation of a briquette from a sufficient quantity of thermoplastic polymPric resinous powder for making t~e desired article by compressing the powder into a briquette, sintering the briquette for a-time and temperature to accomplish more than about 20 percent melting but less than about 90 percent melting of the crystallinity of the original resinous powder, recompressing the briquette in a warm and, preferably, vented repress tool to form a blank and then forging the blank into a preform which is then thermoformable by standard thermoforming techniyues into a finished article, unless the resulting preform is already in the configuration of the final article desired. The percent melting in the sintering step should be from 20 to 90 percent while the preferred range of melting in sintering step can be from 40 to 80 percent. The powder which is formed into briquettes can be at room temperature or can be preheated where it is determined that such will accelerate the total processing operation. In one alternate method of the invention, sintering can take place after recompressing, with preheating of the briquette prior to the recompressin~
- step.

27,818-~ -2-.

/

7~

The invention particularly resides in a process for forming an arti.cle from a thermopl.astic polymeric resinous powder, wherein a quantity of said powder sufficient for making said article is compressed into a briquette having green strength, comprising the steps of (a) preheating said briquette such that the temperature in the center of the briquette is less than the melt temperature of the powder forming the briquette, (b) repressing the briquette while at about the same temperature to form a blank;
(c) applying additional heat to the blank such that the center thereof is at a temperature range higher than that of step (a) bu-t still less than the melt temperature, (d) maintaining the higher temperature for a period sufficient to soften and sinter the blank to accomplish more than about 20% melting but less -than about 90% melting of the crystallinity oE the resinous powder; and (e) forging the blank into said article while the blank is at said higher temperature to effect substantial plug flow deformation of the blank and obtain substantial fusion of the powder forming said blank.
The invention additionally resides in a process for Eorm-ing an article Erom a thermoplastic polymeric resinous powder, wherein a quantity of said powder sufficient fo:r making said article is compressed into a briquette having green strength, com-prising the steps of (a) heating the briquette to a temperature in the range from above room temperature to less than the melt temperature of . . ~

the resinous powder and maintaining said temperature for a period sufficient to soften and sin-ter the briquet-te to accomplish more than about 20% melting but less than about 90% melting of the crystallinity of the resinous powder;
(b) repressing the briquette at the same temperature range to form a blank; and (c~ forging the blank into said article while the blank is at a temperature within the temperature range to effect sub-stantial fusion of the resinous powder forming said blank.
Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the steps of the prior invention over which this present invention is an improvement. The steps are designated A through E, wherein a powder of a resinous material is formed into a preform and then into a container.
Figure 2 is a similar diagrammatic representa-tion of the steps of the present invention designated as AA through GG, wherein a powder of a resinous material is formed into a preform and sub-sequently into a container as in Step E of Figure 1, if desired~
Figure 3 is a similar diagrammatic representation of the steps of a modified process of -this invention herein designated as steps AAA through FFF. Here again, subsequent thermoforming into containers can also be achieved as in Step E of Figure 1, if desired.
Figures 4 to 6 illustrate various mechanical properties of the products made by this invention as inflwenced by the sintering step.
The following terms used in this application have the following meaning:

..b.

~5~ ~2~

"Sinterlng" is the process by which an assembly of particles, compact~d under pressure, physically and/or chemically bond themselves across contacting particle interfaces or boundaries into a 5 coherent body under the influence of elevated tempera-ture for a pariod of time, without complete melting generally occurring.

"Forging" is the process whereby resin particles are fused into a preform or article which has 10 generally the same density and generally the same or improved mechanical properties that it would have if made by conventional melt forming processes.

"Plug flow" is the condition in which a blank deforms in an essentially multi-axial stretching mode 15 such that the velocity gradient through the thickness of the material is relatively constant. This is in contrast to the usual parabolic flow pattern observed in conventional molding of poly~ers in a viscous state where the velocity varies from zero at the mold surface 20 to a maximum near the mold center. Plug flow is the condition where the relative constant velocity through the thickness of the material is achieved by reducing the frictional drag at the mold surface. This can be conveniently accomplished by placing a lubricant 25 between the blank and the contacting metal surfaces since few presently known resins are sufficiently self~
lubricating for this purpose.

"Green strength" means having a compactness and adhesion of resinous powder in the briquette ~ 30 sufficient to enable the powder to be moved as a unit J without support.

27,818-F _5_ 6 ~ 7~
.

"Crystallinity" means the extent to which the material in a given sample is arranged in generally reyular, periodic arrays, commonly known as crystals.
Determinations of crystallinity are usually made by measurement of sample density, heat absorbed on melting, or intensity of discrete x-ray diffraction patterns.

"Degree of melting" means the percentage of the original crystallinity in a crystalline thermoplastic material which is melted during a heat treating step.
For example, an unheated specimen will have a degree of melting equal to zero percent while a completely melted specimen will have a degree of melting equal to 100 percent.

"Repressing" or "recompressing" means a recompaction of the resinous material powder without significant deformation of the original briguette which was initially compacted into a briguette. The material of the briquette, while warm, is further densified during such recompaction to form a blank.

"Melting point" or "peak melt temperature"
(Tp) means that temperature indica-ted by the maximum in the melting endothermic peak as seen in the customary differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) measurement.

"Alpha transition temperature" (T~j for amorphous polymers is considered to be the glass txansition. In the case of crystalline polymers, it is taken as an energy loss peak associated with the crystalline region often observed at a temperature of from 50C to 100C below the melting point of the polymer.

27,818-F -6--7~

"Preheating" means heating a bri~uette at a temperature below Tp, preferably such that little or no melting of the crystal structure of the resinous material powdex occurs.

Figure 1 is a schematic depictation of a solid phase process for forming preforms directly from a resinous material powder 10 as described in detail in U.S~ Patent No. 4,323,531. For purposes of this description, such process is identified as Method I.
Briefly, a quantity of a resinous material powder 10 sufficient to make a finished product is measured at Step A and is thereafter compressed in Step B into a briquette 12. The briquette is heated in Step C to a temperature in the range from about the alpha transition temperature to less than the melt temperature thereof and is thereafter maintained at that temperature for a period of time sufficient to soften the bri~uette and sinter the same short of substantial fusion thereof to form a blank. The blank 12 is then forged in Step D
between plattens 16 into a preform 18 (or a final product where the preform can take the shape of the finishecl article desired). While the blanX is forged, it is at a temperature within the above stated temperature range to affect sl~stantial plug flow deformation of the blank and obtain substantial fusion of the powder comprising the blank to form the preform or final product. If formed as a prefonm, the preform 18 can be transferred to a thermoforming die 22 and can then be formed into a container 20 or other product by con-ventional thermoforming techni~ues as illustrated atstep E.

While Method I works well for some resinous material powders, it has been found to have some 27,818-F -7--8~

limitations in forming products from certain resinous powders. Some powders are difficult to compact into a briguette. Some develop voids during forging. Long heating times are required because of resin expansion before densification of the resin particles. The process of Method I can sometimes be slower than desired for production applications. The processes of the present invention, hereafter described, have been able to accomplish the formability of such difficult-to-handle thermoplastic materials and especially large parts while at the same time speeding up the ~orming process.

One embodiment of the process of the present invention is Method Il, illustrated in Figure 2. In this method an amount of resinous powder 24, sufficient to form a desired articIe, is provided at Step AA. The powder is at room temperature and is compacted at Step BB
into a briquette 26 having green strength. Compaction pressures and compaction dwell times are basically the same as those used in the prior art; i.e., Method I of 7 20 Figure 1. The bri~uette 26 is then placed into an enyironment for heating, such as a circulating air oven or an in~ra-red oven or a radio frequency heater, where it is preheated at Step CC. When the temperature at the center of the briquette 26 reaches a temperature which is preferably from 15 to 35 degrees below Tp, the preheated briguette is removed from the oven and repressed in Step DD at a temperature above room temperature in a repress tool to form a blank.
Obviously, the repress tool can also be at about the same temperature as the briquette itself. Venting or evacuation can be used during either the compaction or repressing steps.
.

27,818-F -8--9~

Immediately after repressing, the hot blank 26 obtained at Step DD, can he cooled at Step EE for further processing at a later time or can be taken directly to another oven, for example, like that used in Step CC. Here, however, the blank 26 is kept in the oven until it has reached a degree of melting of the resinous material in the blank of from 20 to 90 percent.
; Noxmally, this will put the center of the blank at a temperature no greater than 1 or 2 degrees below Tp, and no significant melt flow is occurring. The sintered blank can then be forged (solid phase formed) at Step GG
into a preform or article 28. A traditional thermoforming step can be added if preform 28 is not in the shape of the finished article at Step GG. For example, for typical high molecular weight high density polyethylene, th~ repress tool can be heated to a temperature of from 100 to 135C. Repress pressures are customarily between 210 to 700 kg/cm2 with a dwell period of about 5 seconds.
~epress tool temperatures are not critical provided the blank is not chilled before the- repressing occurs.
High repress tool temperatures, while possible, may be undesirable since the blank could stick to the repress tool and woulc~ thus be hard to remove. ~owever, lubri-cakion of the tool surfaces with a lubricant such as a silicone coating can significantly eliminate sticking.

A major difference between Method II of this invention and Method I of Figure l, is that the bric~ette before sintering is preheated and repressed in a wa~m tool. The reason that repressing is not done at a melt phase temperature is so that no significant plasticizing occurs at khe repressing step in this solid-phase forming process. Thus, the basic shape of the bxic~uette is not changed during the repress operation. The repressing 27,818-F -9-~10-step serves to densify the briquette (to form the blank) in a way that helps minimize voids, cracXs or defects which might otherwise occur. This results in a blank requiring a shorter sinter time.

Larger briquettes made by the above method still tended to crack occasionally and the extra preheat time and additional heating equipment still is somewhat of a disadvantage in the manufacturing operation of large blanks. A modified process of this invention whlch is more rapid and can produce satisfactory large as well as small blanks, is illustrated in Method III of Figure 3.
Here, a resinous material powder 30 sufficient to make an article is provided in Step AAA and compressed in Step BBB into a briquette 32 as in Method II described before. ~ow~ver, the sintering Step CCC occurs before the repressing Step DDD instead of afterwards, thereby eliminating at least one step in the process. The repressing and sintering steps can be done under - substantially the same conditions as in Method II, but only in a reverse order. An optional cooling ~tep EEE
can be included should it be desired to forge the repressed blank 32 into a preform in Step FFF at a later date. Otherwise, the blank 32 from Step DDD is directly transferred to the forging apparatus of Step FFF for forging an article or preform. Subsequent thermoforming of the preform into a container can be achieved as illustrated in Step E of Method I, if desired.

27,818-F -10-Example Using Method III (Figure 3) of -this invention, 50 and 100 gram portions of a high denisty polyethylene ~HDPE? in powder form were compression formed into briguettes having a diameter of 6.35 cm. ~he briquettes were heated and sintered ~Step CCC~ in a circulating air oven at atPJmperature of from 133 to 137C. The samples (shown in Table I below) were then repressed (at Step DDD) at a temperature of 130C in a repress tool with a vacuum applied before and during the repress step. The cycle was conducted for 15 seconds in a vacuum and for 15 seconds of repressing at a pressure of 700 kg/cm2. The 50 gram briquettes were heated and sintered for 80 minutes and the 100 gram briquettes for 120 minutes. After repressing, hot ~lanks formed from the briquettes were hand carried and placed in a 19.7 cm diameter forging tool and forged ; into a preform. The conditions and results are summarized in the following Table 1.

Appearance of Preforms Forged by Method III
50 gm Sample 100 gm Sample Sinter80 Minute 120 Minute 25 TemperatureSinter TimeSinter Time 1 - Some small voids, complete lip.
I - Some small voids, incomplete lip.

2 or II - No voids, complete lip, excellent preform.
III - No voids, complete lip, overheated blank.

27,818-F

TABLE 1 Continued Conditions: Material - HDPE
Repress tool temperature - 130C
Forging platen temperature - 130C
Forging Force - 91 metric tons Forging Dwell time 1 second For -this particular material and forging tool, a temperature of 135C appeared to be the ideal oven temperature for sintering. Additional 150 gram forged preforms made at a t~mperature of 135C had full well-defined lips, glossy surfaces, no thin spots and - no voids. While lower repress die temperatures were not used in this run wi-tA high speed equipment and integrated tooling, it is expected that lower repress die temperatures would eliminate any sticking without chilling of the surface of the blank.
.
A series of additional tests were made with similar results. There seemed to be little difference between the 100 gram and the 50 gram blanks. Repressing the heated bri~uette in a warm repressing tool under vacuum increased -the density about 18%. When cooled, the repressed sample looked like a compression molding.
It was firm, had glossy surfaces, had a convexed top and bottom surfaces and concave vertical surfaces.
When these blanks were forged into preforms immediately after repressing, excellent preforms were obtained.
The forged preforms were then formed into parts wi-thout di~ficulty. The parts were genarally uniform in cross-sections and were free of voids. When a repressed blank was allowed to cool to room temperature and then reheated in an oven for a sufficient period of time, forged and formed, the resulting part had white 27,818-F -12-.

blemishes. However, these blemishes did not have the appearance of voids in the center. The cause of the difference is unknown.

It has been found that the guality of the forged preform improves as the compaction pressure uqed to make the preforms was increased from 70 to about 350 kg/cm2. Above this pressure, little differences were found in processing times, although compaction pressures up to about 1750 kg/cm2 can make briquettes stronger and more abbrasion resistant.

It is desirable to keep the heating times to a minimum in production operations. The use of radio frequency (RF) to heat the interior of a sample and circulating air oven to heat the exterior surfaces has been employed with considerable success. It is also po~sible to decrease the heating time by using thin blanks which are heated individually in a circulating air oven ~nd then stacked upon one another to form a full weight blank. The only problem is that once the hot thin blanks come into contact with one another, they tend to stick so that proper alignment must be maintained.

In the present invention hot briquettes are repressed into blanks without shaping and excellent void-free forged preforms can be made from the blanks which can then be formed into high ~uality pre~orms or articles. If preforms are made they can thereafter be *hermoformed into containers and other articles by conventional the~moforminy techniques.

27,818-F -13--14- ~2~

The high density polyethylene resin which is used in the practice of this invention is a ine, fluffy, low bulk density powder. It has been found to be formabl~
with some dlfficulty, but is still quite operable and practical. Other high-density pol~ethylene powders, including ultra-high molecular weight powders have been evaluated and have been found to be satisfactory. When compacting such powders into a briguette, heating and repressing it into a blank according to the present invention, a defect-free part can be satisfactorily forged and formed. This resin used in the specific examples can be compacted into a briquette using a cold compaction die and no vacuum. ~owever, better results are often obtained when a warmer compaction die and some vacuum is used.

Some comparative tests were run of Methods I, II and III using a somewhat different xesinous powder.
Forty gram portions of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UE~W) powder were compacted into briquettes which were about 6.35 cm in diameter and abqut 2.54 cm high. The conditions were as follows:

Method I
A. The bri~uettes were sintered by placing them in a convection oven set at a peak melting temperature (143C) for 120 minutes.

Method II
A. The bri~uettes were preheated by plac:ing them in a convection oven at a temperature of 110C for 60 minutes (about Tp-33C).

27,818-F -14--15~

B. The bri~uettes were then repressed at a pressure of 7Q0 kg/cm2 for 15 seconds in a compression tool at a temperature ~f 136C to form blanks.

C. The blanks were then cooled to room temperature.

D. The blanks sintering were as in Method IA, above.

Method III
_ A. The briquettes were sintered as in Method IA, abov~.

B. The briguettes were then repressed at a pressure of 700 kg/cm2, for-15 seconds in a compression tool at a temperature of 136C to form blank.

Upon completion of each of the above Methods, the blanks were forged into 19.1 cm diameter disc shaped parts between flat patens at a temperature of 136C by application of a pressure of 315 kg/cm2.
Tensile test specimens were then cut from -these disc shaped parts and tested according to standard ASTM
method D~638. The results are presented below:

Elongation Strength Modulus Method (~ (kq/cm2) (k~/cm2) I 95 658 14,350 II 120 917 17,850 25III 100 1008 16,100 27,818-F -15 -16~

Tests of the three methods were also run at different heating cycles some of which produced unsatisfactory forgings because heating times were too short, or because heating times were too long to melt the parts. The above test was selected to typify comparative results where satisfactory forgings for all three methods were obtained. What it shows is that both Methods II and III resulted generally in forgings with better properties than those made by Method I with this particular material. Method II was found to yield somewhat better properties generally than Method III, but Method III still yielded blanks having excellent properties and had the advantage of being less complex than Method II.

The efect of the degree of melting during sintering on the mechanical properties of a preform during solid-phase forming has been found to be significant. The process of sintering is a progressive one in which three stages may be identified. During the initial stage, the entire briquette is being heated to within a few degrees of Tp or the melting range.
- - Blanks forged after sintering to this stage commonly produce grossly defective preforms in t~at they tend to not fill the mold, have very low values of ultimate extension and are generally quite cloudy due to incomplete fusion of the particles. In the second stage, when the deyree of melting approaches about ~0 percent, the particles at the exterior surface o~ the briguette become completely molten and begin conducting significantly more hea-t to the interior. Forgings produced from blanks at this second stage are normally well~formed and have consistent physical properties.
It has been discovered that if the sintering process is 27,818-F -16-.

-17~

allowed to proceed to a third stage wherein one exceeds about 80 percent and approaches about 90 percent or so of the original crystallinity being melted, the physical properties normally change rapidly with further sintering.
Ultimate elongation (Figure 6) is increased significantly while modulus (FigurP 5) can be decreased by as much as 30 percent. The reasons for these dramatic changes in the final stage of sintering is not clear but may be related to a complete loss of the crys-tal morphology originally presen-t in the resinous material powder.
The effects of degree of melting during sintering on tensile strength, for example, are illustrated in Figure 4. A preform, such as a preform 18, 28 or 34 of Figures 1 to 3, respectively, would have its tensile strength measured after forging where the degree o melting at the conclusion of the sintering step would be measured with the results shown in Figure 4. It was discovered that the maximum tensile strength was reached when the degree of melting of the crystals in the samples was between 20 and 90 percent.

The tensile modulus of these same samples was also measured during the sintering process. From Figure 5 is is evident that the modulus r~emained high until the degree of melting approached about 90 percent.

The tensile elongation of the samples was also measured and again it was found that a satisfaçtory level of elongation was achieved when the degree of melting approached about 20 percent until it approached about 90 percent, as evident Erom Figure 6.

27,818-F -17-~.2~

Balancing the mos-t desirable tensile strength, tensile modulus and tensile elongation mechanical properties it is evident that the physical parameters are subject to rather little change and are in a satis-factory range at melting levels from 20 to 90 percent.
When the degree of melting is in excess of about 90 percent, all three physical parameters were found to change dramatically. For example, between 90 and 100 percent, the ultimate elongation increased by a factor of 2 while the strength decreased by a factor of nearly 1/2. These observations have led to the conclusion that optimal sintering conditions for briquettes of a nature similar to that of high density polyethylene in Method I as well as in Methods II and III of this present invention are such that the degree of melting is between 20 and 90 percent. To insure ma~imum advantages of the processes of this invention, it is preferable to sinter where the degree of melting achieved is from 40 to 80 percent. When a forced air convection oven is used for heating, the oven temperatures can be set to about 3 degrees Centigrade above Tp for faster heating cycles without hindering the process, but residence times for the preforms should not be such that Tp is reached at the center of th b tt s rlque e.

With the present invention numerous materials heretofore not readily formable can be formed in a solid-phase system directly from many crystalline and perhaps some amorphous resinous material powders into thermoplastic preforms and articles. While certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for the purposes of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various 27,818-F -18-" -19-changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scop~3 of the invention.

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Claims (10)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A process for forming an article from a thermoplastic polymeric resinous powder, wherein a quantity of said powder sufficient for making said article is compressed into a briquette having green strength, comprising the steps of (a) preheating said briquette such that the temperature in the center of the briquette is less than the melt temperature of the powder forming the briquette, (b) repressing the briquette while at about the same temperature to form a blank;
(c) applying additional heat to the blank such that the center thereof is at a temperature range higher than that of step (a) but still less than the melt temperature, (d) maintaining the higher temperature for a period sufficient to soften and sinter the blank to accomplish more than about 20% melting but less than about 90% melting of the crystallinity of the resinous powder; and (e) forging the blank into said article while the blank is at said higher temperature to effect substantial plug flow deformation of the blank and obtain substantial fusion of the powder forming said blank.

2. The process of Claim 1, wherein the preheating tempera-ture at the center of the briquette is from 15 to 35 degrees below the melt temperature of the resinous powder.

3. The process of Claim 1 or 2, wherein the degree of melting which occurs during the sintering step (d) is from 20 to 90 percent.

4. The process of Claim 1 or 2, wherein the repressing step (b) is conducted at a pressure of greater than 70 kg/cm2.

5. A process for forming an article from a thermoplastic polymeric resinous powder, wherein a quantity of said powder sufficient for making said article is compressed into a briquette having green strength, comprising the steps of (a) heating the briquette to a temperature in the range from above room temperature to less than the melt temperature of the resinous powder and maintaining said temperature for a period sufficient to soften and sinter the briquette to accomplish more than about 20% melting but less than about 90% melting of the crystallinity of the resinous powder;
(b) repressing the briquette at the same temperature range to form a blank; and (c) forging the blank into said article while the blank is at a temperature within the temperature range to effect sub-stantial fusion of the resinous powder forming said blank.

6. The process of Claim 5, wherein the degree of melting which occurs during the sintering step (a) is from 20 to 90 percent.

7. The process of Claim 5 or 6, wherein the repressing step is conducted at a pressure of greater than 70 kg/cm2.

8. The process of Claim 1 or 5, wherein after the repressing step (b) the blank is allowed to cool to room temperature.

9. The process of Claim 1 or 5, wherein the degree of melting is from 40 to 80 percent.

10. The process of Claims 1 or 5, wherein the heating is provided by radio frequency means for faster cycle times.
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