Investigation on enhancement of weld strength between PMMA and PBT in laser transmission welding—Using intermediate material

Abstract

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) are widely used in industry; however, poor compatibility between two materials lead to poor weld strength. Polycarbonate (PC) has good compatibility with PMMA and PBT. Therefore, the welding method was that PC film as intermediate material was used to enhance weld strength in laser transmission welding (LTW) of PMMA and PBT. Through the LTW experiment, the weld strength was tested by mechanical testing and it was found that the best weld strength was improved more than four times than the weld strength without intermediate material. By observing the micro morphology of the weld zone, one reason was founded that the bubbles can be used to form micro‐mechanical riveting to enhance the weld strength. The reptation time for PMMA, PC, and PBT were investigated to analyze the establishment of the weld strength. When the reptation time is much shorter than time in molten state, the higher weld strength is feasible. It can be concluded that the weld strength of PC/PBT was higher than the weld strength of PMMA/PC. The equilibrium interfacial width was calculated through Helfand's theory to analyze the compatibility of dissimilar materials. The equilibrium interfacial width for PMMA/PC and PC/PBT were similar to tube diameter. That is the reason for weld strength enhancement. And then, the response surface methodology was designed to predict the weld strength.© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 44167.

Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Modeling of Segmented Block Copolymers: Impact of the Chain Architecture on Crystallization and Morphology

“…To compare with the literature, these values can be expressed in terms of molecular weights (eq 4c), resulting in M e SS = 1180 g mol −1 and M e HS = 1070 g mol −1 , in good agreement with the available data: 1080−1420 g mol −1 for PTHF 79 and 1160 g mol −1 for PBT. 80 One can note that the numbers of Kuhn segments per entanglement strand are also qualitatively consistent with the data concerning similar chemistries, PEO and PET, for which N Ke equals respectively 14.7 and 5.5. 68 Such a result is of primary importance for a good modeling of the mechanical properties, in particular the plateau modulus.…”

“…The primitive path analysis of the two neat polymer chains ( N b = 100) at T = 4 ε u / k B gives N e SS = 44.7 ( N Ke SS = 10) and N e HS = 23.2 ( N Ke SS = 3.7). To compare with the literature, these values can be expressed in terms of molecular weights (eq ), resulting in M e SS = 1180 g mol –1 and M e HS = 1070 g mol –1 , in good agreement with the available data: 1080–1420 g mol –1 for PTHF and 1160 g mol –1 for PBT . One can note that the numbers of Kuhn segments per entanglement strand are also qualitatively consistent with the data concerning similar chemistries, PEO and PET, for which N Ke equals respectively 14.7 and 5.5 .…”

Enhancement of the Laser Transmission Weldability between Polyethylene and Polyoxymethylene by Plasma Surface Treatment

“…In 2016, Liu et al [ 9 ] coated a thin layer of Al on the glass-fiber-reinforced PA66 surface by using cold spraying technology and successfully achieved the laser lap welding of PA66 and PC. Wang et al [ 10 ] enhanced the laser welding strength of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) by using PC film as the intermediate layer. In 2017, Liu et al [ 11 ] enhanced the laser transmission welding strength of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyamide 66 (PA66) sputtered aluminum thin film through magnetron sputtering.…”

Current and Future Trends for Polymer Micro/Nanoprocessing in Industrial Applications

“…[207] For several assembly incompatible polymers, pre-welding surface treatment needs to be performed, such as plasma activation, sputtering of metal film, and the introduction of additives, compatible interlayer or grafted polymer films with reactive adhesive agent systems. [208,209] Moreover, ultrasonic microwelding, which combines the advantages of inserted metal parts, local heating and high efficiency, has improved the homogeneity and emerged as a promising technique. [206,210,211] Nevertheless, explorations of new process friendly laser systems, materials compositions, and additives are among the areas of current and future trends in LTW research.…”